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Stater - Sauromates I Trajan
| Issuer | Bosporan Kingdom (Bosporos) |
|---|---|
| Year | 104 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 19 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Bare-headed and laureate bust of the Roman Emperor Trajan facing right, rendered in a bold, high-relief style with curly hair bound by a laurel wreath. The portrait displays the characteristic Roman imperial iconography adapted to Bosporan coinage, with the neck and upper drapery visible at the truncation. The reverse field is largely plain, with the Greek date letter Y (representing regnal year 400 in the Bosporan era) positioned in the field. |
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| Additional information |
Sauromates I ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and this stater belongs to the series issued under Trajan's overlordship — a relationship formalized through political submission and backed by Roman military guarantees against steppe incursions. The Bosporan gold stater had by this period evolved into something distinctly hybrid: nominally Greek in denomination and tradition, but increasingly subordinate in iconography to the reigning emperor in Rome.
MacDonald 375/1 places this among the earlier issues of the Sauromates I series, before the progressive debasement that would gradually erode the gold content of later Bosporan staters across the second and third centuries.