Mithradates VI

Gotta love this guy for sticking it to Rome and being an early adopter of poison resistance technology. Of course, Sulla wins in the end and so does the poison.

The reverse has my favorite new thing "cista mystica". I'm not sure what it is but I like to say "cista mystica". It's some sort of a snake box so it's pretty cool I think.

This coin came with Sir Cyril Lockett's round cabinet tag which is also pretty cool.

 

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I like these coins of Amisos very much. The pedigree of your coin makes it even more interesting.

I have one which is one of my personal favorites.


AMISOS, PONTOS AE 20
OBVERSE: Head of youthful Dionysos right, wreathed with ivy REVERSE: Thyrsos leaning against cista mystica draped with panther skin; AMISOU below
Struck at Amisos 85-65 BC
8.8g, 21mm
SNG BM Black Sea 1199-1200; HGC 7, 243

 

Yours is scary perfect! And it's bigger than mine (story of my life).

 

What is the weight and diameter of your coin? What I find about your coin to be very interesting are the field marks on the reverse which mine are lacking. The marks on your coin appears to be initials/letters. Perhaps magistrates?

 

Speaking of which, the snake in the cista mystica is essentially a phallic symbol, although it has various connotations. Here's the numiswiki blurb...

Cista Mystica

Great coin, though. I do not own one of the same type to share.

 

Oval shaped 21X18 mm and 8.69gms. Notice there are monograms left and right. Panther skin on the snake box? Even cooler!

 

Very nice coin!

 

And Philip never again does it with the Bride of the Serpent!? There's a story here for sure.

 

Sounds like apocryphal elaboration to me. If Alexander the Great had turned out to be Alexander the Loser, we might be reading a legend about Olympias sleeping with a pig.

 

Very cool! Has some nice patina.

 

Nice coin. Never knew what cista mystica was, but I did know the coins looked cool.

 

cool coin JBG and bing, that's a great one. pontos coins in general seem to be pretty awesome.

 

Ditto what Bing said. Nice pickup, JB. I don't have one of them myself, but these cista mystica types definitely have some snakey charm.

Here's another one struck by Mithridates VI at Amisos, the design making allusion to Mithridates as Perseus and the Romans as Medusa. Wishful thinking, ultimately .


PONTOS, Amisos
Time of Mithridates VI, circa 85 - 65 BC
AE 28. 19.3g, 28mm.
SNG Stancomb 683 var. (monograms).
O: Head of Athena right, wearing a helmet decorated with Pegasus springing right.
R: AMISOY, Perseus standing facing, holding harpa and head of Medusa, Medusa's body at his feet gushing blood, monograms in left and right field.

 

Great coin Zumbly! A lot of stuff going on on this one. Coins with violence would be a great thread. Love that Medusa head!

 

I'm Pontos fan too

 

Beauties!

 

I have one lonely Pontic bronze to share, which I wasn't even looking to collect, but I stumbled across it at BBA at a price I couldn't refuse.

Amisos, Pontos, time of Mithridates VI.
AE 18mm; 4.6g, circa 120-63 BC.
Obv.: Bust of Mithridates as Perseus right, wing at his temple.
Rev.: Cornucopiae between two pilei (caps of the Dioskuri) each surmounted by a star; AMI-ΣOY.
Reference: SNG Stockholm 1848; SNG Cop. 161; BMC 65; Waddington 32.

 

My only other coins from Amisos, Pontos:

AMISOS, PONTOS AE 21
OBVERSE: Gorgonian head facing on shield
REVERSE: AMI-SOU to left and right of Nike advancing right, holding palm over shoulder; ME monogram to left, VTE monogram to right Struck at Amisos 80 BC
7.6g, 21mm
SNG BMC 1190


AMISOS, PONTOS Æ17
OBVERSE: Head of Dionysos with ivy-wreath right
REVERSE: AM-ISOS, Thyrsos; monogram to right
Struck at Amisos 85-65 BC
4.0g, 17mm
SNG BM 1192-1195

 

Wow, JBG => that's a fantastic new edition (yummy!!) ... Bing, I really like your example as well (that baby is sweet) ...

sadly, I don't have one of those cool cista mystica examples ... however, I do have another cista mystica example that is pretty cool ...

Mysia – PERGAMON,
Cistophoric Tetradrachm
123 - 104 BC
Diameter: 27 mm
Weight: 12.4 grams
Obverse: Cista mystica within ivy wreath
Reverse: two serpents entwined around bowcase; BO above





Oh, and I'll also toss-in a couple of Pontos examples from the time of M-dawg VI ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus

PONTOS, Amisos. temp. Mithradates VI. Æ20
Circa 85-65 BC
Diameter: 20 mm
Weight: 8.49 grams
Obverse: Laureate head of Zeus right
Reverse: Eagle standing left, head right, on thunderbolt; monogram to left



Pontos, Amisos Æ 26
(Under Mithradates VI Eupator)
Circa 120-111 or 100-95 BC
Diameter: 26 mm
Weight: 21.10 grams
Obverse: Draped bust right, wearing bashlik
Reverse: AMI-ΣOY across field, quiver and unstrung bow

 

Way cool cista mystica! I'm bidding on this one now! Fingers crossed