Æ34 - Caracalla ϹΑΜΙΩΝ

Samos struck bronze under Caracalla as part of the broader civic coinage tradition of the Ionian Greek cities, which retained the right to issue local bronze long after Rome had eliminated regional silver. The island's mint activity under the Severans was modest, and large-module pieces like this 34mm issue — struck for local prestige rather than everyday small transactions — tend to survive in lower quantities than their smaller counterparts.

The Samian attribution to the Conventus of Miletus reflects Roman administrative geography, not Samian civic identity; the island maintained its own proud traditions stretching back to the Polycratean tyranny of the 6th century BC.