Æ30 - Marcus Aurelius ΑΡΤΕΜΙϹ ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ

Ephesus held the title neokoros — temple warden — of the imperial cult, a distinction fiercely contested among the great cities of Asia Minor and granted only by senatorial decree. Coins asserting Artemis of Ephesus alongside the reigning emperor were partly civic propaganda in that rivalry, Ephesus reminding the province who held the senior religious franchise. The years 175–177 bracket the revolt of Avidius Cassius, after whose suppression Marcus made a celebrated tour of the eastern provinces, visiting Asia Minor in 176.