Nomos AG
Auction 17 26 Oct 2018
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KINGS OF PONTOS. Mithradates VI Eupator, circa 120-63 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 30 mm, 16.59 g, 2 h), Amaseia or Sinope, c. 115/114. Diademed head of Mithradates VI to right, shown as a young man with slightly unruly hair, a short beard on his cheeks and below his chin, and with his diadem ends fluttering behind him. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ // ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ/ [Ε]ΥΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ Pegasos standing left, his right leg bent upwards and his head bent down to graze; above Pegasos's head to left, eight-rayed star above crescent; below belly, monogram . De Callataÿ -, but see D2/R2 for a very similar die pair. HGC 7 -. Cf. Waddington 116 and Winterthur 2388 (same types but struck from different dies). Of the highest rarity, one of only four known coins of this type, and the only example not in a museum. Some traces of corrosion and minor marks, otherwise, good very fine.
From a European collection.
This coin is not only extremely rare, but it also bears one of the finest and most realistic portraits ever to have appeared on a Greek coin. Mithradates VI Eupator was born c. 135 BC and became king upon the assassination of his father, Mithradates V, in 120. He was, however, under the regency of his mother Laodike VI; because of his adamantly independent nature, and his mother's obvious preference for his younger brother Mithradates Chestos, Eupator felt increasingly threatened. Considering how prevalent murder by poison was in Hellenistic courts (Eupator's father was murdered by poison at a banquet), his fear was surely justified. So, along with a small number of his friends, who served as his loyal companions, he went into a self-imposed internal exile during which he traveled all around his kingdom. Living rough most of the time, surviving by hunting – though often staying in local palaces or lodges – Eupator also carefully visited and familiarized himself with all of the military units in his kingdom. After approximately five years he returned, disposed of both his mother and younger brother (though he gave them honorable funerals), and began his tumultuous reign. The tetradrachm and stater coinage of Mithradates VI has been ably studied by the distinguished Belgian scholar François de Callataÿ; he divided them into two main groups, an undated series, which he implied began c. 100 and a much more massive dated series (separated into less and more idealized portrait groups) beginning c. 96. However, Eupator was a very active campaigner who expanded his kingdom considerably in the years prior to 100, and the possibility that he had issued no coinage at all during that period seems unlikely in the extreme. In fact, those undated issues actually fall into a number of groups, which are not only stylistically discrete but chronologically as well. The present coin, and the other three known examples of this group, was issued at the time of Eupator's return to full power in c. 115. It differs from all of his remaining issues by having a powerfully realistic portrait of the young king (then about 20): he is shown with a light, straggly beard and traces of a mustache, somewhat unruly hair, and a determined expression. In addition, the reverse shows Pegasos feeding left with a harpa below, and with the inscriptions above and underneath the type. All but the very earliest remaining issues show him beardless and an increasingly idealized, Alexander-the-Great-like portrait (similar to those on the coinage of Lysimachos – see the following two lots).
From a European collection.
This coin is not only extremely rare, but it also bears one of the finest and most realistic portraits ever to have appeared on a Greek coin. Mithradates VI Eupator was born c. 135 BC and became king upon the assassination of his father, Mithradates V, in 120. He was, however, under the regency of his mother Laodike VI; because of his adamantly independent nature, and his mother's obvious preference for his younger brother Mithradates Chestos, Eupator felt increasingly threatened. Considering how prevalent murder by poison was in Hellenistic courts (Eupator's father was murdered by poison at a banquet), his fear was surely justified. So, along with a small number of his friends, who served as his loyal companions, he went into a self-imposed internal exile during which he traveled all around his kingdom. Living rough most of the time, surviving by hunting – though often staying in local palaces or lodges – Eupator also carefully visited and familiarized himself with all of the military units in his kingdom. After approximately five years he returned, disposed of both his mother and younger brother (though he gave them honorable funerals), and began his tumultuous reign. The tetradrachm and stater coinage of Mithradates VI has been ably studied by the distinguished Belgian scholar François de Callataÿ; he divided them into two main groups, an undated series, which he implied began c. 100 and a much more massive dated series (separated into less and more idealized portrait groups) beginning c. 96. However, Eupator was a very active campaigner who expanded his kingdom considerably in the years prior to 100, and the possibility that he had issued no coinage at all during that period seems unlikely in the extreme. In fact, those undated issues actually fall into a number of groups, which are not only stylistically discrete but chronologically as well. The present coin, and the other three known examples of this group, was issued at the time of Eupator's return to full power in c. 115. It differs from all of his remaining issues by having a powerfully realistic portrait of the young king (then about 20): he is shown with a light, straggly beard and traces of a mustache, somewhat unruly hair, and a determined expression. In addition, the reverse shows Pegasos feeding left with a harpa below, and with the inscriptions above and underneath the type. All but the very earliest remaining issues show him beardless and an increasingly idealized, Alexander-the-Great-like portrait (similar to those on the coinage of Lysimachos – see the following two lots).