Mithridates VI launched this coinage during his occupation of Pergamon, one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world, seized after Rome's catastrophic defeat at the hands of his forces in 88 BC — a campaign that included the coordinated massacre of an estimated 80,000 Italian residents across Asia Minor in a single day. The tetradrachms struck at Pergamon deliberately borrowed the city's established monetary prestige, easing acceptance across a region already accustomed to Attic-weight silver.
The EIΣ B control mark places this piece within Callataÿ's chronological framework for the Pergamene series, datable to 83 BC as Mithridates' grip on the province was already beginning to fracture under Sulla's pressure.
Mithridates VI launched this coinage during his occupation of Pergamon, one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world, seized after Rome's catastrophic defeat at the hands of his forces in 88 BC — a campaign that included the coordinated massacre of an estimated 80,000 Italian residents across Asia Minor in a single day. The tetradrachms struck at Pergamon deliberately borrowed the city's established monetary prestige, easing acceptance across a region already accustomed to Attic-weight silver.
The EIΣ B control mark places this piece within Callataÿ's chronological framework for the Pergamene series, datable to 83 BC as Mithridates' grip on the province was already beginning to fracture under Sulla's pressure.