Cistophorus - Hadrianus COS III

Hadrian's cistophoric issues from western Asia Minor belong to a deliberate program of provincial engagement during his extended eastern tour of 128–130 AD, when he visited numerous cities and rewarded loyal communities with imperial attention — and coinage. Aezani, in Phrygia, had recently completed its remarkable Temple of Zeus, and Hadrian's personal inspection of the city during this period almost certainly coincided with the authorization of this issue.

The cistophorus denomination itself was a Pergamene invention absorbed into Roman monetary administration, struck at a tariff of three denarii despite containing less silver than that valuation implied.