Æ29 - Marcus Aurelius ϹΤΡ ΠΟ ΑΙ ΑΡΙΖΗΛΟΥ ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ

Smyrna was among the most aggressively competitive cities in the province of Asia when it came to securing imperial favor, and the years 175–177 fall squarely within a period when the city held the rare title of twice-neokoros — custodian of an imperial cult temple — a distinction it fought bitterly to maintain against rivals like Ephesus and Pergamon. The magistrate name in the legend, Arizelus, anchors this piece to a specific local strategos, one of the few mechanisms by which provincial bronzes can be sequenced within a reign.