Æ27 - Philip I ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia held the title of neokoros — temple warden — twice over by Philip's reign, having earned it first under Domitian and again under Septimius Severus, a distinction the city aggressively advertised on its coinage as proof of imperial favor and religious seniority over rival Bithynian cities, particularly Nicaea. The phrase ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ encoded that rivalry directly into the bronze.

Philip I came to power after engineering, or at minimum tolerating, the murder of Gordian III on campaign against Persia in 244.