Æ30 - Domitian ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΕΠΙ ΜΑΙΚΙΟΥ ΡΟΥΦΟΥ

The magistrate named in this issue — Maikios Rufos (Μαίκιος Ῥοῦφος) — served as proconsul of Asia under Domitian, anchoring the coin firmly within the provincial administration that Rome used to project authority across the Aegean. Ephesus, as seat of the conventus, issued coins under the proconsul's name as a deliberate assertion of civic prestige and Roman alignment simultaneously. The city held the title of neokoros — temple warden — and competed aggressively with Smyrna and Pergamon for primacy within the province.