Relationship with Rome : An iconographical analysis of coins from Pergamon, Smyrna and Ephesus.

The cities of Pergamon, Smyrna and Ephesus have caught the attention of many scholars throughout the world and many papers and studies have been written on their history. The focus for most of them have been the imperial cult and the status of the cities as neokoroi. Although this is an important part in the history of the three cities, these temples and the imperial cult is not the only time they have been influenced by the romans and their culture. This paper aims to explore the public identity of the cities trough the medium of coinage, and how their identity is influenced and changed by the introduction of the romans. By analysing iconography on coins from 200 BC-200 AD we get a more nuanced perspective on the relationship between the Romans and the three cities in question. Instead of seeing the imperial cult only as a product of the social and political landscape of the empire, we instead put them in a larger narrative of roman expansion and influence in the Greek east both before and during the republic. Trough Panofskys iconographical analysis method, the coins are placed in a historical, political, and cultural context that unlocks their full potential. By focusing on identity, the coins become representative of what the cities themselves choose to put forward and focus on. It shows the most important aspects of the local culture and what they think most represents the public life, which in turn shows us their public identity. This study determined that the introduction of the imperial cult during the first century AD was a culmination of a process that had started during the republic and the different ways the romans took control of the cities. It also determined that the different political and cultural situations that the cities found themselves during this 400-year period had a big part to play in how they adapted to the roman culture and the reign of the emperors