Pentassarion - Philip II as caesar ΜΑΡΚΙΑΝΟΠΟΛΕΙ/ΤΩΝ, Marcianopolis

Philip II was elevated to caesar by his father Philip I in 244, shortly after the latter's accession following the death of Gordian III on the Euphrates campaign. Marcianopolis, the principal city of Moesia Inferior, was one of the most prolific provincial mints of the Severan and post-Severan period, and continued issuing under the Philips with little interruption. The pentassarion denomination — five asses — represents the heavyweight end of Marcianopolitan bronze production, struck for local circulation in a region where Roman imperial coinage circulated alongside civic issues.