Cyzicus held the rare distinction of being a multiple neokorate city — an official keeper of imperial cult temples — and the title ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ on this bronze reflects civic pride in that status, which the city lobbied hard to maintain through successive reigns. Under Severus Alexander, whose reign was defined by attempts to restore senatorial dignity after Elagabalus's excesses, provincial cities across Asia Minor competed aggressively for imperial favor and the honorific recognitions that came with it. Cyzicus was well-positioned: its harbor on the Propontis made it one of the wealthiest cities in the conventus.
Cyzicus held the rare distinction of being a multiple neokorate city — an official keeper of imperial cult temples — and the title ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ on this bronze reflects civic pride in that status, which the city lobbied hard to maintain through successive reigns. Under Severus Alexander, whose reign was defined by attempts to restore senatorial dignity after Elagabalus's excesses, provincial cities across Asia Minor competed aggressively for imperial favor and the honorific recognitions that came with it. Cyzicus was well-positioned: its harbor on the Propontis made it one of the wealthiest cities in the conventus.