Æ23 - Gallienus (sole reign) (ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ / ΝΕΟΚΟ(Ρ) Β)

Cyzicus held the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — twice over by the time of Gallienus's sole reign, a status advertised on civic bronze with the abbreviation ΝΕΟΚΟ Β. The second neokorate was a hard-won civic honor, and cities competed fiercely for such designations, as they carried real commercial and diplomatic prestige within the Roman provincial system. Cyzicus had long leveraged its position on the Propontis to maintain favor with successive emperors, and continued striking civic bronze even as the third-century crisis was dismantling Roman stability province by province.