Æ29 - Elagabalus ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΤΡΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "thrice temple warden" — was a hard-won civic honor, each neokorate granted by Rome for establishing an imperial cult. The city had been jockeying with Nicaea for provincial supremacy since Augustus, and these titles were the official scoreboard. Elagabalus, whose reign was too brief and too chaotic to leave much administrative legacy, nonetheless confirmed or extended neokorate honors to several eastern cities, likely as part of the broader flattery exchanged between Rome and the Greek-speaking provinces.