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Stater - Sauromates I Hadrian
| Issuer | Bosporan Kingdom (Bosporos) |
|---|---|
| Year | 121 |
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| Composition | Gold |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Bare-headed, laureate and bearded bust of the Roman Emperor Hadrian facing right, rendered with characteristic curly hair and short beard in the Roman imperial portrait tradition. A laurel wreath crowns the head, and a ribbon or taenia is visible behind the ear. The Greek date legend ΖΙΥ appears in the lower field below the bust, within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
Sauromates I ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client king under Roman authority, and these gold staters mark a precise moment in that relationship — struck to commemorate the formal recognition of Hadrian's reign, whose accession in 117 AD took several years to be reflected in Bosporan coinage. The kingdom's mint at Panticapaeum had long used the stater as its prestige denomination, a tradition stretching back to the Achaemenid period, and the Julio-Claudian-era shift toward jugate royal-imperial portraiture on these issues was a deliberate political signal, not a stylistic whim.