Tetradrachm - Mithridates VI Eupator Pergamon; CKΣ IA

Mithridates VI struck these tetradrachms at Pergamon following his seizure of the city during the First Mithridatic War, co-opting one of the ancient world's most prestigious minting facilities as a direct provocation to Rome. The regal year 226 places this coin in 71 BC — the final, desperate phase of the Third Mithridatic War, when Lucullus was systematically dismantling Pontic power in Anatolia and Mithridates was hemorrhaging both territory and allies.

The CKΣ IA notation indicates regnal year 226, month 11 of the Pontic calendar, a dating system that helps specialists sequence the output of this prolific but compressed late issue.