CAPPADOCIA. Caesaraea-Eusebia. Domitian, 81-96. Tetrassarion (Bronze, 27 mm, 14.21 g, 12 h), T. Pomponius Bassus, legatus Augusti pro praetore Galatiae et Cappadociae, 95/6-99/100, year 15 = 95/6. AYTO KAI ΔOMITIANOC CЄBACTOC ΓЄPMA Laureate head of Domitian to right. Rev. ЄΠI TIT ΠOΠ BACCOY ΠPЄCBЄY ЄT IЄ Mount Argaios surmounted by statue of Sol-Helios, radiate, holding globe in his right hand and long scepter with his left. RPC II 1687 corr. (reverse legend arrangment). Stumpf 439. Attractive patina and with a wonderful rendering of the Argaios with its subsidiary summits and the statue of Sol-Helios atop. Minor cleaning marks, otherwise, good very fine.

T. Pomponius Bassus was a suffect consul in 94 before being appointed to governor of the important province of Galatia and Cappadocia in 95. He had been a legate of Trajan's father in 79/80, which may have helped him to continue his career under Nerva and Trajan. Bassus is the addressee of Plinius epististulae 4.23, in which Pliny greets the then retired politician and compliments him for remaining mentally and physically active