Google with "Commodeia Commodus Nicaea" and you will find quite a lot .
Regards
Altamura
Thanks for the tip! Then the question would be - at the time of
Commodus - did he "infiltrate" the games under
his name - or does this coin explicitly refer to the games of
Commodus?
I also did some searching this morning and found this publication, among others:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-322-99019-8To sum up:
When
Augustus reorganised the eastern provinces of the empire in 30 BC after
his victory over Antony, he
had temples built in the cities of Nicomedeia and Nicaea, which were central places of worship for the entire province. The temple in Nicaea was dedicated to the goddess
Roma and the Divus lulius, i.e. the
dictator Caesar, the deified adoptive father of
Augustus. This cult was later transformed into a general cult of the emperors. The personified city of Nicaea itself was considered the administrator of the cult. She
had the right to the honorary title of "Steward of the Cult of
Augusti". In
Hadrian's time, the East Gate was renewed and the honorary titles of the city of Nicaea were
engraved on it - among others, the city was allowed to call itself "Pious Steward of the Cult of the Emperor". The city received the right to hold festive assemblies of all
Bithynia. The council also
met on this occasion. In connection with the annual assemblies of the κοινόν (Council meeting), a
fair was held, but so were festive games (agon), both musical and gymnastic (
CIG 1720. 3428). The so-called "Koina Bithynias" took place in the city under the name of "the Augousteia of Nicaea".
There were also coinages for the games outside the time of
Commodus. Before and after
Commodus, these games took place alongside the assembly of the council, the
fair and the emperor's festival.
What would surprise me - on this coin here - if these were the "Commodeia" - why does the
inscription only refer to the "sacered Games" from Nicaea?
But as I said - it is very possible that the annual games that have always taken place in the time of
Commodus were especially attributed to
Commodus and honoured. The only question is - did they honour the emperor as before or were the games really renamed as well?
Incidentally, the so-called Isthmian Games took place in Nicaea. Already before
Commodus - and after
Commodus:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agon_(Wettstreit)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isthmische_Spiele"Apart from these "large" isthmuses, there were also "smaller" ones, e.g. in Ankyra, Nikaia."