Æ36 - Severus Alexander ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΩΝ ΑϹΙΑϹ Γ ΝΕΩΚ ΤΩΝ ϹΕΒ ΕΠ Ϲ ΠΟΛΕΙΤΟΥ

Smyrna's claim to be "First of Asia" — embedded in that reverse legend — was the subject of bitter, decades-long rivalry with Ephesus and Pergamon, all three cities competing for the honorific through imperial petition and outright lobbying in Rome. The triple neokorate status recorded here (Γ ΝΕΩΚ) reflects three successive grants of permission to maintain imperial cult temples, each one a political victory requiring senatorial and imperial approval. Severus Alexander's reign saw a flurry of such civic honorific coinage across the conventus system, partly because the young emperor's court actively cultivated relationships with Greek-speaking provincial elites.