Æ21 - Septimius Severus ΝΕΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's title ΔΙϹ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ — "twice neokoros" — reflects the city's status as twice-honored keeper of imperial cult temples, a distinction fiercely contested among Bithynian cities. Nicomedia held the title against persistent rivalry from Nicaea, a dispute that spilled into Roman administrative correspondence and was still generating civic tension well into the third century.