Octassaria - Philippus I ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΜΗΤΡΟ ΚΟΛΩ, Antioch

Philip I took power after the death of Gordian III in Mesopotamia in 244 — a death Philip himself may have engineered. Antioch, as the largest city in the Roman East and the staging point for the Persian campaigns, held special administrative weight during his reign, and the city's mint was correspondingly active. The ΜΗΤΡΟ ΚΟΛΩ titles — metropolis and colonia — reflect the dual civic identity Antioch had accumulated over generations of Roman patronage.

The octassarion denomination, worth eight assaria, was the workhorse of Syrian bronze coinage in this period. McAlee's die study of Antiochene bronzes documents substantial variation across this type.