Æ32 - Septimius Severus ΤΙΑΝΩΝ

Tium was a minor coastal polis on the Black Sea shore of Bithynia, perennially overshadowed by Heraclea Pontica to its west. Its civic bronze issues under Septimius Severus are scarce precisely because the city's administrative weight was slight — the volume of locally authorized coinage was low, and what circulated wore hard in a port economy.

Severus' civil war campaigns against Pescennius Niger in 193–194 AD ran directly through Bithynian territory, and cities along that corridor had strong incentive to mint loyalist issues promptly.