Æ30 - Caracalla ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Nicomedia's claim to the title ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — temple-warden — was a matter of fierce civic competition throughout the second and third centuries. The city had held neokorate status since the time of Domitian, and the designation ΔΙϹ (twice) reflects a second grant, likely under Septimius Severus or Caracalla himself, secured through political maneuvering at the imperial court rather than any organic religious distinction. Rival Nicaea contested Nicomedia's precedence relentlessly, and the prominence of the neokorate title on civic bronze was partly a public argument in that ongoing dispute.