Pentassarion - Elagabalus and Julia Maesa YΠ IOYΛ ANT CΕΛEYKOY MAPKIANOΠΟΛITΩN, Marcianopolis

Marcianopolis, founded by Trajan and named for his sister Marciana, was one of the most prolific provincial minting cities of the Severan period. This facing-bust type — pairing the emperor with a senior female member of the dynasty — was a deliberate format used at Marcianopolis to signal dynastic legitimacy, particularly useful under Elagabalus, whose claim to the throne rested entirely on his alleged (and likely fabricated) descent from Caracalla. Julia Maesa, his grandmother, engineered the whole succession from her base in Syria.

The magistrate Iulius Antonius Seleucus is documented across multiple issues from this reign, giving die students a useful anchor for sequencing the city's output in this narrow four-year window.