Æ26 - Marcus Aurelius ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ

Cyzicus held the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — and wore it aggressively on its coinage. The city had secured this status under Hadrian, who permitted construction of a massive temple to himself there, one ancient sources describe as among the largest in the Greek world. By Marcus Aurelius's reign the city was already working toward a second neokorate, which it eventually obtained under Commodus. The inclusion of ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ on this issue is therefore a pointed civic assertion, not decorative boilerplate.