Æ27 - Septimius Severus ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to twice-neokorate status — commemorated in the ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ legend — reflects the city's fierce rivalry with Nicaea over provincial primacy in Bithynia. The first neokorate was granted under Vespasian; the second came under Hadrian, and Nicomedia leveraged both grants aggressively in civic propaganda throughout the Severan period. Septimius Severus, having won the civil wars of 193–197, was a useful patron to invoke — his authority lent weight to a city still jostling for the title of first city of the province.