Æ21 - Hadrian Η ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙϹ ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙΑ

Nicomedia's claim to the title "metropolis" — stamped assertively on its coinage — was the product of a long civic rivalry with Nicaea, its neighbor and persistent competitor for primacy in Bithynia. The dispute was bitter enough that both cities lobbied emperors directly, and Pliny the Younger's letters to Trajan document the tension firsthand. Hadrian's reign saw renewed jockeying for imperial favor, and metropolitan status carried real administrative and ceremonial weight, not merely prestige.