Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Kings of Pontos |
|---|---|
| Year | 88 BC - 86 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of the deified Alexander III facing right, wearing the royal tiara and the horn of Ammon above the ear, assimilating the portrait to the divine lineage of Zeus-Ammon. The hair is rendered in thick, flowing locks radiating from the crown in the Hellenistic tradition. The effigy closely follows the Lysimachean prototype, with fine modeling of facial features including a strong brow, straight nose, and slightly parted lips. No legend appears on the obverse field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Minted at Tomis on the Black Sea coast during Mithridates VI's First Mithridatic War against Rome, this issue belongs to one of the most politically charged coinage programs of the late Hellenistic world. In 88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated the massacre of an estimated 80,000 Roman and Italian civilians across Asia Minor in a single coordinated day — the Asiatic Vespers — and these staters funded the military campaign that preceded and followed it. Tomis, a Greek city in what is now Romania, fell within his expanding Pontic dominion over the western Black Sea littoral during precisely this window.