Æ28 - Septimius Severus ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΑΤΩΝ ΠΡΟϹ ΡΥΝ

Apollonia ad Rhyndacum sat in the Cyzicus conventus, one of the judicial districts Rome used to administer the densely urbanized province of Asia. Under Septimius Severus, civic bronze issues of this kind proliferated across the region partly because Severus — having seized power through civil war in 193 — needed provincial loyalty secured fast, and permitting cities to mint flattering civic bronzes was cheap diplomacy. The Rhyndacus River gave the city its distinguishing epithet, separating it from the better-known Apollonia ad Pisidiam.