Amisus was one of the few cities in Pontus that retained the formal status of a free city under Roman rule — a privilege traceable to Pompey's reorganization of the region in 65 BC, and one the city jealously guarded in its civic titulature for centuries. The designation ΕΛΕΥΘΕ(ΑϹ) on this issue is not decorative; it was a legal claim, renewed under successive emperors, that exempted the city from direct provincial taxation and allowed it to mint on its own civic calendar. The date ϹΜΗ corresponds to year 248 of the Pontic era, placing this coin in the final year of Caracalla's reign before his murder near Carrhae in April 217.
Amisus was one of the few cities in Pontus that retained the formal status of a free city under Roman rule — a privilege traceable to Pompey's reorganization of the region in 65 BC, and one the city jealously guarded in its civic titulature for centuries. The designation ΕΛΕΥΘΕ(ΑϹ) on this issue is not decorative; it was a legal claim, renewed under successive emperors, that exempted the city from direct provincial taxation and allowed it to mint on its own civic calendar. The date ϹΜΗ corresponds to year 248 of the Pontic era, placing this coin in the final year of Caracalla's reign before his murder near Carrhae in April 217.