Æ29 - Elagabalus ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of neokoros — temple warden — four times by the reign of Elagabalus, a distinction fiercely contested among the great cities of Asia Minor and periodically confirmed or stripped by imperial decree. The designation ΔΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ on this issue advertises all four warderships simultaneously, a pointed civic boast at a moment when Elagabalus was himself reorganizing imperial cult around the worship of his Syrian solar deity, creating an uneasy tension between Rome's eastern religious ambitions and the established prestige of Ephesus's Artemis sanctuary.