Sir Alexander Burnes, after his mission to Kabool, was one of the first to call attention to these interesting remains (or rather consequences) of the conquests of Alexander the Great, which still abound in that region of Asia; while the greater number of coins have been discovered in the tombs recently explored by M. Court and General Allard. The works of Lassen, Prinsep, and Wilson will be found to contain all the most recent information on the subject.

CHAPTER XIV.

COINS OF THE KINGS OF PONTUS AND THE CIMMERIAN BOSPHORUS.

THE coins of the Princes of Pontus, and the Cimmerian Bosphorus, have been united in one series, in consequence of the late kings of Pontus having possessed also the Bosphorus; and, eventually, lost the former, and succeeded. to the latter, which remained independent, though not under the same race, throughout nearly the whole period of the Roman empire. The Bosphorus was a very much more ancient state than Pontus, and its foundation belongs to the most ancient periods of history. No coins, however, are known previous to those of Leucon.

Dates are frequently found on the coins of the Pontic series, which refer to those distant eras. The era of Pontus, from which some of the coins are dated, corresponds to 301 B.C., which is used till the reign of Polemon I.; the Cæsarean era is employed by Polemon II., and the Queen Pythodoris; and the eras of the reign of Asandre and Polemon II., are found only on the coins of those princes.

The coins of Leucon, who reigned from 393 to 353 B.C., bear a head of Hercules-in the style of the tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, and on the reverse a club and a bow, with the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩ(Σ) ΛΕΥΚΩΝ(ΟΥ). The next coins known, are some of Perisades, who reigned in the 289 B.C. year The one before me is a gold coin, a fine imitation of the gold stater of Lysimachus, but with

the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΑΙΡΙΣΑΙΔΟΥ; it has also the letters ПAN for Panticape, the capital of the Leuconidean princes.

Perisades, unable to resist the inroads of the barbaric tribes, who now began to press upon the eastern portions of Europe, and western Asia,-gave up his kingdom to Mithridates VI. (the Great), king of Pontus.

The kingdom of Pontus, as is well known, was not established till the conquest of Persia by Alexander, when Mithridates II., was hereditary satrap of this portion of the Persian empire. No coins are attributed to the satrap

Mithridates II.

Mithridates III. (from 302 to 266 B.C.). The coins of this prince, who was of the royal family of Persia, bear secondary types of the crescent moon and of the sun, symbolic-like the Persian name Mithridates of the origin of the kings of Pontus: the reverse of this tetradrachm is a copy of those of Alexander.

Mithridates IV., Pharnaces 1., and Mithridates V., next Occupy the throne of Pontus; to the two latter of which, magnificent gold decadrachms were attributed, which are now considered forgeries, but not upon grounds altogether satisfactory, as they bear great marks of genuineness; yet, as Mionnet and other great authorities have condemned them, I must pass to the coins of Mithridates VI. (the Great) from 123 to 63 B.C., the celebrated rival of the Romans.

The stag, the flying horse, and the bull, found on coins of this king, and termed his guardians, are all animals connected with the religion of Mithra and Ormuzd. One of the coins of Mithridates is engraved in Plate VI.

-son

There are coins of Pharnaces II., from 63 to 47 B.C.,of the great Mithridates, on which he terms himself "King of Kings," and sometimes great king of kings, perhaps after his re-conquest of Pontus: he was defeated by Cæsar, and perished in a battle with his revolted general, Asander.

Asander first styled himself Governor of the Bosphorus, but on late coins he assumes the name of king.

At the death of Asander and his son Darius, who had been acknowledged by Marc Antony, Polemon I., originally an adventurer (from 37 to 14 B.c.) was placed on the throne, by Antony, and eventually acknowledged by Augustus. To strengthen his claims he first married the daughter of

Pharnaces II. (Dynamis), who had before been married to the usurper. She died, leaving no children, and he then married Pythodoris. After resisting with success the attacks of the Aspurgitans, he was eventually taken prisoner and put to death by them. His widow still opposed them with spirit; and, though driven out of the Bosphorus, still preserved Pontus.

The coins of Polemon I. have the head of Polemon on one side, and that of Augustus on the other. There are also coins of his widow, with the head of Tiberius on the obverse, and ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΠΥΘΟΔΩΡΚΕΤΟΥΣ, (A.D. 60), and a pair of scales on the reverse.

Polemon II. died about A.D. 37. On coins of this prince his queen Tryphene appears, a personage not mentioned in history.

In the reigns of Claudius and Caligula many changes and new arrangements of territory took place, in which Polemon II. was eventually set aside altogether. Polemon married, secondly, the celebrated Berenice, from whom he was soon separated.

Pontus had now become part of the Roman empire; but the Bosphorus was conquered from the last branches of the Pontic family by the Aspurgitans.

Rhescuporis I., and Sauromates I., are two princes of the Aspurgitans, whose coins now appear in the series of those of the Bosphorus. Those of Sauromactes have the inscription, ZATPOMATOT, with the title of king; and on the reverse the head of a queen, Pepæpiris. Those of Rhescuporis I. have his name (abbreviated, round the head on the obverse), and on the reverse the head of Caligula, with the legend, FAIOC KAICAP, (Caius Cæsar,) the name of Caligula not occurring on coins.

It would be impossible to condense even a brief view of the revolutions of the Bosphorus from Polemon II. to Rhescuporis III. In the space I can here assign to the subject, it must suffice to state that the first Aspurgitan princes are stated to have held power for the following periods: Rhescuporis I., uncertain; Sauromates I., from A.D. 6 to A.D. 17; Rhescuporis II., from A.D. 17 to A.D. 34; Rhescuporis III., from A.D. 34 to A.D. 47; and that Mithridates, a personage pretending to be a descendant of Mithridates the Great, was

put forward by Claudius, and reigned in parts of the country from A.D. 41 to A.D. 46. In the meantime, his brother, Cotys, by assuming on his coin the national name of the Aspurgitans, and having also procured the protection of the Romans, secured to himself a long reign, and appears to have been more powerful and wealthy than his predecessors, as we find him issuing a gold coinage, the first of the remarkable series of gold coins of this dynasty.

Cotys I. (from A.D 46 to A.D. 69.)—On the coins of the predecessors of Cotys, a portrait of a Roman emperor had been placed on one side of the national coin,* but Cotys was not content with this degree of adulation, and placed an effigy of the emperors of Rome on each side of his—generally his first protector, Claudius, on one side, and the reigning emperor on the other, down to Vitellius; his own personal share in the types of his coinage being confined to a monogram, principally formed of BA. K for BA (aσλews) K (orvos) "of the king Cotys." Many of his coins have the names of the various emperors and empresses found on them, inscribed round the bust, in Greek, as on that of Nero, NEPONOC KAATAIOT CEBACTOT KAICAPOC+" of the Emperor Nero Claudius Cæsar;" and on the reverse, round the portrait of Рoрpeia, поПЕIA CEBАСТоr-" of Poppeia Augusta." These coin are small bronze. On following coins, however, an inscription accompanies either the portrait of Vitellius, or that of his son on the reverse; but the latter has the monogram of Cotys below it, and the date EET (365). The date of the death of Cotys is uncertain; but none of his coins bear the portraits of later emperors than Vespasian, while those attributed to Rhescuporis IV., bear the portrait of Domitian, but the time of his accession is unknown.

Rhescuporis IV. (reigning in A.D. 84) restored the line of the native Aspurgitan or Sarmatian princes. The coins of this prince are the first in which the final mode of arranging the types seems to have been settled, which continued afterwards through the whole of the series, namely, the head of the native prince on the obverse, accompanied by his name and

* Some suppose that no national portrait appears on this series till Rhescu poris. The square sigma C being used instead of 2, common at that period.

title, and that of the reigning Roman emperor on the reverse. with the date. The portrait of Rhescuporis IV. is by some thought the first portrait of this line of princes, the former ones, or those thought to be so, wearing short hair after the Roman fashion; while in the present instance the hair flows over the shoulders after the manner of the barbarians. The inscription is BACIAE&C PHC KOYпOPIAOC"of the king Rhescuporis ;" and, beneath the head of the Roman emperor, Domitian, on the reverse, is the date пт (380) of the era of the Bosphorus.

Sauromates II. reigned contemporaneously with Trajan and Hadrian; the earliest dates on his coins are nine years after the last of Rhescuporis IV., and the latest, six years before the earliest of Cotys II. The coins of Sauromates II. are more commonly bronze.

Cotys II. (cotemporary of Hadrian) issued some very neatly executed gold coins, similar in style to those of his predecessor of the same name; all bearing the date 426 of the Bosphorus.

Rhemetalces, a cotemporary of Hadrian and Antonius, is thought to have been a brother of Cotys II., and son of Sauromates II., and to have reigned some time in conjunction with his brother. The first date on his coins is 428; the last 452 (A.D. 154); many are gold.

Eupator, a contemporary of Marcus Aurelius. His coins have the inscription BACIAEC ETIATOC (of the king Eupator), and, from the name, he is supposed to have been a descendant, or pretended descendant, of the old Pontic line; and he made several attempts to obtain possession of the throne in the two previous reigns. His first dates are 452, and his last, 467. An interesting specimen of his coins, is the one bearing on the reverse the profiles of the emperors M. Aurelius and L. Verus, face to face, with the date ΑΞΥ (461).

The examples already described, will convey a pretty accurate idea of the nature and style of this series. I must, therefore, now confine myself to giving a list of all the remaining princes, of whom coins are known.

Sauromates III., from M. Aurelius to Septimus Severus. Rhescuporis IV. or V., cotemporary with the emperors Caracalla to A. Severus, on reverses.