This issue dates to 88 BC, the year Mithridates VI launched his invasion of Roman Asia Minor and, in a single coordinated massacre, ordered the execution of every Italian and Roman national in the province — a death toll ancient sources place between 80,000 and 150,000 people. The mint at Pergamon, newly seized from Rome, struck this tetradrachm almost immediately after that event, making it coinage of occupation in the most literal sense.
Mithridates adopted the Attic weight standard here, a calculated appeal to the Greek cities of Asia who had just slaughtered their Roman overlords on his behalf.
This issue dates to 88 BC, the year Mithridates VI launched his invasion of Roman Asia Minor and, in a single coordinated massacre, ordered the execution of every Italian and Roman national in the province — a death toll ancient sources place between 80,000 and 150,000 people. The mint at Pergamon, newly seized from Rome, struck this tetradrachm almost immediately after that event, making it coinage of occupation in the most literal sense.
Mithridates adopted the Attic weight standard here, a calculated appeal to the Greek cities of Asia who had just slaughtered their Roman overlords on his behalf.