Æ40 - Septimius Severus ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡΑ ΙΟΥ ΠΩΛΛΙΩΝΟϹ, ΠΕΡΓΑΜΗΝΩΝ Β ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ

Pergamum had already held the title of neokoros — warden of the imperial cult — twice by the time Severus came to power, which is precisely what the ΒΝ designation on this issue advertises. The city was in perpetual competition with Smyrna and Ephesus for cult prestige, and civic bronze coinage was one of the primary arenas for that rivalry. The magistrate named in the legend, Ioulios Pollion, served as strategos, the chief civic official responsible for authorizing and overseeing local bronze emissions.