Coins of the Mithridatic Wars: Holding the Money of Rome's Greatest Eastern Rival
Coins of the Mithridatic Wars: Holding the Money of Rome's Greatest Eastern Rival
Long After Hannibal's Elephants Had Vanished, Another King Rose to Challenge Rome for Nearly Thirty Years. The Coins Struck During His Reign Still Survive.
Long after Hannibal's elephants had vanished into history, another ruler arose who would challenge the Roman Republic for nearly thirty years.
His kingdom lay on the southern shores of the Black Sea. His armies swept across Asia Minor. Roman governors fled before him. Three of Rome's greatest generals marched east to defeat him. More than two thousand years later, the coins struck during his reign still survive.
When people think of Rome's greatest enemies, Hannibal almost always comes first. His daring invasion of Italy during the Second Punic War has become one of antiquity's defining stories.
Yet by the first century BC, Carthage had been gone for generations. Rome had defeated Macedonia, destroyed Corinth, organized provinces in Greece, and become the dominant power of the Mediterranean. To many Romans, it appeared that no kingdom remained capable of seriously challenging the Republic. They were wrong.
On the southern coast of the Black Sea stood the Kingdom of Pontus, a wealthy and strategically positioned Hellenistic kingdom whose greatest ruler would become Rome's most formidable eastern rival during the late Roman Republic. His name was Mithridates VI Eupator.
Rome's Most Formidable Eastern Rival
Between 89 and 63 BC, Rome and Pontus fought a series of conflicts now known as the Mithridatic Wars. Stretching across nearly three decades, these wars carried Roman armies through Greece, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea region. Legendary commanders including Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great, all campaigned against Mithridates. Each won important victories, yet none brought the struggle to a swift conclusion.
The Mithridatic Wars reshaped the political landscape of the eastern Mediterranean. They marked the last great attempt by a powerful Hellenistic king to resist Rome's expanding influence in the East. When the wars finally ended, Rome emerged with even greater authority over Asia Minor and the surrounding regions, laying foundations that would shape the final decades of the Roman Republic and, ultimately, the Roman Empire.
For collectors, however, these wars offer something equally remarkable. Unlike many ancient conflicts that survive only through the writings of historians, the Mithridatic Wars also survive in metal.
Magnificent silver tetradrachms bearing the portrait of Mithridates VI remain among the masterpieces of Hellenistic numismatic art. Bronze coins from cities such as Amisos, Sinope, and Amastris circulated through the ports and marketplaces of Pontus while the wars raged. Roman Republican denarii accompanied the legions campaigning in the East. Together they represent genuine artifacts from the same world that witnessed one of Rome's greatest struggles.
No surviving coin can honestly be identified as the coin carried at Chaeronea or the coin used to pay a legionary under Lucullus. Ancient coins rarely preserve that level of individual history. What they do preserve is something just as remarkable. They were struck, exchanged, spent, saved, and eventually lost while these events unfolded.
They are not modern commemoratives celebrating history after the fact. They are the money of history itself.
A Kingdom Between Two Worlds
To understand the Mithridatic Wars, it helps to understand the remarkable kingdom that stood against Rome. Pontus occupied the rugged southern coastline of the Black Sea in what is now northern Turkey. To its west lay Bithynia, another Hellenistic kingdom closely tied to Rome. To the east rose the mountains leading toward Armenia, whose king, Tigranes the Great, would later become Mithridates' most powerful ally. Across the Black Sea lay trading networks that connected Pontus with the Crimean Peninsula, the Caucasus, and the great grain-producing regions of the north.
Unlike Rome or Carthage, Pontus was shaped by several different civilizations. Its rulers claimed descent from Persian nobility, linking themselves to the legacy of the Achaemenid kings who had once ruled an empire stretching from Egypt to Central Asia. At the same time, the kingdom embraced the Hellenistic world created by Alexander the Great and his successors. Greek became the language of government, diplomacy, and coin inscriptions, while Greek cities flourished along much of the coastline.
This cultural diversity is beautifully reflected in the kingdom's coinage. Some issues display unmistakably Greek artistic traditions, with lifelike portraits, elegant lettering, and familiar Olympian deities. Others celebrate local civic identity through regional symbols and protective deities unique to individual cities. Together they reveal a kingdom standing at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
The Black Sea itself formed the kingdom's economic lifeline. Merchant ships carried grain, timber, salted fish, metals, ceramics, wine, olive oil, and many other goods between Pontus and the wider Mediterranean. When Mithridates VI inherited this kingdom, he envisioned something far greater than preserving what his ancestors had built. He intended to create an empire capable of rivaling Rome's growing power in the East.
The King Who Refused to Yield
Mithridates VI Eupator was born around 135 BC into a dangerous world where royal blood could be as deadly as any battlefield. His father, Mithridates V Euergetes, ruled the Kingdom of Pontus during a period of growing prosperity, strengthening the kingdom's position around the Black Sea. Around 120 BC, Mithridates V died after being poisoned at a banquet, according to the surviving ancient sources, although the circumstances surrounding his death remain uncertain.
Ancient writers, particularly Justin, portray his mother, Queen Laodice, as serving as regent while Mithridates was still a minor. They also suggest that she favored his younger brother and viewed the elder prince as a threat to her influence. Modern historians, however, treat these accounts cautiously, recognizing that the surviving narratives were written generations after the events they describe.
Whether every detail is accurate or not, the ancient tradition agrees on one point: the future king's youth was marked by danger. Ancient authors describe him living beyond the reach of the royal palace for several years, reportedly hunting and traveling through the rugged mountains and forests of Pontus. Some details of these stories were almost certainly embellished over time, but they reflect the reputation that surrounded him throughout antiquity, a ruler hardened by hardship long before he ever wore a crown.
When Mithridates finally returned, he acted decisively. He imprisoned his mother, removed his younger brother from power, and assumed sole control of the kingdom. Like many Hellenistic monarchs, he understood that civil war invited foreign intervention.
Ancient writers admired, and sometimes feared, Mithridates for his extraordinary abilities. Several claimed he could speak the languages of the many peoples within his kingdom without the aid of an interpreter, though the exact number varies by source. Later tradition also credited him with experimenting on poisons and antidotes in an effort to make himself resistant to assassination, giving rise to the modern term mithridatism. While some of these stories undoubtedly grew in the retelling, they reflect the reputation he earned even during his own lifetime: an unusually intelligent, determined, and resilient ruler who inspired both loyalty and fear.
An Ambition to Rival Rome
Once secure on the throne, Mithridates proved far more ambitious than his predecessors. Over the next two decades, he expanded Pontic influence around the Black Sea through conquest, diplomacy, and carefully chosen alliances. He strengthened his navy, absorbed neighboring territories, and cultivated relationships with many Greek cities that had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Roman governors, tax farmers (publicani), and expanding Roman political influence.
His most important alliance came through Armenia. Mithridates married his daughter Cleopatra of Pontus to Tigranes II of Armenia, better known as Tigranes the Great. The marriage united two of the strongest kingdoms in the Near East and created a formidable counterweight to Roman influence.
Mithridates also understood the power of royal imagery. His silver tetradrachms rank among the finest portraits of the Hellenistic world. They depict the king with flowing hair, a strong jaw, and an idealized expression that consciously recalls the portrait tradition established by Alexander the Great and the monarchs who followed him. This was a king presenting himself as the equal of the great Hellenistic rulers who had shaped the eastern Mediterranean since the age of Alexander.
Whether war was inevitable remains a question historians continue to debate. Some argue that Mithridates deliberately pursued confrontation in hopes of building an eastern empire before Rome became too powerful to challenge. Others emphasize Rome's own expansion, suggesting that the Republic's growing influence steadily reduced the independence of the Hellenistic kingdoms. Whatever his intentions, by the closing years of the second century BC, Rome and Pontus were on a collision course.
The Three Mithridatic Wars
The road to war began not with a dramatic invasion, but with a dispute over neighboring kingdoms. To the west of Pontus lay Bithynia, a prosperous Hellenistic kingdom closely aligned with Rome. To the south lay Cappadocia, another kingdom whose throne became the subject of repeated intervention by both Rome and Mithridates.
When Mithridates placed his own candidates on the thrones of Cappadocia and Bithynia, Rome intervened to restore rulers more favorable to its interests. The situation deteriorated further when the Roman commissioner Manius Aquillius encouraged Nicomedes IV of Bithynia to raid territory under Mithridates' influence, despite the Pontic king's diplomatic protests. Whether Rome intended a full-scale war remains debated, but the cycle of intervention and retaliation finally collapsed into open conflict.
In 89 BC, Mithridates struck back. His armies swept rapidly across Asia Minor, winning victory after victory. City after city surrendered or opened its gates, some after brief resistance and others welcoming the Pontic king as a liberator from Roman taxation, indebtedness, and the abuses associated with Roman tax farmers (publicani). Not every community embraced Mithridates, Rhodes, for example, remained loyal to Rome, but his early successes revealed just how fragile Roman authority in the East had become.
Then came one of antiquity's most shocking atrocities. In 88 BC, coordinated massacres of Romans and Italians took place throughout the Roman province of Asia after orders attributed to Mithridates called for their elimination. Ancient historians commonly report that around 80,000 people were killed, while some later writers placed the figure even higher. Modern historians regard these numbers with understandable caution, recognizing that casualty figures in ancient histories were often exaggerated. Whatever the true total, the massacres, known today as the Asiatic Vespers, made reconciliation nearly impossible and transformed the conflict into a war of annihilation.
Sulla and the First Mithridatic War
Rome responded by appointing one of its most capable commanders. Lucius Cornelius Sulla received command of the eastern campaign even as political conflict at Rome erupted into civil war. After securing his position in Italy, Sulla crossed into Greece, where Mithridates' forces had established themselves across much of the region.
Following a lengthy siege, Sulla captured Athens in 86 BC, while the port of Piraeus suffered extensive destruction during the fighting. He then decisively defeated the Pontic armies at the Battles of Chaeronea and Orchomenus, restoring Roman control over mainland Greece and forcing Mithridates to negotiate. The settlement reached at Dardanus in 85 BC ended the First Mithridatic War. Mithridates agreed to abandon his recent conquests, restore Bithynia and Cappadocia, surrender much of his fleet, and pay a substantial indemnity. Remarkably, however, he remained king of Pontus.
An Uneasy Peace
The Second Mithridatic War, generally dated to 83 to 81 BC, began when the Roman commander Lucius Licinius Murena, acting without authorization from the Senate, invaded Pontic territory on the suspicion that Mithridates was secretly preparing for another conflict. The campaign achieved little. Mithridates successfully resisted the attacks, and Sulla eventually ordered Murena to withdraw, restoring an uneasy peace that neither side believed would last.
Lucullus and the Third Mithridatic War
In 74 BC, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia died without a direct heir and bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Mithridates regarded the expansion of Roman territory to his western frontier as an unacceptable threat. He invaded Bithynia once again, beginning the Third Mithridatic War.
Rome entrusted the campaign to Lucius Licinius Lucullus, one of the Republic's most gifted commanders. Lucullus drove Mithridates from Pontus and pursued him into neighboring Armenia, where the Pontic king sought refuge with his son-in-law, Tigranes II. In 69 BC, Lucullus won a remarkable victory outside the newly built capital of Tigranocerta. Yet the difficult terrain, long supply lines, harsh conditions, and growing dissatisfaction among his troops gradually stalled the campaign. Roman forces suffered a serious defeat near Zela in 67 BC, undermining confidence in Lucullus' command.
Pompey and the Final Campaign
That leader was Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, better known as Pompey the Great. Granted extraordinary authority by the Senate, Pompey reorganized the Roman campaign with characteristic efficiency. He combined military victories with diplomacy, isolating Mithridates from many of his remaining allies before defeating him near the Lycus River in 66 BC. Forced to flee, the aging king escaped north through Colchis to the Bosporan Kingdom on the Crimean Peninsula.
Facing rebellion within his own family and abandoned by many of his supporters, Mithridates found himself without a realistic path back to power. Ancient tradition records that he attempted to end his life with poison but, after years of experimenting with poisons and antidotes, the poison proved ineffective. According to the ancient sources, one of his loyal companions ultimately ended his life with a sword in 63 BC.
For nearly thirty years, Mithridates had accomplished what few rulers ever managed. He forced the Roman Republic to commit three of its greatest generals, Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey, to a single, relentless struggle. Although he ultimately failed to halt Rome's expansion, his determined resistance earned him a place alongside Hannibal as one of the Republic's most formidable adversaries.
The Coins of the Mithridatic Wars
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Mithridatic Wars is that so much of their history can still be held in your hand. Unlike many ancient conflicts that survive only through ruined fortresses or scattered inscriptions, the struggle between Rome and Pontus is reflected in an extraordinary variety of surviving coins. Some were struck directly in the name of Mithridates VI himself. Others were issued by the Greek cities that formed the backbone of his kingdom. Roman Republican denarii financed the armies sent to defeat him, while neighboring rulers such as Tigranes the Great produced their own coinage as the conflict spread across the Near East.
The Portrait Coins of Mithridates VI
The most famous coins associated with the wars are the magnificent silver tetradrachms struck in the name of Mithridates VI. Their portraits rank among the finest achievements of Hellenistic engraving. Mithridates appears with flowing hair, strong features, and an idealized expression that consciously recalls the artistic tradition established by Alexander the Great. These were not commemorative pieces celebrating victories long after the events had passed. They circulated throughout the kingdom during Mithridates' reign, carrying the image and authority of the king into cities, marketplaces, ports, and military camps.
The Bronze Coins of Pontus
Fortunately, collectors do not need a royal silver tetradrachm to own an authentic artifact from the age of Mithridates. The cities of Pontus produced substantial quantities of bronze coinage for everyday commerce. Today, these pieces are often among the most affordable authentic artifacts connected with the Mithridatic Wars.
Among the best known are the bronze coins of Amisos, one of the kingdom's principal ports on the Black Sea. Some feature the striking facing head of the Gorgon Medusa, whose terrifying image served as an apotropaic (protective) symbol believed to ward off evil. Others depict Nike, the winged goddess of victory, carrying a palm branch as a symbol of triumph. Additional issues portray Perseus, the legendary slayer of Medusa, reflecting the city's rich blend of Greek mythology and civic identity.
These coins passed through the hands of merchants, sailors, craftsmen, farmers, and soldiers while Mithridates ruled Pontus. Although no individual specimen can be connected to a specific event, each circulated within the same kingdom that resisted Rome for nearly three decades.
Other important Pontic cities produced their own distinctive coinage. Sinope, the traditional royal capital of Pontus, struck attractive bronze coins featuring local deities and symbols reflecting the city's maritime heritage. Amastris, another important Black Sea port, likewise issued civic bronze coinage celebrating its own local traditions while participating in the broader economic life of the kingdom.
Roman Coins of the Conflict
Rome's side of the conflict also survives through its coinage. During the late Republic, the silver denarius served as the principal silver denomination of the Roman monetary system, widely used in commerce while also financing military campaigns throughout the Mediterranean. The armies led by Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey would have relied heavily upon these coins to pay soldiers, purchase supplies, and sustain their operations in the East.
Unlike the portrait coins of the Roman emperors that would appear decades later, Republican denarii generally celebrated Rome through depictions of gods, personifications, mythological scenes, and the ancestral achievements of the moneyers who authorized each issue. Many Republican denarii struck during the era of the Mithridatic Wars remain attainable for modern collectors.
Coins Beyond Rome and Pontus
The wars also touched neighboring kingdoms whose coinage survives today. Among the most impressive are the silver and bronze issues of Tigranes II of Armenia, Mithridates' son-in-law and closest ally. His distinctive portrait coins, featuring the elaborate Armenian royal tiara, reflect the enormous kingdom he built while Rome struggled against Pontus. Greek cities throughout Asia Minor likewise continued striking civic coinage as political control shifted during nearly thirty years of conflict.
Collecting the Mithridatic Wars Today
Among the surviving material culture of the Mithridatic Wars, ancient coins are by far the most accessible artifacts available to modern collectors. While the armor, weapons, and monuments of the period are now found primarily in museums or archaeological collections, authentic coins survive in significant numbers.
One of the greatest misconceptions about ancient coin collecting is that historically important coins must always be expensive. That is certainly true for some pieces. The magnificent silver tetradrachms of Mithridates VI rank among the masterpieces of Hellenistic coinage and are highly sought after by advanced collectors. Fortunately, they are only one part of the story.
The bronze coinage of Pontic cities such as Amisos, Sinope, and Amastris often provides a more affordable entry point into this remarkable period of history. These coins circulated through the markets, workshops, harbors, and streets of the very kingdom that challenged Rome for nearly thirty years. While no individual coin can be connected to a specific battle or historical figure, each was struck and used within the world shaped by Mithridates and his contemporaries.
There is no single right way to build a collection focused on the Mithridatic Wars. Some collectors concentrate on the rulers themselves, pursuing coins of Mithridates VI, Tigranes the Great, or the Roman Republic. Others prefer to collect by city, assembling coins from places such as Amisos, Sinope, and Amastris. Still others build collections around a historical event, bringing together coins from each side of the conflict to tell the story from multiple perspectives.
Whatever path a collector chooses, authenticity should always come first. Ancient coins have survived for more than two thousand years, but modern forgeries also exist. Purchasing coins from knowledgeable, reputable dealers, and understanding whether a coin has been professionally authenticated or certified, helps ensure that the history in your collection is genuine.
Continuing the Story
When the Mithridatic Wars began in 89 BC, few could have imagined that the conflict would last for nearly three decades. Three of Rome's greatest generals, Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey the Great, would each spend years campaigning against a single determined king. By the time Mithridates VI died in 63 BC, the political landscape of the eastern Mediterranean had been permanently altered.
Rome's successes in the East brought immense wealth, prestige, and new opportunities to ambitious commanders. Within a generation, Rome itself would descend into the civil wars of Julius Caesar, Pompey, Mark Antony, and Octavian. Although the causes of the Republic's collapse were many and complex, the Mithridatic Wars formed an important chapter in the Republic's expanding involvement in the eastern Mediterranean.
Much of what we know about the wars comes from ancient historians such as Appian and Plutarch, whose writings preserve the story of the conflict. The surviving coinage preserves something equally valuable: the everyday world in which that history unfolded. These coins passed through the hands of merchants, sailors, soldiers, magistrates, and ordinary citizens while the struggle between Rome and Pontus was still being fought.
You are not simply acquiring an ancient coin. You are preserving a genuine piece of the ancient world, a coin that once belonged to the same living economy that financed armies, crossed the marketplaces of Asia Minor, and passed from hand to hand while history was still unfolding.
History is often preserved in books. Sometimes, it was minted.
History wasn't just written. It was minted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I own a coin connected to Mithridates VI?
Yes. Bronze coins struck under Mithridates VI at cities such as Amisos survive in significant numbers and remain among the most affordable authentic artifacts of his reign. His royal silver tetradrachms also survive but are far scarcer and more costly.
Can a coin be tied to a specific battle or person in the wars?
No surviving coin can honestly be identified as the coin carried at a specific battle or used to pay a specific soldier. Ancient coins rarely preserve that level of individual history. What they do preserve is authentic circulation within the same kingdoms and cities that fought the wars.
What is the most affordable way to start?
The bronze coinage of Pontic cities such as Amisos, Sinope, and Amastris is often the most affordable entry point. An attractive Amisos bronze of Mithridates VI is an excellent first coin for this period.
Why are there no portrait coins of Hannibal but there are of Mithridates?
No contemporary portrait of Hannibal can be securely identified on surviving coinage, whereas Mithridates VI issued magnificent silver tetradrachms bearing his own idealized portrait, among the finest of the Hellenistic age.
Are these coins authenticated?
Every coin sold by Kinzer Coins is guaranteed authentic, and many, including the Amisos bronzes of Mithridates VI, are certified by NGC Ancients, one of the world's leading third-party authentication services.
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