Stater - Sauromates II Caracalla

Sauromates II ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and the paired portrait staters — showing the local dynast alongside the reigning emperor — were a deliberate political instrument, broadcasting loyalty to Rome while maintaining the fiction of independent kingship. By Caracalla's reign, this arrangement was well-established, but the Bosporan electrum had been quietly debased over generations, its gold content a fraction of what earlier Spartocid issues had carried. The 202 dating places this piece early in Sauromates II's reign, which ran until around 210 AD.