Æ20 - Severus Alexander ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's title ΔΙΚΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "twice temple-warden" — was formally granted by Rome and fiercely contested among rival Bithynian cities, particularly Nicaea, which waged an unrelenting propaganda campaign to claim equal or superior status. The neokorate honor conferred the right to maintain an imperial cult temple and mattered enormously to civic prestige and the flow of festival revenue. Nicomedia held the title from at least the reign of Vespasian, adding its second wardenship under Caracalla.