FORVM Pontos (Uncertain City) 119-100 BC Fine Ex Rare! Recently Discovered Type - $144 - (Morehead City, NC)
Pontos (Uncertain City), c. 119 - 100 B.C.Pontus is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. The name was derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea, Pontos Euxeinos ('Hospitable Sea'), or simply Pontos. The extent of the region varied through the ages but generally extended from the borders of Colchis (modern Georgia) until well into Paphlagonia in the west, with varying amounts of hinterland. Several states and provinces bearing the name of Pontus or variants thereof were established in the region in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, culminating in the late Byzantine Empire of Trebizond. Pontus is sometimes considered as the home of the Amazons, with the name Amazon used not only for a city (Amasya) but for all of Pontus in Greek mythology. This is apparently a recently discovered new type. All the known examples might be from a single find. The stars depicted are almost certainly the comets described in Justin's epitome of the Historiae Philippicae of the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus (Justin 37.2.1-2): 'The future greatness of this man [Mithridates Eupator] had been foretold by heavenly portents. For both in the year in which he was born [134/133 B.C.] and in the year in which he first began to rule [120/119 B.C.], a comet gleamed so brightly for 70 days throughout each period that the whole sky seemed to be on fire. In its extent, each of these comets filled one quarter of the sky and surpassed the sun in brilliance. They took four hours to rise and four hours to set.'SH71047. Bronze AE 14, references: Unpublished in standard refs, six specimens known to Forum; condition: F, cleaning scratches, mint: uncertain Pontic, weight: 2.121g, maximum diameter: 13.9mm, date struck: c. 119 - 100 B.C.; obverse comet star of six rays and center pellet superimposed on pileus; reverse , comet star of eight rays and central pellet; extremely rare, $144 For…
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