Æ22 Countermarked

Tomis, the Black Sea Greek colony later immortalized as the place of Ovid's exile, issued autonomous bronze coinage during a period when the western Pontic cities operated under persistent pressure from Thracian tribes and shifting Macedonian influence following the death of Lysimachus in 281 BC. The countermark on this piece is the more interesting detail — applied after original issue, likely by civic or military authority to revalidate coinage whose legitimacy or weight standard had come into question, a practice well-documented among the Pontic Greek cities during the third century.