Æ39 - Hadrian ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ

Laodicea ad Lycum was one of the wealthiest cities in Phrygia, its prosperity built largely on the textile trade — particularly a prized glossy black wool unique to local sheep. The city famously declined imperial disaster relief after the earthquake of 60 AD, financing its own reconstruction, a rare act of civic independence that Tacitus recorded with evident surprise. Under Hadrian, the city's civic coinage flourished alongside his extensive tour of the eastern provinces in the 120s, which generated competitive honorific issues across the conventus cities as each jockeyed for imperial favor.