Æ29 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΙΩΝΙΑ

Metropolis in Ionia was a minor city that punched above its weight in the provincial coinage game specifically because of its claim to the title ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΙΩΝΙΑ — "metropolis of the cities of Ionia" — a honorific status fiercely contested among Ionian cities under Roman administration. The title itself was the point; civic pride and inter-city rivalry drove much of the bronze coinage output from this conventus during the Severan and Gordian periods. Ephesus, Smyrna, and Sardis all disputed precedence, making this modest city's assertion of metropolitan rank a pointed political statement on bronze.