Greek coins - Mithradates VI Tetradrachm (N2406)

THRACE. Odessus. Time of Mithradates VI Eupator (ca. 125-70 BC). AR tetradrachm (32mm, 16.25 gm).  Issue in the name of types of Alexander III the Great of Macedon, ca. 80-72/1 BC. Head of Heracles right, wearing lion skin headdress, paws tied before neck / BAΣIΛEΩΣ / AΛEΞANΔPOY / OΔHΣITΩN Zeus enthroned left, right leg drawn back, feet on ground line, eagle in right hand, scepter in left;  EKA in center field, OΔH in exergue. Price 1192 type (star below throne as Price 1195-1197). Callataÿ group 3.

Mithradates VI analogized himself to Perseus ridding the East of Medusa (Rome). In 88 BCE, he orchestrated the massacre of most of the 80,000 Romans then living in Anatolia, which obviously prompted a Roman retaliation. The multi-part conflict is known as the Mithridatic Wars, during which this coin was issued.