Æ35 - Elagabalus ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ ΚΛΩ ΑΥΡ ΔΙΟΝΥϹΙΟΥ ΙΠΠΙΚΟΥ ΘΥΑΤΕΙΡΗΝΩΝ

Thyatira, a Lydian city more commercially than politically significant, minted prolifically under the Severan dynasty — its coins frequently naming the local magistrate responsible for the issue, as here with Klaudios Aurelios Dionysios, identified by the title "hippikos," denoting equestrian rank. That civic pride in advertising Roman honorifics on Greek-language bronze coinage reflects the competitive munificence among Asia Minor cities during Elagabalus's reign, when imperial attention was notoriously difficult to secure and local elites competed to demonstrate loyalty to a teenage emperor whose legitimacy rested entirely on a claimed bloodline to Caracalla.