Assarion ΑϹϹΑΡΙΟΝ

Chios sat comfortably within the Pergamene conventus throughout the Antonine period, its civic bronze issues functioning as small-denomination exchange within a prosperous Aegean trading port. The city had long enjoyed favored status with Rome — Caesar himself had granted privileges to Chiot communities — and that relationship translated into consistent, if modest, minting activity under the Antonines. The assarion denomination was the workhorse of provincial civic coinage in Asia Minor during this stretch, and Chios produced recognizable, well-documented types that survive in reasonable numbers across European collections.