Tetrassarion - Caracalla APXЄOT•ΠAΦΛ•ΓЄPMANIKOΠΟΛЄωC - ЄCTIAC

Germanicopolis in Paphlagonia was a city that owed its very name to the imperial family — refounded or renamed in honor of Germanicus, the popular general whose suspicious death at Antioch in 19 AD triggered genuine public grief across the eastern provinces. Under Caracalla, whose co-reign with Septimius Severus from 198 AD prompted a wave of civic loyalty coinage across Asia Minor, the city's mint produced bronze issues asserting both local identity and dynastic alignment. The Paphlagonians had long competed with neighboring Pontic cities for provincial prestige, and civic bronze struck in a senior emperor's name was a direct instrument of that rivalry.