Nicaea was one of the most prolific bronze-issuing cities in Bithynia under the Severan dynasty, and continued striking civic coinage through Elagabalus's reign despite the emperor's increasingly erratic behavior in Rome. The city had long competed with Nicomedia for the title of provincial capital, a rivalry that played out partly through the prestige of coinage output.
Elagabalus ruled just four years before being murdered by the Praetorian Guard at age eighteen, his body dragged through the streets of Rome and thrown into the Tiber.
Nicaea was one of the most prolific bronze-issuing cities in Bithynia under the Severan dynasty, and continued striking civic coinage through Elagabalus's reign despite the emperor's increasingly erratic behavior in Rome. The city had long competed with Nicomedia for the title of provincial capital, a rivalry that played out partly through the prestige of coinage output.
Elagabalus ruled just four years before being murdered by the Praetorian Guard at age eighteen, his body dragged through the streets of Rome and thrown into the Tiber.