Catalog
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| Issuer | Nicaea (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 218-222 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ (Translation: of the Nicaeans) |
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| Additional information |
Nicaea was one of the most prolific civic minting authorities in Bithynia, and its bronze issues under Elagabalus reflect a municipal administration functioning normally even as the emperor himself destabilized the Roman court with increasingly erratic religious and personal conduct. The city had long championed its claim as the true capital of Bithynia against rival Nicomedia, and competitive civic coin production was part of how that status was asserted.
Elagabalus's four-year reign ended with his murder by the Praetorian Guard in 222, after which the Senate ordered his memory condemned — damnatio memoriae — making provincial bronzes like this one among the more casual survivals of an officially erased reign.