Æ26 - Caracalla ϹΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ Β ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Sardis held the title of neokoros — official keeper of an imperial cult temple — twice by the reign of Caracalla, a distinction aggressively lobbied for through embassies to Rome and commemorated on civic coinage whenever the city could manage it. The double neokoros status reflected decades of political maneuvering within the conventus system, where Lydian cities competed fiercely for honorific precedence. Sardis had held its first neokoros grant under Claudius, the second likely confirmed under Caracalla himself.