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Æ33 - Commodus ΜΗΤΡ ΝΕΩ ΝΙΚΟΜ
| Issuer | Nicomedia (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 184-190 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Hygieia, goddess of health, standing facing right in long draped garments, extending a patera in her right hand to feed a large serpent that rises before her. The figure is rendered in the classical Greek tradition with careful attention to drapery folds. The abbreviated civic legend of Nicomedia is distributed around the field within a beaded border. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Nicomedia's civic bronze coinage under Commodus reflects the city's aggressive pursuit of status titles during his reign — the legend referencing its standing as metropolis and neokoros (temple-warden) was not decorative but political, a formal acknowledgment extracted from Rome through lobbying and imperial favor. Nicomedia and Nicaea spent much of the second and third centuries in bitter rivalry over precisely these honorifics, with each title awarded by the emperor carrying real fiscal and ceremonial weight.
The size of this piece places it at the top of the local denominational hierarchy for the mint.