Ephesos came under Roman administration in 133 BC when Attalos III of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, yet the city retained the right to strike its own gold coinage — an unusual concession that reflects Ephesos's commercial importance as the dominant port of western Asia Minor. These staters circulated through one of the ancient world's busiest trading hubs, financing transactions that Rome's own provincial apparatus had little interest in disrupting.
The series ends around 88 BC, when Mithridates VI of Pontos seized Ephesos and the city's population massacred its Roman residents in a single coordinated action — the so-called Asiatic Vespers.
Ephesos came under Roman administration in 133 BC when Attalos III of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, yet the city retained the right to strike its own gold coinage — an unusual concession that reflects Ephesos's commercial importance as the dominant port of western Asia Minor. These staters circulated through one of the ancient world's busiest trading hubs, financing transactions that Rome's own provincial apparatus had little interest in disrupting.
The series ends around 88 BC, when Mithridates VI of Pontos seized Ephesos and the city's population massacred its Roman residents in a single coordinated action — the so-called Asiatic Vespers.