Æ30 - Philip I ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ

Philip I came to power after the death of Gordian III in Mesopotamia in 244 — circumstances suspicious enough that ancient sources accused Philip himself of engineering it. His reign saw the elaborate celebration of Rome's millennium in 247/248, and provincial mints across the east struck heavily during these years, partly to fund the spectacle and partly because a new emperor needed his face distributed fast.

Hierapolis in Phrygia, under the Cibyra conventus, was an active civic mint precisely because it was prosperous — the city's wealth derived substantially from its textile dyeing industry, exploiting local mineral-rich springs.