Æ24 - Sulpicius Rufus EX D D

Julius Caesar refounded Sinope as a Roman colony in 47/46 BC — one of his earliest colonial foundations in the eastern provinces — resettling it with veterans and freedmen and stripping it of its old Pontic civic identity almost immediately. The magistrate name Sulpicius Rufus appears on this issue as a local duovir or colonial official, the EX D D formula indicating the senate's decree authorizing the striking. Colonial bronze of this very first generation is scarce; most survivors show heavy wear from active use in a newly monetized population.