KINGS OF PONTOS. Mithradates VI Eupator, approximately 120-63 BC. Tetradrachm (silver, 32 mm, 16.72 g, 12 h), pergamone. Year 210 of the Bithyno-Pontic era, 1st month = October 88 BC. Diademed head of Mithradates VI to right. Rev. BAיIAAEΩγ - MIיPAΔATOY / EYņATOPOγ Pegasos grazing left; to left, star-in-crescent (Pontic royal badge); to right, Iṭ (year) above monogram; in exergue, A (month); all within Dionysiac weather of ivy and fruit. ==References== 15 and pl. 6. HGC 7, 338. SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Paris. SNG from Aulock -. Sharply strike and lustrous, and of considerable historical interest. A few very light marks and with very light doubling on the reverse, otherwise, good extremely fine. Ex Leu 16, 19 October 2024, 85 and previously from a European collection, formed before 2005. This coin was struck in October 88 BC, just a few months after the Asian Vespers, when, on the orders of Mithridates VI, an estimated 80,000 to 150,000 novels and italics were massacred in Asia Minor in a coordinated action. Given the orchestrated violence against a specific ethnic group, some modern historians have described the massacre as an early form of genocide. While applying such modern concepts to the ancient world is potentially debatable, there is no doubt that the Asian Vespers represents a particularly dark chapter in ancient history. This lot cannot be shipped to a US address.