Æ26 - Septimius Severus ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝ, ΝΕΟΚΟΡ

Cyzicus held the title of neokoros — official keeper of an imperial cult temple — and this coin asserts that status directly. The city earned its first neokorate under Hadrian and aggressively parlayed imperial favor into civic prestige throughout the Severan period. Under Septimius Severus, who needed eastern city loyalty after defeating his rival Pescennius Niger in 194, such honorific coinage served a concrete political purpose: Cyzicus had backed the right man.