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Tetradrachm - Prusias II Kynegos Nikomedeia
| Issuer | Kings of Bithynia |
|---|---|
| Year | 182 BC - 149 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 16.8 g |
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| Reverse description | Zeus Nikephoros standing left, partially draped about the lower body, extending his right hand to hold an olive wreath above the royal name in the legend. In his left hand he holds a long upright scepter. To the left of the deity, an eagle stands left atop a thunderbolt, beneath which appears a monogram. The composition follows the standard Hellenistic divine-king imagery associating Bithynian royal authority with Zeus. The bi-linear legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΡΟΥΣΙΟΥ flanks the central figure in the field. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΡΟΥΣΙΟΥ (Translation: King Prusias II) |
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| Additional information |
Prusias II earned the epithet Kynegos — "the Hunter" — a nickname that tells you something about how his contemporaries regarded his priorities. He spent much of his reign maneuvering between Rome and Pergamon with conspicuous unsuccess, ultimately murdering his own father Prusias I to secure the throne, then later sending his son Nicomedes to Rome as a hostage. That son returned in 149 BC with Roman backing and had his father killed, ending both the reign and the dynasty's last moment of independence.
Nikomedeia served as the Bithynian royal mint throughout this period. SNG von Aulock 251 places this issue firmly within the dynastic sequence, though die linkage studies have shown considerable variation across the reign's output.