Stater - Eupator Marcus Aurelius

Eupator ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and these staters reflect that dependency with unusual directness — the obverse carries the Roman emperor's portrait rather than the local king's, a concession to imperial authority that distinguishes Bosporan gold from virtually every other client-state coinage of the period. Marcus Aurelius was deep into the Marcomannic Wars by 169, and Bosporan loyalty was not incidental; the kingdom controlled access to the northern Black Sea grain routes Rome depended upon.

The Anokhin sequence for Eupator's issues is tightly dated, making die-progression studies feasible for specialists.