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Æ29 - Gordian III ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕΩΝ ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ
| Issuer | Ephesus (Conventus of Ephesus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 238-244 |
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| Weight | 11.47 g |
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| Obverse description | Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Emperor Gordian III facing right, portrayed in three-quarter rear view, with paludamentum visible at the shoulder. The emperor's youthful effigy is rendered in the typical provincial style of the Ephesian mint, with carefully detailed laurel wreath and military attire. The encircling Greek legend runs along the periphery of the flan. The flan is slightly irregular, consistent with provincial hammered bronze coinage of the mid-third century AD. |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Homonoia coinage — struck to commemorate a formal alliance or goodwill agreement between two cities — was a well-established honorific tradition in the Greek east, and the pairing of Ephesus with Alexandria is among the more geographically ambitious examples. These weren't symbolic gestures; they typically accompanied genuine diplomatic or commercial arrangements, and the combined prestige of Asia's premier harbor city and Egypt's great metropolis made the pairing politically legible across the eastern Mediterranean.
The Gordian III period saw a surge in such civic alliance issues, partly because provincial cities exploited the rapid imperial succession of the late 230s to reassert local influence through public display.