DescriptionSmyrna is the modern Turkish city of Izmir, and was an important regional hub in western Anatolia from the 11th century BC. Britannicus was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius I and Messalina, who was the subject of disapproving gossip. The son got his name in commemoration of his father’s conquest of southern Britain. After his mother was executed for adultery he was replaced as heir by Nero, who, possibly having come to the throne by the poisoning of Claudius, probably poisoned Britannicus as well.The Romans, as they were building their empire, preferred to let the local coinage arrangements remain in place. As they developed their political system into the Cult of Personality that was the Empire, they started putting imperial portraits on the local coins. Later, as the Empire began to shrink, they preferred to centralize their coinage operations, eliminating local control. There were also allied and client states, some of which, at times, issued coins celebrating the alliance or subservience.This category includes Greek and Roman coins and those of neighbors and successors, geographically from Morocco and Spain all the way to Afghanistan. Date ranges for these begin with the world’s earliest coins of the 8th century BC to, in an extreme case, the end of Byzantine Empire, 1453 AD.
