PONTOS, Amisos: Mithridates VI Eupator (120-65 BCE), AE23, issued c. 85-65 BCE. 10.4g, 22.6mm.
Obv: Helmeted head of Perseus right.
Rev: Pegasos grazing left; AMIΣOY and monograms in ex.
HGC 7, 239.
Mithradates VI analogized himself to Perseus ridding the East of Medusa (Rome). In 88 BCE, he orchestrated the massacre of most of the 80,000 Romans then living in Anatolia, which obviously prompted a Roman retaliation. The multi-part conflict is known as the Mithridatic Wars, during which this coin was issued.