Bronze AE31 Mithridates VI

Sinope was Mithridates VI's birthplace and the capital of his Pontic kingdom, and bronze coinage struck there in the final decades of his reign was produced under the shadow of sustained Roman military pressure. The Third Mithridatic War began in 74 BC, and by 70 BC Roman forces under Lucullus had tightened their grip on Pontic territory significantly. Sinope itself fell to Lucullus in 70 BC, which effectively closes the upper bound on civic bronze production under Pontic authority — making pieces attributable to the later part of this date range considerably scarcer than the range implies.