Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ33 - Septimius Severus ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩΝ ΔΙϹ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ
| Issuer | Nicomedia (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 193-211 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | RPC V.2#73587 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A frontal view of an octastyle temple set upon a stepped podium, rendered in careful perspective with eight fluted columns supporting an entablature and triangular pediment ornamented with acroteria and decorative relief. The architectural detail is finely struck, with the steps of the podium clearly delineated below the colonnade. The Greek legend encircles the design, divided to either side and below the temple, referencing Nicomedia's status as a twice-neocorate city. The overall composition is characteristic of the prestigious neocorate temple issues of Bithynia under the Severan dynasty. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Nicomedia's claim to the title ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — "twice temple warden" — was a fiercely political honor, granted by Rome to cities that constructed imperial cult temples at their own expense. The city's second neokorate, reflected in the ΔΙϹ on this coin, was acquired under Septimius Severus himself, making civic bronze issues of this reign the earliest on which Nicomedia could legally advertise both titles simultaneously.
Rival Nicaea contested Nicomedia's precedence bitterly throughout the second and third centuries, and the prominence of the neokorate legend on local bronzes was as much municipal propaganda as civic pride.