A guide to the principal gold and silver coins of the ancients ...

B.C. 100-]. 107
VII. A.
Plates 60-63.
Plate 60. 1. Pontus. Mithradates (the Great) Eupator (Dionysus),
B.C. 121-63. AT. 06u. Headofking. i^g?;. BAZIAEQZ
MI0PAAATOY EYHATOPOZ. Stag, feeding. In front, suu
and crescent moon. The whole in ivy-wreath. Wt. 131 grs.
This beautiful gold stater bears the mint-mark of the
city of Pergamus, which, with all Asia Minor as far as
the Maeander, fell into the hands of Mithradates in B.C. 88.
He remained master of the former residence of the Roman
governor for more than two years. The ivy-wreath
adopted from the cistophori may allude to the title of
the " new Dionysus," by which the cities of Asia hailed
Mithradates as their deliverer from the tyranny of the
Roman rule.
2. Pontus. Mithradates Eupator. JR. Similar to preceding,
but bearing date 222 of the Bithynian era = B.C. 75. Wt. 2.59-2 grs.
The head on the coins of Mithradates is supposed by
Visconti to be copied from a silver statue mentioned by
Pliny (1. 33, xii. 54). The movement of the hair, blown
back by the wind, seems to indicate that the original
may have been either an equestrian statue or that of a
charioteer.
3. Bithynia. Nicomedes III., B.C. 91-74. M. Ohv. Head of
king. i?eu. BAZIAEaZ Enic|>ANOYZ NIKOMHAOY. Zeus,
holding wreath and sceptre. In field, eagle on thunderbolt, and
date 2i4 of the Bithynian era, which commenced in B.C. 297.
Wt. 247-6 grs.
This coin was therefore struck in B.C. 84.
4. Ephesus. JR. Cistophorus. Obv. Cista mystica and serpent,
Two serpents,
in ivy-wreath. i?eu. T.AM PI.T.F.PRO . COS .
on either side of tripod ; above which, Apollo. In field, torch, and
EE EPMIAZ KAIYZTP and OZ = year 77 of the province
of Asia = B.C. 58-57. Wt. 192 grs.
The name of the Roman proconsul of Asia begins to
appear in Latin on the cistophori about B.C. 61-58, when
Q. Tullius Cicero held that office ; T. Ampius Balbus
was Q. Cicero's immediate successor.