Æ28 - Mithridates VI

Amisos occupied a peculiar political position during this period — nominally a Greek polis with its own civic traditions, it had been refounded as Peiraieos under Mithridates V and was being steadily absorbed into the Pontic kingdom even as it continued issuing civic bronze. These coins belong to the reign of Mithridates VI, who inherited the kingdom around 120 BC as a minor and, by some ancient accounts, fled into the mountains for years to escape assassination attempts orchestrated by his own mother. The civic bronze of Amisos from this transitional period reflects the city's uneasy status — still projecting Greek identity while increasingly under royal control.