Æ36 - Commodus ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Β ΝΕΟ ΤΡΑΛΙΑΝΩ (sic) ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ

The legend ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ — Homonoia — marks this as an alliance coin, struck to celebrate a formal concordat between Ephesus and Tralles, two cities that were chronic rivals for prestige within the Lydian and Ionian conventus districts. Such coins were diplomatic objects as much as monetary ones, circulated among civic elites rather than in markets. The misspelling ΤΡΑΛΙΑΝΩ for ΤΡΑΛΛΙΑΝΩΝ is not a die-cutter's careless error so much as a compression artifact of fitting a long ethnic into limited field space — a problem Ephesian engravers encountered repeatedly on large alliance bronzes.