Æ32 - Pupienus and Balbinus ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Pupienus and Balbinus were co-emperors for just 99 days in 238 AD — the Year of the Six Emperors — before the Praetorian Guard murdered both men and dragged their bodies through the streets of Rome. Provincial mints like Nicomedia, which had already struck coins acknowledging the joint reign, found themselves pivoting rapidly to Gordian III before the bronze had time to cool. The neokoros title borne by Nicomedia — awarded for housing an imperially sanctioned temple — made the city a natural venue for loyalist coinage honoring the current rulers, however briefly they held power.