Æ29 - Caracalla ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Nicaea was one of the most productive civic mints in Bithynia under the Severan dynasty, issuing bronze coinage in Caracalla's name across nearly his entire reign — from his elevation to co-emperor under Septimius Severus in 198 through his murder by a soldier near Carrhae in 217. The city had long competed with neighboring Nicomedia for the title of first city of Bithynia, and prolific coin output was partly a tool of that rivalry, demonstrating civic prestige through sheer volume of imperial flattery in bronze.