A Mithradatic Hoard of Tetradrachms from Tauric Chersonesus

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Abstract

The paper is a publication of a Mithradatic hoard of 119 tetradrachms and drachms, found in the near chora of Tauric Chersonesus in 2013. It generally consists of the Mithradatic tetradrachms (79 coins) mixed with tetradrachms of the Bithynian kings, Nicomedes II and III (3 coins), late posthumous tetradrachms of Lysimachus struck at the mint of Byzantium (17 coins), and Athenian New Style tetradrachms (2 coins). Apart from 101 tetradrachms, the hoard includes 18 royal Cappadocian drachms: Ariarathes VII, Ariarathes VIΙI, Ariarathes IX, and Ariobarzanes Ι. The treasure includes tetradrachms of Mithradates VI with unrecorded dates. The latest of the drachms of Arioborzanes I dated back from 65/64 BC indicates that the hoard was formed after the arrival of Mithradates on the Bosporus and the flight of Machares, his son, to Chersonesus. More than a quarter of the Mithradatic tetradrachms are new coins of the last year of coinage, without traces of circulation, in a ‘mint state’, most struck from the same obverse dies or diecombinations in 67/66 BC. This fact certainly indicates the centralized issuance of silver money from the royal treasury. The hoard was most likely concealed during the anti-Mithradatic uprising in Chersonesus in 63 BC.

About the authors

Mikhail G. Abramzon

Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences; Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University

Russian Federation, Moscow

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