Æ38 - Severus Alexander ϹΤΡΑΤΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ (retrograde)

Stratonicea, a Carian city that had leveraged its status as a major cult center of Zeus Chrysaoreus and Hecate to maintain considerable civic prestige under Roman administration, produced a relatively modest bronze coinage during the Severan period. The retrograde ethnic on this piece — ϹΤΡΑΤΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ running right to left — is not a engraver's error but a deliberate or at minimum accepted practice attested across several Stratoniceian issues, likely reflecting workshop conventions rather than any standardized mint policy.