Stater - Eupator Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius

The Bosporan Kingdom occupied a peculiar diplomatic position in the Roman world — nominally independent, but in practice a client state whose rulers required Roman approval to reign. The dual portrait type referencing both Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius reflects the awkward co-emperorship that began in 161 AD, the only time Rome had ever formally invested two men with equal imperial authority. Bosporan kings had every political reason to advertise their alignment with both.

Eupator ruled the Cimmerian Bosporus from roughly 154 to 170 AD, and his gold staters represent the tail end of a long tradition of blending Greek coinage conventions with Roman dynastic loyalty.