Amisus held the rare distinction of being a free city — *eleuthera* — within the Roman provincial system, a status it had retained since Pompey reorganized Pontus in 64 BC and confirmed intermittently through imperial favor. The city's autonomy allowed it to maintain its own civic era dating, and the letters ΕΤ ϹΜΗ mark year 248 of that local reckoning. Caracalla's visit to the Black Sea region during his eastern campaigns in 214–215 likely prompted a fresh round of civic issues affirming the relationship between city and emperor.
Amisus held the rare distinction of being a free city — *eleuthera* — within the Roman provincial system, a status it had retained since Pompey reorganized Pontus in 64 BC and confirmed intermittently through imperial favor. The city's autonomy allowed it to maintain its own civic era dating, and the letters ΕΤ ϹΜΗ mark year 248 of that local reckoning. Caracalla's visit to the Black Sea region during his eastern campaigns in 214–215 likely prompted a fresh round of civic issues affirming the relationship between city and emperor.