Æ43 - Septimius Severus ΕΠΙ ΕΡΓΕΠΙ (sic) ΦΛ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΥ ϹΤΡΑΤΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ

Stratonicea, a Carian city that had earned its prominence partly through the famous sanctuary of Zeus Panamaros, issued civic bronzes under local magistrates whose names appear in the legends. The garbled ΕΠΙ ΕΡΓΕΠΙ in this specimen's legend — almost certainly a die-cutter's corruption of a longer magistrate title or name — is not a later damage phenomenon but an original striking error, suggesting the engraver either worked from a flawed written instruction or lacked full literacy in the formula. Such corruptions are more prevalent in Stratonicea's civic issues than in neighboring Alabandan mints, possibly reflecting workshop conditions rather than individual error.