Amastris was founded as a synoikism around 300 BC by the Pontic princess Amastris, niece of Darius III, who merged four smaller settlements into a single polis. Under Roman imperial authority the city retained strong civic pride and a prolific local bronze coinage, issuing extensively under Gordian III during his six-year reign — itself cut short when the young emperor died on campaign against Shapur I in 244, almost certainly murdered by his own prefect Philip.
The Η in the inscription denotes a civic magistrate or grammateus, a detail that places this piece within a documented sequence of Amastrian issues trackable by officeholder rather than regnal year alone.
Amastris was founded as a synoikism around 300 BC by the Pontic princess Amastris, niece of Darius III, who merged four smaller settlements into a single polis. Under Roman imperial authority the city retained strong civic pride and a prolific local bronze coinage, issuing extensively under Gordian III during his six-year reign — itself cut short when the young emperor died on campaign against Shapur I in 244, almost certainly murdered by his own prefect Philip.
The Η in the inscription denotes a civic magistrate or grammateus, a detail that places this piece within a documented sequence of Amastrian issues trackable by officeholder rather than regnal year alone.