AR16 - Vespasian PACI ORB TERR AVG

Ephesus struck silver for Vespasian in 71 AD as part of a broader eastern mint mobilization during the consolidation of Flavian power following the civil wars of 69. The PACI ORBIS TERR AVG reverse type was a deliberate ideological statement — Vespasian had ended a year of catastrophic internal warfare and needed the eastern provinces, long accustomed to Julio-Claudian rule, to accept the legitimacy of a general who had taken power by force.

RPC II 846 is notably scarcer than the equivalent Rome mint issues of the same year, a reflection of Ephesus's more limited output rather than any specific production interruption.