Olbia, the Milesian colony at the mouth of the Bug River on the Black Sea's northern shore, had one of the ancient world's most idiosyncratic monetary histories — including early cast bronze dolphin-shaped currency in the fifth century BC. By the first century BC the city was under sustained pressure from Scythian and later Getan raids, and Mithridates VI of Pontus effectively absorbed it into his sphere around 80 BC. These bronzes circulate within that narrow window of fragile quasi-autonomy before the city was sacked by the Getae under Burebista around 55–50 BC, an event Dio Chrysostom later described as leaving Olbia entirely depopulated.
Olbia, the Milesian colony at the mouth of the Bug River on the Black Sea's northern shore, had one of the ancient world's most idiosyncratic monetary histories — including early cast bronze dolphin-shaped currency in the fifth century BC. By the first century BC the city was under sustained pressure from Scythian and later Getan raids, and Mithridates VI of Pontus effectively absorbed it into his sphere around 80 BC. These bronzes circulate within that narrow window of fragile quasi-autonomy before the city was sacked by the Getae under Burebista around 55–50 BC, an event Dio Chrysostom later described as leaving Olbia entirely depopulated.