Æ31 - Marcus Aurelius ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ ΝΕΩΚΟ ΝΙΚΟΜ

Nicomedia's claim to the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — was a source of intense civic rivalry with Nicaea throughout the second century. This coin almost certainly belongs to that contest. The ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ legend invokes concord between cities, a formula commonly deployed when two competing poleis needed Rome to adjudicate their status disputes rather than resolve them through open hostility. Under Marcus Aurelius, such inter-city tensions in Bithynia were well documented, with both Nicomedia and Nicaea lobbying aggressively for precedence in temple rank.