Æ28 - Valerian and Gallienus ΕΠ ΡΟΥΦΟΥ ΑϹΙ ϹΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩ

Sardis held the neokorate — the right to maintain an imperial cult temple — three times by the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, a distinction the city had accumulated across generations of petitioning Rome. The legend's explicit reference to the third neokorate (Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ) was civic advertising as much as religious acknowledgment; these titles were hard-won through embassy and expenditure, and losing one was a genuine political catastrophe. The magistrate named in the inscription, Rufus, served as the issuing authority responsible for this local bronze.