Ancient Coin Stories

Let coins tell their stories…

Kings of Pontos. Mithradates VI (120-63 BC)
Ionia. Smyrna. Hermogenes and Phrixos, magistrates
85-75 BCE 24.14mm 12.54g
Obverse: Diademed head of Mithradates VI right
Reverse: ZMYPNAIΩN – EPMOΓΕΝΗΣ – ΦΡΙΞΟΣ, Nike standing right, holding wreath and palm frond
SNG Copenhagen 1206
Ex Marc Breitsprecher

The coinage of earliest Pontic kings are considered works of art and go for tens of thousands. My example is far more modest and comes from Mithradates VI, who gave the Roman Empire a good run for their money.

301 BCE

Amaseia and Amisos are incorporated into the Kingdom of Pontus when Mithridates I Ktistes establishes the Pontic Kingdom. Amaseia is chosen as the capital, due to its strategic location in a defensible valley along the Iris River.

183 BCE

Mithridates V Euergetes is born in Amaseia. He later becomes a key ruler of Pontus and expands the kingdom’s influence.

88 BCE

Adramytteion, Ephesos, Pergamon, Magnesia, Tralles, Apamea, Kolophon, Smyrna, and Sardis occupied by Mithridates VI as part of the Mithridatic Wars against Rome.

88 BCE

Chalkis is used by Mithridates VI for invading Greece.

88 BCE

Mithridates VI’s troops take Delos and ransack it.

86 BCE

During the First Mithridatic War, the Roman general Sulla sacks Aegina as he attempts to defeat Mithridates VI of Pontus.

86 BCE

Taxiles, a general of Mithridates VI, attempts to take Elataia but the city successfully resists. The Romans declare Elataia a free city in gratitude.

84 BCE

Sulla defeats Mithridates VI and ends the Mithridatic Wars with the Treaty of Dardanos. Adramytteion, Ephesos, Pergamon, Smyrna, Sardis, Tralles, Kolophon, Apamea, and Magnesia return to Roman control.

74 BCE

Ilion sides with the Roman general Lucullus against Mithridates VI.

69 BCE

Delos destroyed again by pirates under Athenodoros, an ally of Mithridates VI.

63 BCE

Following the defeat of Mithridates VI by Pompey the Great, Amastris, Amisos, and Amaseia are integrated into the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus.

26 BCE

The Pontic Kingdom is officially annexed to the Roman Empire. Amaseia is no longer the capital because it is reorganized into the province of Galatia.