Sauromates II ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and his coinage reflects that dependence with unusual directness — his issues were struck in parallel with the reigns of Roman emperors, dated by the Bosporan era and cross-referenced against imperial colleagues in ways that make precise attribution genuinely useful for historians. The copper sestertius denomination here borrows Roman terminology while functioning within a distinctly local monetary tradition that had been drifting from electrum toward base metal across the preceding century.
Anokhin's cataloguing of this type remains the standard reference; MacDonald's earlier numbering is still cited for cross-identification but his chronology for several Sauromates II issues has since been revised.
Sauromates II ruled the Bosporan Kingdom as a client of Rome, and his coinage reflects that dependence with unusual directness — his issues were struck in parallel with the reigns of Roman emperors, dated by the Bosporan era and cross-referenced against imperial colleagues in ways that make precise attribution genuinely useful for historians. The copper sestertius denomination here borrows Roman terminology while functioning within a distinctly local monetary tradition that had been drifting from electrum toward base metal across the preceding century.
Anokhin's cataloguing of this type remains the standard reference; MacDonald's earlier numbering is still cited for cross-identification but his chronology for several Sauromates II issues has since been revised.