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Æ24 - Commodus ΜΗΤ (Ο (Ο)) ΝΕ (Κ) ΝΙΚΟΜΗ
| Issuer | Nicomedia (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 184-190 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Reverse description | The Capitoline She-wolf (Lupa Romana) standing to the left with head turned back to the right, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus who are depicted below her. The type evokes the legendary founding of Rome and was used by Nicomedia to assert its metropolis status and alignment with Roman tradition. A horizontal ground line separates the central type from the lower field legend. The Greek inscription of the mint runs along the upper and lower periphery of the flan. |
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| Mint | Nicomedia, Bithynia, modern-day İzmit, Turkey |
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| Additional information |
Nicomedia had been competing with Nicaea for the title of "first city" of Bithynia for generations, and the honorific abbreviations crowded into this coin's legend — metropolis, neokoros, and the rest — were very much weapons in that rivalry. Each title had to be formally petitioned from Rome, and the accumulation of them on civic coinage was deliberate civic propaganda aimed as much at neighboring cities as at any Roman audience.