Æ29 - Gordian III ΕΠΙ ΓΡ ΚΛ ΙΠΠΟΔΑΜΙΑΝΟΥ ΜΑϹΤΑΥΡΕΙΤΩΝ

Mastaura was a minor Lydian city whose civic coinage under Gordian III was administered under the grammateus Claudius Hippodamianos, whose name appears in the magistrate formula on this piece. The grammateus — essentially a city secretary — held rotating civic office and sponsored coin issues as a mark of public munificence, funding the cost of production as a form of euergetism. Few cities in the Ephesian conventus produced bronze at this scale during Gordian's short reign, and Mastaura's output was modest enough that individual magistrate issues are genuinely scarce. Reference VII.1#435A suggests a recently catalogued variety within the broader Mastaura civic series.