Veni, Vidi, Vici

Triton XVII, Lot: 243. Estimate $10000. Sold for $22000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of BOSPOROS. Pharnakes II. Circa 63-46 BC. AV Stater (19mm, 8.25 g, 12h). Dated BE 246 (52/1 BC). Diademed head right / BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY ΦAPNAKOY, Apollo seated left, holding laurel branch in extended right hand, left arm resting on kithara to right; tripod to left, ςMΣ (date) and monogram to right. Frolova & Ireland § 5, dies A/z; G&K 9 (same obv. die); Anokhin 1305; MacDonald 185/2; HGC 7, 198; DCA 446. EF, minor die wear on reverse. Very rare.

Pharnakes was awarded the Bosporan Kingdom by Pompey for the betrayal of his father Mithradates VI, King of Pontos. Little is known of his sixteen-year reign except for its ending. During the Civil War between Pompey and Julius Caesar, Pharnakes tried to recapture his father's former territories in Pontos. He won a victory over Caesar's general, Domitius Calvinus, and ordered Romans in the region castrated or put to the sword. In response, Caesar launched a rapid five day war against Pharnakes in 47 BC, culminating in the battle of Zela. Caesar emerged victorious, prompting him to report back to the Senate with the now famous dictum, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered).