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Æ - Mithridates VI
| Issuer | Sinope (Paphlagonia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 85 BC - 65 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Eagle standing left atop a thunderbolt, head turned back to the right, with wings partially spread in a heraldic posture. The thunderbolt, a symbol of Zeus, is rendered horizontally beneath the eagle's talons with characteristic zigzag detail. A civic monogram appears to the left of the eagle in the field. The Greek ethnic legend ΣΙΝΩΠΗΣ is inscribed in the lower portion of the reverse field, identifying the issuing city of Sinope. The composition reflects the standard reverse type employed by Sinope under the dominion of Mithridates VI Eupator. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Sinope's bronze coinage under Mithridates VI falls within a period when the Pontic king was simultaneously fighting Rome, managing a vast Black Sea empire, and administering Sinope as one of his most prized possessions — he had taken the city in 183 BC under his predecessors and made it the Pontic royal capital. The date range of this issue spans the catastrophic Third Mithridatic War, which ended with Pompey's final campaign driving Mithridates from Pontus entirely by 65 BC.
Sinope fell to Lucullus in 70 BC, after which civic bronze production continued under altered political circumstances — coins struck after that point represent a city nominally free but practically Roman-controlled.