EUMENES III / ARISTONICUS SILVER CISTOPHORUS – YEAR 3 (132/31 BC) ISSUE FROM APOLLONIS – BEST GRADED MINT STATE NGC GRADED GREEK PERGAMENE KINGDOM COIN (Inv. 20359)

$2,250.00

20359. PERGAMENE KINGDOM. EUMENES III (ARISTONICUS), ca. 133–129 BC.
Silver Cistophorus, 12.68 g, 28 mm. Issue of Apollonis, Lydia, during year 3 of the revolt, 132/131 BC.
Obv. Cista mystica within ivy wreath. Rev. Snakes around bow case, BA–EY within their coils, AP–OΛ in exergue, Γ (date) on lower part of bow case, head of Zeus left in left field, head of Apollo (?) right in right field.
Kleiner & Noe, Series 2, 2–g, p. 103, pl. XXXVIII, 4 (same obverse die).
NGC graded MINT STATE, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed.” 1 of 2 BEST GRADED in current NGC census.

When Attalus III died in 133 BC, his will granted autonomy to several major cities, including the royal capital, Pergamum, and bequeathed the territory of the Attalid kingdom to the Roman people. This event inspired Aristonicus, a pretended illegitimate son of Eumenes II, to claim the royal title and the throne name Eumenes III in opposition to the Romans. The so–called Revolt of Aristonicus (133–129 BC) seems to have largely drawn support from the enslaved and disenfranchised in the countryside, rather than from the Greek cities, the most important of which were now free and unwilling to return to royal control. Aristonicus/Eumenes III enjoyed some initial success in coastal Ionia before he was defeated by an Ephesian fleet and forced to withdraw to bases in inland Lydia. In 131 BC, the rebels managed to defeat the army of the Roman consul P. Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus, who was captured and killed. However, this victory was fleeting. In 130 BC, the new consul M. Perperna arrived and, together with his Greek allies, dealt a crushing blow to the revolt in a battle near Stratonicea. In 129 BC, Aristonicus/Eumenes III was defeated and sent to Rome to march in Perperna’s triumph and suffer execution. The territory of the former Attalid kingdom was subsequently reorganized as the Roman province of Asia.