Æ28 - Valerian and Gallienus ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Α ΑϹΙΑϹ

Ephesus held the title "First of Asia" — the neokorate honor encoded in that ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Α ΑϹΙΑϹ legend — through fierce civic competition with Smyrna and Pergamon, a rivalry prosecuted not on battlefields but through imperial petitions, delegations to Rome, and exactly this kind of prestige coinage. The joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, which began in 253, gave provincial mints a useful opportunity: a double portrait issue announced loyalty to both emperors simultaneously, a diplomatic calculation as much as a numismatic one.

Bronze civic coinage from Ephesus effectively ceased after 268, making this issue part of the final generation of Asian provincial bronze.