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Æ30 - Severus Alexander ΕΠ ϹΤΡ ΠΟΛΕΙΤΟΥ ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ
| Issuer | Smyrna (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 222-235 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Amazon Smyrna, the eponymous founder of the city, standing facing with head turned to the left, clad in a chlamys and holding a double axe (labrys) and a pelta (crescent-shaped shield). At her feet to the lower left is a ship's prow, symbolizing Smyrna's maritime power. In the field to one side appears a small tetrastyle temple with four columns, alluding to the city's celebrated neocorate honors. The composition is characteristic of Smyrnean civic pride, combining mythological, naval, and religious iconography in a single reverse type. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Smyrna held the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — three times by the reign of Severus Alexander, a distinction it had fought for aggressively since the Flavian period and which it leveraged constantly against rival cities like Ephesus and Pergamon. The Γ in the legend is the Greek numeral three, advertising exactly that triple grant. These civic bronze issues were produced for local circulation and religious festival contexts, not for export across the province.
The strategos Polites named in the obverse legend served as the city's chief magistrate during this issue, making him eponymous for the series — a dating mechanism more reliable than the regnal years alone.