AR28 - Hadrian COS III

Miletus, though long past its Archaic-period peak as a commercial and intellectual hub, retained enough civic prestige under Roman administration to strike coins in Hadrian's name through the conventus system — a judicial circuit arrangement that concentrated Roman administrative activity, and with it coin production, in designated provincial centers. Hadrian visited the eastern provinces extensively between 123 and 129 AD, and his presence in Asia Minor directly stimulated local civic coinage as cities competed to honor the traveling emperor.

The COS III designation places this issue no earlier than 119 AD, when Hadrian entered his third consulship — a tenure he held continuously for the remainder of his reign.