Æ17 - Commodus ΟΜΗΡΟϹ ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea's civic bronze issues under Commodus frequently celebrated the city's claim to Homer as a native son — a boast shared aggressively with several rival Bithynian cities, Smyrna chief among them. The competition was more than civic pride; associating a city with Homer carried real political currency in the Greek East, influencing the allocation of imperial honors and titles.

Nicaea pressed the claim hard enough that it appeared on coin types across multiple reigns.