Æ27 - Philip I ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩ

Nicomedia held the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — twice over, a distinction advertised aggressively on civic coinage during the third century as cities across Bithynia competed for Roman favor and the economic benefits that came with hosting imperial temples. Philip I's reign, sandwiched between the chaos of Gordian III's death and the Decian persecution, offered a brief window of relative stability in which provincial mints like Nicomedia pushed out civic bronzes reinforcing their privileged status. The ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩ inscription is the point — the coin is essentially a municipal credential struck in metal.