Bronzes of Sauromates II with Aphrodite sitting on a throne on reverse as source of historical information

Our interest in the coins of this group is by no means accidental. It is due to the fact that the image of Aphrodite sitting on a throne was not characteristic for the numismatics of the Bosporan state before Sauromates II. We believe that it is under him that they began to honor Aphrodite as the main deity of the local pantheon. Importantly, the marks of emission centers are imprinted to the right and to the left of the figure of the deity, with both of the capital one and of those peripheral located in the European and eastern parts of the Bosporan Kingdom. The coins were issued there with taking into account local ideas about symbolism of Aphrodite. Consequently, there has been no common ideology throughout the Bosporus at that time, the fact testifying the weakening of the royal power which seems to be quite understandable during the crisis caused by the Second Bosporan War.