Metropolis in Ionia was a minor civic center whose coin output was modest even by provincial standards, and issues under Gordian III represent the tail end of the city's documented bronze production. The city's claim to the title ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ — asserting metropolitan status within Ionia — was a civic honorific aggressively pursued by numerous Ionian cities in the third century, less a reflection of genuine administrative rank than of local pride competing for prestige within the Ephesian conventus.
The reference VII.1#452.2 places this within Kraft's corpus of Ionian civic bronzes, a scarce series with few die-matched survivors recorded in major collections.
Metropolis in Ionia was a minor civic center whose coin output was modest even by provincial standards, and issues under Gordian III represent the tail end of the city's documented bronze production. The city's claim to the title ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ — asserting metropolitan status within Ionia — was a civic honorific aggressively pursued by numerous Ionian cities in the third century, less a reflection of genuine administrative rank than of local pride competing for prestige within the Ephesian conventus.
The reference VII.1#452.2 places this within Kraft's corpus of Ionian civic bronzes, a scarce series with few die-matched survivors recorded in major collections.