Æ35 - Elagabalus ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΩΝ ΑϹΙΑϹ

Ephesus held the title *prōtē tēs Asias* — "first of Asia" — with fierce jealousy, a claim contested repeatedly by Smyrna and Pergamon throughout the second and third centuries. The neokorate rivalries between these cities were not merely honorific posturing; they determined festival rights, judicial prestige, and the flow of imperial patronage. Coins broadcasting the title were a deliberate civic assertion, struck during Elagabalus's reign when the young emperor's erratic favoritism made such displays of loyalty — and self-advertisement — particularly pointed.