Æ22 - Elagabalus ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea's civic bronzes under Elagabalus were issued during one of the more chaotic reigns in Roman imperial history — a teenager from Emesa elevated by the Third Legion Gallica on the strength of his resemblance to Caracalla, whose name he borrowed for legitimacy. The city had been a major Bithynian mint center since the Hellenistic period and maintained consistent output through the Severan dynasty, but the brevity and instability of Elagabalus's four-year reign makes dated attribution of individual emissions difficult without die linkage studies.