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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 3072999, member: 82322&quot;]Anyone interested in Mithradates should read <i>The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome&#039;s Deadliest Enemy</i> by Adrienne Mayor.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have two related coins to show.&nbsp; The first used to display the horse and comet, like yours, but was countermarked with a gorgoneion rendering the comets invisible.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]772416[/ATTACH] </p><p>Pontos? AE Chalkous. 10mm. 2.83g.</p><p>Obv: Horse head right; countermark: facing Gorgoneion.</p><p>Rev: (obliterated)</p><p><br /></p><p>Note: although the Lanz cataloger suggested a Cappadocian origin I suspect the host coin is a Pontos Uncertain horse/comet.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next coin is not normally called a comet coin.&nbsp; The reverse shows a cornucopia flanked by piloi (hats) topped by &quot;stars&quot;.&nbsp; I believe these are comets.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]772417[/ATTACH] </p><p>Paphlagonia, Sinope. circa 120-100 BC, Æ15, 4.58g.</p><p>Obv: Winged and draped bust (of Mithradates or Perseus?) right.</p><p>Rev: [Σ]INΩΠHΣ. Cornucopia flanked by piloi surmounted by stars (or comets?).</p><p>Ref: Lindgren and Kovacs 91, SNG Black Sea 1520-, SNG Stancomb 791.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the year Mithridates was born, comets appeared in the constellation of Pegasus. Justinus, a 4th-century historian, reports that “it burned so brightly for 70 days that the entire sky seemed to be on fire.” In 119 BCE, when the 15-year-old Mithridates deposed his mother and seized the throne for himself, another comet appeared. Justin&#039;s account of the two comets was based on lost history by Pompeius Trogus whose uncle, a cavalry officer from the Vocontian tribe of Gaul, fought in the Mithradatic wars. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are several coins of Mithridates depicting &quot;stars&quot;, sometimes with curved tails. Some of them are believed to illustrate the comets. This particular design is said to depict &quot;caps of the Dioscuri&quot; and not usually connected with the comets. To me the comet connection seems obvious. This bust could be the teenage Mithridates, immediately upon seizing the throne of Pontus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The cornucopia in the middle symbolizes the prosperity Mithridates brings.&nbsp; The hats are symbolic of the freedom he brings.&nbsp; The comets prove his claims are genuine.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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