Æ27 - Septimius Severus ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "temple warden," here held twice, as the ΔΙϹ specifies — was a fiercely political designation in the imperial period. Cities across Asia Minor competed aggressively for neokorate status, which required direct imperial authorization and conferred enormous prestige in the provincial hierarchy. Nicomedia, as the administrative capital of Bithynia-Pontus, held its first neokorate under Hadrian and pressed for the second under Severus himself, likely leveraging loyalty during the civil wars of 193–194 against Pescennius Niger, whose base of support ran deep through the eastern provinces.