★ ex Peus 1998 ★

PONTOS, Amisos: Mithradates VI Eupator (105-65 BCE), AE29, issued 105-85 BCE. 18.52g, 29mm.
Obv: Head of Athena in Attic helmet right.
Rev: AMI-ΣOY, Perseus standing facing, holding harpa and head of Medusa, corpse at feet gushing blood from neck stump; monogram to left and right.
HGC 7, 238; SNG BM Black Sea 1166 var. (monograms).
From the Erworben collection, Ex Peus 355 lot 125, 1998.

Mithradates VI analogized himself to Perseus ridding the East of Medusa (Rome). In 88 BCE, he orchestrated the massacre of most of the 80,000 Romans then living in Anatolia, which obviously prompted a Roman retaliation. The multi-part conflict is known as the Mithridatic Wars, during which this coin was issued.
From the Erworben collection.