KINGS OF PONTOS. Mithradates VI Eupator, circa 120-63 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 32 mm, 16.72 g, 12 h), Pergamon. Year 204 of the Bithyno-Pontic era, 12th month = September 93 BC. Diademed head of Mithradates VI to right. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - MIΘPAΔATOY / EYΠATOPOΣ Pegasos grazing left; to left, star-in-crescent (Pontic royal badge); to right, ΔΣ (year) above monogram; in exergue, BI (month); all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Callataÿ p. 10 var. (IB instead of BI). HGC 7, 338 var. (IB instead of BI). SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Paris -. SNG von Aulock -. A fresh and attractive piece with a wonderful, monumental Hellenistic portrait. Light marks and with minor doubling and weakness on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.



One of the most significant innovations in the coinage of Mithradates VI was the introduction of year and month dating on the reverse dies. While for most of his predecessors, even the exact years of reigns are often unknown, the coins of Eupator, the greatest of the Pontic kings, can be dated with remarkable precision and linked to events recorded in literary and epigraphic sources.