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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 3309660, member: 82322&quot;]Many of Mithradates’ types seem to illustrate the myth of Perseus. There are tetradrachms with Pegasos reverse, large bronzes of Athena head/Perseus, large Perseus/Pegasos bronzes, this aegis/Nike bronze, and a small bronze Perseus/harpa. Barclay Head explained the significance of the types:“On these coins the supposed Persian descent of Mithradates is emphasized by the types relating to Perseus.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Mithradates’ other bronze types include Zeus (who fathered Perseus) and Dionysos (who fought Perseus). Warwick Wroth speculated that the female head in ‘wolf’s skin’ type issued by Mithradates represents Andromeda.</p><p><br /></p><p>Wroth suggested that the ‘wolf’s skin’, which Mionnet called goat’s skin and James Millingen called griffin’s skin, is the skin of the ketos slain by Perseus.&nbsp; I am suggesting that both the Wroth &quot;Andromeda&quot; theory and the &quot;Amazon&quot; theory are correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mithradates’ other types are identified as “Ares” (?), “Head in leather cap”, and “Artemis”. These mythological figures are all identified by style; there is no certainty that Ares and Artemis are the correct identification. Those coins could depict other characters from Perseus’ cycle and we would not know.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mithradates loved poisons and pharmacology. He would have been attracted to Perseus as a hero who brought back poisons and cures from remote lands.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mithradates allied with Scythian tribes, possibly including the Sarmatians, a tribe named after lizards (<i>sauros</i>). A Persian, using the power of reptiles to fight Rome may have inspired the Perseus themes. Perseus would have appealed to the Greeks Mithradates sought to ally with.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mithradates&#039; coins were used and imitated in the Amazon lands of Scythia.&nbsp; I have seen &quot;imitations&quot; with bogus &quot;Amisos&quot;-style inscriptions.&nbsp; Lately I have been wondering if they are not imitations, but official issues of the tribes allied with Mithradates.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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