Æ22 - Maximinus ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea's civic bronze coinage under Maximinus Thrax reflects an awkward political reality: the city had to acknowledge an emperor who seized power by murdering his predecessor Alexander Severus in a military coup, yet whose reign was never formally ratified by the Senate. Provincial mints like Nicaea simply continued striking — loyalty to the sitting emperor was the safer bet, whatever Rome thought of him.

Maximinus never visited the eastern provinces, and was killed at Aquileia in 238 during the chaotic Year of the Six Emperors.