Æ25 - Gordian III ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟ

Nicomedia held the title of "twice neokoros" — keeper of the imperial cult twice over — a designation fiercely competed among Bithynian cities and conferred by the Roman Senate as a mark of provincial prestige. The ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟ legend on this issue directly asserts that status, a civic boast as much as a religious one. Gordian III's reign, cut short at twenty-two by his own Praetorian prefect Philip the Arab on the Mesopotamian campaign, produced a substantial volume of provincial bronze across the eastern mints, Nicomedia among the most prolific.