Æ27 - Caracalla ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "twice temple warden" — was a matter of fierce civic competition in the Roman east. The city had long rivaled Nicaea for primacy in Bithynia, and the right to maintain an imperial cult temple, granted twice over, was both a religious honor and a political weapon used in that ongoing dispute. Caracalla's reign saw several cities in Asia Minor pressing hard for neokorate status, and imperial patronage was the price of loyalty during his increasingly erratic campaigns.