Æ25 - Severus Alexander ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "thrice temple warden" — was hard-won and politically charged. The city received its third neokorate under Elagabalus, though the grant was contentious given that emperor's religious eccentricities, and Nicomedia was careful to consolidate the honor visibly under his more palatable successor. The rivalry with Nicaea over primacy in Bithynia ran for generations, and neokorate count was the primary currency of that competition.

Nicomedia would later serve as Diocletian's eastern capital — but under Severus Alexander it was still fighting for provincial prestige one bronze coin at a time.