Æ43 - Caracalla ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ ΙΟΥΛ ΑΝΘΙΜΟΥ ΠΕΡΓΑΜΗΝΩΝ, ΠΡΩΤΩΝ ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Pergamum's claim to be "first and thrice neokoros" — custodian of three imperial cult temples — was a hard-won civic status that the city defended aggressively against rivals like Smyrna and Ephesus. The magistrate named in the inscription, Julius Anthimus, is attested on a small group of issues, allowing numismatists to cluster this striking within his term of office as strategos. These large civic bronzes were not everyday currency; at 40-plus grams they functioned closer to prestige medallions, circulated within the apparatus of festival and cult rather than the market.