Æ27 - Trajan Decius ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea was among the most prolific civic minting authorities in Bithynia under the Severans and their successors, and continued issuing bronze through the reign of Trajan Decius despite the broader disintegration of the provincial bronze coinage system across much of the Greek East during the third century. Decius himself is notable for issuing the first empire-wide edict requiring all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods — the persecution that killed Pope Fabian and likely Origen.

The ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ ethnic on civic bronzes of this period signals municipally authorized production, not imperial mint output.