The book examines the figures of the mythical founder-heroes and the eponyms of the cities in the Roman East as a symbol–personification of the founding tradition, and argues that the widespread replication of the foundation theme in the Roman provincial coinage in 235–276 AD (city coinages, colonial coins, coinages of provincial leagues, pseudoautonomous coins etc.), the iconographic motifs and coin inscriptions are an answer of the local elites to the crisis phenomena of the ^3rd century. This book approaches the foundation theme from three different perspectives: through the foundation myth and its heroes, coins as a medium for defining the foundation idea, and the relationship between foundation myths and politics.