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Æ27 - Caracalla ΤΟΝ ΚΤΙϹΤΗΝ ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ
| Issuer | Nicaea (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 198-217 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and cuirassed bust of Emperor Caracalla facing right, depicted from the rear in three-quarter perspective, with detailed rendering of the muscled cuirass and paludamentum visible at the shoulder. The emperor's portrait features his characteristic short curly hair and beard beneath a radiate laurel wreath. The Greek legend ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟϹ ΑΥΓΟΥϹΤΟϹ surrounds the effigy, partially visible along the left and right fields. The die engraving is bold and vigorous, consistent with the provincial bronze coinage of Bithynia under the Severan dynasty. |
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| Mint | Nicaea (Bithynia) |
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The honorific ΚΤΙϹΤΗΝ — "founder" — applied to Caracalla by Nicaea is a studied piece of flattery with real political stakes. Nicaea and its neighbor Nicomedia conducted a bitter, decades-long rivalry over the title of "first city" of Bithynia, each lobbying emperors aggressively for prestigious epithets and neokorate status. Attaching a founding honorific to the emperor was precisely the kind of costly civic gesture designed to win imperial favor in that competition.
Caracalla visited the region during his eastern campaigns, which likely prompted a fresh round of such honorific bronze issues from Bithynian cities competing for his attention.