Æ19 - Augustus ΧΑΡΙΝΟΣ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΥΩΝ

The grammateus — the city secretary — held genuine administrative authority in the Greek cities of Asia under Roman rule, and Pergamum's practice of naming this magistrate on civic bronze was a deliberate assertion of local institutional continuity. Charinos held the office during the final years before Augustus restructured provincial administration following the settlement of 2 BC. Pergamum, as the seat of the conventus and home to the first provincial imperial cult in Asia, competed aggressively with Ephesus and Smyrna for status, and these small civic bronzes were part of that currency of prestige.