Æ35 - Gordian III ΕΠ ϹΤΡ ΚΛ ΡΟΥΦΙΝΟΥ ϹΟΦ ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ

Smyrna held the rare distinction of being granted the title of "first city of Asia" by Rome — a honor contested bitterly with Ephesus and Pergamon throughout the imperial period. The magistrate named in this issue, Klaudios Rhouphinos, held the office of strategos, a civic post that by the third century had become as much about financing and organizing the local coinage as any administrative function. Large civic bronzes of this size were expensive to produce and typically issued for festival or ceremonial distribution rather than everyday commerce.

The Gordian III provincial series from Smyrna is well-documented, with VII.1 #309 among the more frequently cited die pairings in the sequence.