Sinope, Paphlagonia in Northern Anatolia is on the southern shores of the Black Sea and it is still a city today in modern Türkiye see map . This coin was issued in Sinope during the reign of Mithridates VI of Pontus, aka Mithriadates the Great, during the first century BC. Mithridates VI was born in Sinope around 135 BC to Mithridates V and Laodice VI. His father was poisoned in Sinope in 120 BC. Attributing this AE20 coin isn't too challenging - ΣINΩΠHΣ, Zeus and an eagle

This denarius, gives me a reason to return to the story of Sulla and the War with Mithridates VI of Pontus. After hastily wrapping up...

After the first Social War (91-88 BC), in which Lucius Cornelius Sulla distinguished himself as a general especially in his defeat of the Samnites. He was elected consul in 88 BC with Quintus Pompeius Rufus. In the same year, his partnership with Pompeius was cemented with the marriage of Cornelia, the daughter of Sulla and his first wife Julia, and Q. Pompeius Rufus, the son of the co-consul. Sulla, 50 years old, was married to his third wife, Cloelia, whom he pushed aside o

Attributing Parthian coins to a king and time period, can be complicated. This coin, 30.16, is assigned by Sellwood to an Unknown King (II), and by Shore as 134 it is mapped to Orodes I , and Sear maps it to Gotarzes I , and Mitchiner to Mithradates II , and Wroth to Artabanus II , and Gardner, Plate II #9 , to Phraates II . So clearly there has been some discussion over the years about who this type belongs to. Aside from the question of “who” is on this coin, this Parthian

This story of the first diplomatic contact between Rome and Parthia, is illustrated with three coins. The story begins around 101 BC when the first coin, a Roman republican denarius, was minted in Rome by L Sentius. The obverse is one of several that declare that the coin is made from the state treasury: "ARGentum PVBlicum" is abbreviated on the obverse as ARG PVB. Why some issues declare this is not known. Sentius was brother to C Sentius Cf, praetor urbanus in 94, the seni

“The cistophorus, with its writhing serpents and over-elaborate ornamentation, is perhaps the ugliest coin in the Greek series. ...

The coin shared today is a brockage of the Roman Republican denarius shown above. A brockage happens when a newly minted coin sticks to...

There are a few Roman republican coins with images of ships on them, here are two variants (control mark) of one of these coins: C....

Coins linked to Lucius Cornelius Sulla are one of the primary themes of my collection. The reverse on this coin references games that...

Asclepius (a.k.a. Aesculapius), son of Apollo and god of medicine, was one of the deities imported to Rome from the East. Asclepius was...

Coins related to the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla have been a key theme in my collecting the past couple of years. Continuing from my previous post , Sulla went off to fight Mithridates after damaging the Roman republic with his attack on Rome and the senate. He reclaimed from Marius the right to lead Roman legions against Rome's formidable enemy: Mithridates. Mithridates, king of Pontus, seized Asia and put to death all Roman citizens in it. He was a man about whom one ca

It was "Christmas in July" when this “Star of Bethlehem” coin arrived this week. Syria, Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch. AE Trichalkon, Q....

I have been reading the The Sunrise Collection, Assar's intro on Parthian coins. The most referenced resource for Parthian coins is...

Bankers' marks were a way to differentiate official coinage from counterfeit, and perhaps had other purposes that are lost (at least to...

In a previous post, I shared a coin from Brutus, that celebrated his family history of tyrannicide. This week, a much humbler coin, linked in time to an equally compelling story (and to Julius Caesar). This coin is an anonymous denarius which also has variants that are signed by Gargonius, Ogulnius and Vergilius. Anonymous issue, 86 BC, AR Denarius Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right, thunderbolt below, border of dots. Rev: Jupiter in quadriga right hurling thunderbolt, border

Here are three silver drachms from Illyria, one from Apollonia (AΠOΛ on reverse) and two from Dyrrhachion (ΔYP on reverse or straight...

This coin from Emperor Valerian was minted in his first year of reign. The portrait stype is much better than average for this emperor....

I was a little worried about the fragility of this coin when I bid on it and was pleasantly surprised see that, in hand, the flan crack...

The year 102 BC falls at the climax of the Cimbrian War (113–101 BC), one of the most dangerous military crises the Roman Republic had faced since Hannibal’s invasion a century earlier. Beginning around 113 BC, massive migrations of Germanic and Celtic peoples - principally the Cimbri, Teutones, and Ambrones - had swept southward from northern Europe, crushing Roman armies in a succession of catastrophic defeats. The Battle of Aurasio The Battle of Arausio in October 105 BC:

This unusual coin from Ariabia Felix is from the late 1st century or early second century AD. There doesn't seem to be much info on these...