Æ28 - Trajan Decius ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡΑ ΦΛ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥϹ ΚΟΛΟΦΩΝΙΩΝ

Colophon had been a shadow of its former self for centuries by the time Trajan Decius held the purple — the original city was destroyed by Lysimachus around 299 BC, and the population forcibly relocated to his new foundation of Ephesus. The Colophon that struck this coin was the remnant settlement at Notion, clinging to the old name and civic identity for the prestige both carried. The strategos Flavius Agathocles named in the obverse legend held a magistracy that had become largely ceremonial under Roman oversight, though it still conferred the right to issue bronze for local circulation.