Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetradrachm - Mithridates VI Eupator Pergamon; ΘΣ I
| Issuer | Kings of Pontos |
|---|---|
| Year | 209 (88 BC) |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Diademed and youthful bare-headed bust of Mithridates VI Eupator facing right, rendered in the idealized Hellenistic portrait style with a pronounced aquiline profile and flowing, richly detailed hair swept back in wild locks. The diadem is tied at the nape, with its ends falling behind the neck. The portrait is executed with exceptional artistic quality, displaying deep, sculptural relief characteristic of the Pergamene engraving tradition. No legend appears on the obverse, the entire field being dominated by the royal effigy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Pegasus grazing to the left, depicted in a naturalistic stance with head lowered, rendered in fine relief. To the left in the field appears the Pontic royal badge of a star-in-crescent. To the right, the regnal year ΘΣ (year 209 of the Pontic Era) is inscribed above a monogram, with the month numeral I (month 1) placed in the exergue. The entire reverse design is enclosed within a Dionysiac wreath of ivy leaves and fruit. The primary Greek legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ MIΘPAΔATOY EYΠATOPOΣ, reading 'of King Mithridates Eupator', surrounds the central design. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Mithridates VI launched his first invasion of the Roman province of Asia in 88 BC, and the cities surrendered so rapidly that within weeks he ordered the massacre of every Italian resident in Asia Minor — a single day's slaughter estimated at 80,000 people, known as the Asiatic Vespers. Coinage of regnal year 209 was struck at Pergamon almost certainly in direct support of that campaign, the city having opened its gates without resistance and become one of his primary western mints almost immediately.
De Callataÿ's die studies show the Pergamon mint operating at considerable intensity during this period, and ΘΣ monogram control marks allow individual emission groups to be sequenced within the year.