Æ33 - Septimius Severus ΑΜΟΡΙΑΝΩΝ, ΕΠΙ ΕΛΠΙΔΗΦΟΡΟΥ

Amorium was a Phrygian city of middling political weight, but its civic coinage under Septimius Severus reflects the scramble among provincial cities to demonstrate loyalty during the civil wars of 193 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors. The magistrate named in the legend, Elpidephoros, was a local official whose title and tenure are otherwise unattested; his name survives only through coins of this type.

The Conventus of Synnada administered a broad swath of interior Anatolia, and Amorium's issues were struck for local exchange rather than wide circulation. Die-linked specimens occasionally surface from the same magistracy, suggesting a short, concentrated emission.