New Data on the Bosporan Coinage in the Time of Mithradates VI
Smekalova Tatyana N.
New data have been obtained for the study of the “Pontic” period in the history of Bosporus by using X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy to measure the composition of the alloy of coins from the largest treasure of the first century BC found in 1985 on the Kerch peninsula on the shore of the Sea of Azov (now in the Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve). The study demonstrates the undoubted Pontic origin of the metals used for minting the anonymous obols. That shows that during the wars of Mithridates VI Eupator with Rome (89–63 BC), Bosporus did not have its own coinage. Bosporan anonymous obols and tetrachalkoi of the cities of Amisos and Sinope were brought from Pontos for circulation in the Bosporan Kingdom. It was a fiduciary coinage, overvalued compared to the intrinsic value of the metal; this explains the use of the previously unattested alloys. ‘Pure’ copper and brass were substantially different from bronze in colour, texture and corrosion resistance, which served as a protection from forgery. These coins could be used in place of silver coinage which was not in circulation in the Bosporan Kingdom in that period.
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