Æ34 - Elagabalus ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ ΤΙΒ ΚΛ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΥ ΠΕΡΓΑΜΗΝΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΩΝ ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

The magistrate named in this issue — Tiberius Claudius Alexander, styled "Theologos" — held a title that identified him as a sacred interpreter or cult official, almost certainly connected to Pergamum's long-standing association with the imperial cult. The city had been the first in Asia to receive permission to establish a temple to Augustus and Roma, and by the reign of Elagabalus it held the rare distinction of three neokorate grants, which the legend here aggressively advertises. Pergamum competed bitterly with Smyrna and Ephesus for provincial precedence, and coin legends became one of the primary arenas for that competition.

Elagabalus's reign lasted only four years before his murder by the Praetorian Guard in 222 AD, making the window for this magistrate's issues narrow.