Æ31 - Elagabalus ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Hierapolis in Phrygia earned the title ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — temple-warden — through the imperial cult, a distinction cities competed for aggressively during the Severan period. That Elagabalus appears here as the legitimizing figure is notable: his reign was so theologically disruptive in Rome that provincial mints often issued coinage at a pace disconnected from central directives, cities essentially banking on imperial portraiture before political winds shifted.

The Conventus of Cibyra grouped Hierapolis administratively under the assize circuit centered at Cibyra, and civic bronzes from this grouping are underrepresented in major collections relative to their Pergamene or Ephesian counterparts.