Æ37 - Marcus Aurelius ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ

Homonoia coinage — struck to celebrate concord between two cities — was as much a political instrument as a civic one. The alliance between Hierapolis in Phrygia and Ephesus, one of the most powerful cities in Roman Asia Minor, was a calculated pairing: Hierapolis leveraged proximity to the great sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma's sphere of influence, while Ephesus brought the prestige of its status as the provincial capital of Asia. These joint issues required negotiation between civic magistrates and were expensive to produce, which is why surviving examples tend to cluster in larger module bronzes like this one.

The issue falls within the co-reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the first time Rome had operated under two simultaneous Augusti.