Bithynian coinage refers to coinage struck by the

Kingdom of Bithynia Bithynia ( grc-gre, Βιθυνία) was a Hellenistic kingdom centred in the historical region of Bithynia, which seems to have been established in the fourth century BC. In the midst of the Wars of the Diadochi, Zipoites assumed the title of king ...

that was situated on the coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

Extent of monetization

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

is known for having kingdoms that issued abundant coinage during some points in their history. After

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

under the

Attalid dynasty The Kingdom of Pergamon or Attalid kingdom was a Greek state during the Hellenistic period that ruled much of the Western part of Asia Minor from its capital city of Pergamon. It was ruled by the Attalid dynasty (; grc-x-koine, Δυναστ� ...

expanded, smaller kingdoms exploited the political situation and increased their power in the region. Bithynia,

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...

and

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

are well-known and studied for their abundant coinage at certain times. Bithynian kingdom incorporated the most monetized areas under its domain when compared to the other two kingdoms. Bithynian rulers struck long and continuous series of silver and bronze coinage. Elsewhere, Cappadocians are primarily known for their military issues of coins, and the less monetized Pontic region primarily struck bronze coinage. The purpose of the first royal Bithynian and Cappadocian bronze coinage is still unknown.

History

The first king was Zipoetes I c. 298 BC – c. 279 BC. It is thought that there were no coinage struck during his reign. The first Bithynian king to strike coins was

Nicomedes I Nicomedes I ( grc, Νικομήδης; lived c. 300 BC – c. 255 BC, ruled 278 BC – c. 255 BC), second king of Bithynia, was the eldest son of Zipoetes I, whom he succeeded on the throne in 278 BC. Life He commenced his reign by putting ...

(c. 280 BC – c. 250 BC). He is primarily known for bringing the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

known as

Galatians Galatians may refer to: * Galatians (people) * Epistle to the Galatians, a book of the New Testament * English translation of the Greek ''Galatai'' or Latin ''Galatae'', ''Galli,'' or ''Gallograeci'' to refer to either the Galatians or the Gaul ...

to the

in 277 BC to fight against his brother and

Antiochus I Antiochus I Soter ( grc-gre, Ἀντίοχος Σωτήρ, ''Antíochos Sōtér''; "Antiochus the Saviour"; c. 324/32 June 261 BC) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned d ...

. This short-sighted mistake brought troubles for local Greeks for a century. In early 260s BC, possibly in 264 BC according to

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christ ...

, he moved the capital to Nicomedia on the Propontis. There was a mint in the new capital. Silver

tetradrachm The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the Ant ...

s and drachms of the

Attic weight Attic weight, or the Attic standard, also known as Euboic standard, was one of the main monetary standards in ancient Greece. As a result of its use in the coinage of the Athenian empire and the empire of Alexander the Great, it was the dominant ...

are known. Nicomedes I is known to have struck some bronze coinage too. Both Bithynian and Cappadocian coinages were started with minor series of bronze coins. Successor of Nicomedes I was

Ziaelas Ziaelas ( grc-gre, Ζιαήλας; lived c. 265 BC – 228 BC, reigned c. 254 BC – 228 BC), third king of Bithynia, was a son of Nicomedes I and Ditizele. Life Following the death of Nicomedes I, his second wife Etazeta of Bithynia acted a ...

(c. 250 BC – 230 BC). He is known for having minted bronze coinage. However, only a few specimen have survived. Reign of

Prusias I Prusias I Cholus (Greek: Προυσίας ὁ Χωλός "the Lame"; c. 243 – 182 BC) was a king of Bithynia, who reigned from c. 228 to 182 BC. Life and Reign Prusias was a vigorous and energetic leader; he fought a war against Byzantium ...

(c. 232 BC – 182 BC) saw birth of a more regular silver and bronze coinage for the kingdom. The first large issues of coins can be thus attributed to him. Bronze coinage of Prusias I and Prusias II have not been differentiated in the most common catalogues. However, those related to Ziaelas can be attributed to Prusias I. Nicomedes II is notable for having struck the first

gold stater The stater (; grc, , , statḗr, weight) was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe. History The stater, as a Greek silver curre ...

s in the kingdom's history. Those coins had his portrait on their obverse, and a galloping horseman on the reverse. He also introduced the year number of the

Bithynian era The Bosporan era (BE or AB), also called the Bithynian era, Pontic era or Bithyno-Pontic era, was a calendar era (year numbering) used from 149 BC at the latest until at least AD 497 in Asia Minor and the Black Sea region. It originated in the ...

on his coins, replacing the

Seleucid era The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. It is sometimes ...

.Jakob Munk Højte, "From Kingdom to Province: Reshaping Pontos after the Fall of Mithridates VI", in Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (ed.), ''Rome and the Black Sea Region: Domination, Romanisation, Resistance'' (Aarhus University Press, 2006), 15–30. Both Nicomedes III and

Nicomedes IV Nicomedes IV Philopator ( grc-gre, Νικομήδης Φιλοπάτωρ) was the king of Bithynia from c. 94 BC to 74 BC. (''numbered as III. not IV.'') He was the first son and successor of Nicomedes III of Bithynia. Life Memnon of Heraclea wrot ...

struck similar tetradrachms as their predecessor Nicomedes II.

End of the kingdom

Antoninus Pius Provincial Demeter BMC12 1

On the death of king

in 74 BC the kingdom was bequeathed to the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

, and subsequently reconstituted as a

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

. It was later part of the province of the

Bithynia and Pontus Bithynia and Pontus ( la, Provincia Bithynia et Pontus, Ancient Greek ) was the name of a province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the amalgamation of the ...

. Roman administration saw introduction of a new provincial currency, and Bithynian polity's capital was moved back to

Nicomedia Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocleti ...

. During Roman rule the provincial cities that, in the combined province of Bithynia and Pontus, issued coinage reached 29 cities during the second century AD. Some of these cities on the Bithynian region included

Apamea Myrlea Apamea Myrlea (; grc, Απάμεια Μύρλεια) was an ancient city and bishopric (Apamea in Bithynia) on the Sea of Marmara, in Bithynia, Anatolia; its ruins are a few kilometers south of Mudanya, Bursa Province in the Marmara Region of A ...

Bithynium Bithynium or Bithynion ( grc, Βιθύνιον) was a city in the interior of Bithynia, lying above Tius, as Strabo describes it, and possessing the country around Salone or Salon, which was a good feeding country for cattle, and noted for its ch ...

Nicaea Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and se ...

, Nicomedia and

Tium Tium ( el, Τῖον) was an ancient settlement, also known as Filyos ( el, Φίλειος), on the south coast of the Black Sea at the mouth of the river Billaeus in present-day Turkey. Ancient writers variously assigned it to ancient Paphlagonia ...

References

External links

*
"Ancient Coinage of Bithynia, Nicomedia"
{{Hellenistic coinage Ancient currencies Hellenistic Bithynia

Extent of monetization

History

End of the kingdom

See also

References

Further reading

External links