AE 30 — Amisos, Pontos — Time of Mithradates VI Eupator — Athena — Perseus

Obverse: Helmeted head of Athena right

Reverse: AMI-ΣOY, Perseus standing left, holding harpa and the head of Medusa, whose decapitated body lies at his feet, monogram to left and right

Mass: 18.94 g

Diameter: 30 mm

This large bronze was struck at Amisos, a major Pontic city on the Black Sea coast, during the time of Mithradates VI Eupator, circa 85 to 65 BC. The obverse depicts a helmeted head of Athena facing right, a type drawing on the city's strong Greek civic identity and long-standing Hellenic cultural ties despite its position within the Pontic kingdom. The reverse carries the city ethnic AMI-ΣOY ("of the Amisenes") and shows Perseus standing left, holding the harpa with which he decapitated Medusa in one hand and her severed head in the other, her headless body collapsed at his feet, flanked by control monograms. The type is catalogued as SNG BM Black Sea 1176.

Mithradates VI, one of Rome's most persistent and formidable enemies, ruled a vast Pontic kingdom centered on the Black Sea and drew heavily on Perseus as a personal and dynastic symbol, claiming descent from the hero through his mythical lineage and using his image to project both Greek heroic legitimacy and martial prowess across his territories. Amisos, as one of the kingdom's principal mints, produced this type in substantial quantity during the height of Mithradates's power, making it one of the more recognizable civic bronzes of the Pontic kingdom in this period. This example grades VF.