Kingdom of Pontus, Mithridates VI (120-63 BC), Stater (Imitation of the Stater of Lysimachus), 88-86 BC, Tomis

King Mithridates VI of Pontos followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great: his ambition was the unification of all Greek speaking peoples. This plan, however, brought him inevitably in conflict with the aspirations of the powerful Roman Republic. The result were the three Mithridatic Wars from 89 to 63 BC.

To fight Rome Mithridates had to recruit mercenaries, who wanted to be paid with money they could also spend at home, in other words: with an "international" currency. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean, this was the money of King Lysimachus during the last century BC. Mithridates thus started to issue such coins. They bore the image of Alexander the Great on the obverse and on the reverse the goddess Athena with a tiny winged Nike, the personification of victory.