Colchis

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The coins usually attributed to this region are small pieces of base silver weighing about 36 grs. Their attribution to Colchis rests upon the fact that they are frequently found in the modern province of Mingrelia on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

Circ. B.C. 400, or later.

Head of archaistic (Egyptian ?) style. Bull 's head, r.
AR (base) 36-26 grs.

The attribution of the following stater of Babylonian weight to Colchis is not certain, though specimens appear to have been procured from Mingrelia.

Lion reclining, looking back.
[Date circ. B.C. 500.]
Human figure, with ox 's head, kneeling; oblong incuse [British Museum; see N. C., 1893, p. 88; Z. f. N., iv. p. 5].
AR (base) 157 grs.

Dioscurias, near the northern boundary of Colchis, was a Greek trading station, of which the Dioskuri were the traditional founders.


496
Time of Mithradates Eupator.

Caps of the Dioskuri.DIOSKOUPIADOS Thyrsos.
AE .65

Dynast of Colchis.

Aristarchus. Circ. B.C. 63-47 (?). He was made dynast of the Colchians by Pompey. Inscr., ARISTARCOU TOU EPI KOLCIDOS, obv. Head of Helios(?); rev. Female figure seated; AR 57 grs. (See Z. f. N., iii. p. 60; v. p. 226 f.; N. C., 1877, p. 1; Transactions of Numismatic Soc. of Moscow, iii. 1905, p. 1.)