Bronze AE 29, Greek – Black Sea Region - Kingdom of Pontus, Anonymous Issue, c. 130-100 BC
Obv: Male head, left, wearing leather cap; Countermarks of facing gorgon, thunderbolt, & helmet
Rev: 8 pointed star or sunburst, bow
VF+ condition, black patina
Scarce - Reference SNG BMC Black Sea 927ff, CNG Triton V, Lot 402 (Davd Freeman Collection)
29 mm, 19.04 gm
The Kingdom of Pontus or Pontic Empire was a state founded by the Persian Mithridatic dynasty, which may have been directly related to Darius the Great and the Achaemenid dynasty. The kingdom was proclaimed by Mithridates I in 281 BC and lasted until its conquest by the Roman Republic in 63 BC. It reached its largest extent under Mithridates VI the Great, who conquered Colchis, Cappadocia, Bithynia, the Greek colonies of the Tauric Chersonesos, and for a brief time the Roman province of Asia. After a long struggle with Rome in the Mithridatic Wars, Pontus was defeated; part of it was incorporated into the Roman Republic as the province Bithynia et Pontus, and the eastern half survived as a client kingdom.
As the greater part of the kingdom lay within the region of Cappadocia, which in early ages extended from the borders of Cilicia to the Euxine (Black Sea), the kingdom as a whole was at first called 'Cappadocia by Pontus' or 'Cappadocia by the Euxine', but afterwards simply 'Pontus', the name Cappadocia henceforth being used to refer to the southern half of the region previously included under that name.
Culturally, the kingdom was Hellenized, with Greek the official language.
A scarce and attractive large Greek bronze coin in very nice condition with clear countermarks, nicer than the CNG Triton V specimen (sold 01/16/2002 for $253).
