Ephesus held the title of neokoros — temple warden — four times by the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, a distinction it had accumulated over roughly a century of competitive honorific politics among the cities of Asia Minor. The Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ legend on this issue is a direct assertion of that four-fold status, claimed through successive imperial cult temples and fiercely contested against rival cities like Smyrna and Pergamon, who sought the same honors from Rome.
Ephesus held the title of neokoros — temple warden — four times by the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, a distinction it had accumulated over roughly a century of competitive honorific politics among the cities of Asia Minor. The Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ legend on this issue is a direct assertion of that four-fold status, claimed through successive imperial cult temples and fiercely contested against rival cities like Smyrna and Pergamon, who sought the same honors from Rome.