Æ26 - Caracalla ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's neokorate titles were hard-won civic honors granted by Rome, allowing a city to maintain an imperial cult temple — and the right to advertise that status on coinage was taken seriously. The legend ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ, proclaiming a double neokorate, dates Nicomedia's second such honor to the Severan period, most likely formalized under Septimius Severus before Caracalla's sole reign began.

Nicomedia was the dominant city of Bithynia and fiercely competitive with Nicaea over civic rank, a rivalry that played out as much through coin legends as through imperial petitions.