Æ20 - Severus Alexander ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚ

Nicomedia's title ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΟϹ — "twice temple warden" — was fiercely contested among Bithynian cities during the Severan period, each lobbying Rome for the honor of hosting an additional imperial cult. Nicomedia held the distinction earlier than most, having been awarded its first neokoria under Domitian and its second likely under Caracalla or Elagabalus, making this issue under Severus Alexander a direct assertion of accumulated civic prestige within a rivalrous provincial pecking order.