Æ33 - Valerian and Gallienus ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ ΒΑΛ ΑΡΙϹΤΟΜ/ΑΧΟΥ / ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝ/ΑΙΩΝ

Mytilene, the principal city of Lesbos, maintained the right to strike bronze civic coinage well into the third century under the Roman provincial system, naming local magistrates in the coin legends rather than Roman officials. The strategos Bal. Aristomachos named on this issue is otherwise obscure, known almost exclusively through coinage — a pattern common among provincial magistrates whose administrative records did not survive the political turbulence of the 250s and 260s.

The joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus saw widespread disruption across the eastern Aegean as Sassanid pressure intensified, culminating in Valerian's capture at Edessa in 260. Provincial bronze issues from this window are often the last civic coinage a city struck before the system collapsed entirely.