Sestertius - Sauromates I

Sauromates I ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and his coinage reflects that dependency directly — his bronzes were struck in deliberate imitation of Roman sestertius types, borrowing imperial iconographic conventions to reinforce his legitimacy with both his Roman patrons and his local population. The kingdom, centered on the Crimean peninsula and controlling the grain trade through the Cimmerian Bosporus, depended on Roman goodwill for its survival against steppe pressure from the north.

MacDonald 410/2 is among the more precisely documented varieties of his reign, which spanned the transition from Trajan to Hadrian.