Æ29 - Commodus ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛ ΚΑΙϹΑΡΕΙΑϹ ΕΤ ΓΙ (date on altar)

Caesarea in Cappadocia held the rank of metropolis of the province and exercised the rare privilege of dating its civic bronze by its own local era — the era visible on the altar in this issue. That dating system, tied to the Caesarean civic calendar rather than regnal years, is what makes these pieces essential to scholars reconstructing the chronology of Cappadocian provincial coinage. The letters ΕΤ ΓΙ indicate year 13 of that local reckoning, placing the strike in the early 180s under Commodus.