Æ28 - Septimius Severus ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea was one of the most prolific provincial minting cities under Severus, a consequence of its administrative weight as the effective capital of Bithynia — a status it contested bitterly with Nicomedia throughout the imperial period. That rivalry played out partly in bronze, with both cities issuing heavily during Severan rule as a form of civic self-promotion backed by imperial sanction.

The ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ ethnic inscription asserts municipal identity with the bluntness of a city that knew its standing and wanted Rome to know it too.