AR17 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡ (Π) ΚΑΙϹ Β Ν, ΕΤ Δ

Gordian III's fourth regnal year issues from Caesarea in Cappadocia reflect the city's unusual practice of dating coins by the emperor's reign rather than a civic or provincial era — a relatively rare convention that makes precise chronological attribution straightforward. Caesarea held the only significant mint in Cappadocia and supplied silver coinage to a region where Roman legions on the eastern frontier, particularly those massing against Shapur I's Sasanian forces, required small-denomination silver in circulation.