KINGS OF PONTOS. Mithradates VI Eupator, circa 120-63 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 31 mm, 16.81 g, 11 h), Pergamon, BE 223, 9th month = June 74 BC. Diademed head of Mithradates VI to right. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - MIΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ / EYΠATOPOΣ Stag grazing left; to left, star-in-crescent (Pontic royal badge) above monogram; to right, ΓΚΣ (year) above monogram; in exergue, Θ (month); all within Dionysiac wreath of ivy and fruit. Callataÿ p. 20, - (unlisted dies). Davis 186. HGC 7, 340. RG p. 19, 16. SNG Ashmolean 201. SNG Paris 817. Triton XIX (2016), 144 (same obverse die). Beautifully toned and very well preserved, with an incredibly lifelike portrait, ranking among the finest representations of Mithradates VI. Minor marks, otherwise, extremely fine.

With Mithridates VI, we reach a high point in the Hellenistic imitatio Alexandri. Although (or perhaps because?) the once-young Pontic king was likely around 60 years old at the time our splendid tetradrachm was minted in 74 BC, his late portraits increasingly followed the youthful, energetic, early Hellenistic portrait type of Alexander the Great, with wild hair and a prominent anastolé. Our coin was minted during the period when the Bithynian king Nicomedes IV passed away and bequeathed his kingdom posthumously to the Roman Republic. Mithridates, seeking to prevent the expansion of Roman power in Asia Minor, then invaded Bithynia. With Rome occupied by the rebellion of Sertorius in Spain, its response in Asia Minor was insufficient, allowing the Pontic king to decisively defeat the fleet and army of Marcus Aurelius Cotta at the Battle of Chalcedon in 74 BC. However, the following year marked a turning point in the war when Lucullus defeated the king in several battles and drove him out of Bithynia. Nevertheless, the epic struggle would continue for another decade, only coming to an end with the suicide of the old king in Crimea in 63 BC