Æ29 - Gallienus (sole reign) (ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ Μ ΑΥΡ ϹΕΞϹΤΟΥ ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩ/Ν)

Smyrna's claim to a third neokoria — the honorific title granted to cities permitted to maintain an imperial cult temple — was hard-won and politically charged. The city lobbied aggressively under several emperors before securing the designation, and its coinages advertising the status were as much civic propaganda as currency. This issue belongs to Gallienus's sole reign, after the capture of his father Valerian by Shapur I in 260 AD effectively ended the co-regency and left Gallienus managing an empire fracturing at every edge.

The magistrate named in the legend, M. Aurelius Sextus, is otherwise poorly attested in the epigraphic record.