Æ28 - Elagabalus ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "thrice temple-warden" — was hard won and politically loaded. The city had competed bitterly with Nicaea and Pergamon for imperial cult honors, and its third neokorate, granted under Caracalla, was still fresh enough during Elagabalus's reign to warrant prominent advertisement on civic bronze. These titles were not ceremonial vanity; they translated directly into festival rights, tax privileges, and the ability to host imperial games that drew revenue from across the province.

Elagabalus himself never visited Bithynia, making this issue purely a local act of loyalty projection toward a teenage emperor whose grip on the eastern court was already visibly unstable.