Description: Ancient Bronze Coin of Dioskurias, Kolchis (Colchis) circa 200-90 BC.  Time of Mithradates VI Eupator (105-90 BC) 

Obverse: Two pilei caps (caps of the Dioscuri), each pileus topped by 6 rayed stars.

Reverse: Central Thyrsos with ethnic around on Three lines: ΔI-OΣ / KOY-PIA / Δ-OΣ

Mint: Dioskurias, Kolchis

Size: 16 mm

Weight: 3.69 g

Ref: SNG BM Black Sea 1021; HGC 7, 205

Condition: Very Fine. Slight porosity. Nice example of this interesting coin

As always, Please use the Pictures as your judge as grading is subjective.

Notes:

Dioscurias (Dioskurias)  was an ancient Greek town near the northern boundary of Colchis.  According to the antique traditions this name originates from the mythical Dioskouri, the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus. In the Greek mythology it was believed that the town had been established by Castor's and Pollux's coachmen, the Argonauts Telkius and Amphyst.  

The city was eventually lost under the sea !

Colchis is usually defined as the area of the east Euxine ( Black Sea ) coast, restricted from the north by the southwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains, from the south by the northern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus and Eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) Mountains, and from the east by Likhi Range, connecting the Greater and the Lesser Caucasus. The central part of the region is Colchis Plain; most of that lies on the elevation below 20 m above sea level. Marginal parts of the region are mountains of the Great and the Lesser Caucasus and Likhi Range.  

The region is perhaps best known for its role in Greek mythology, most notably as the destination of the Argonauts, as well as the home to Medea and the Golden fleece.  

It was also described as a land rich with gold, iron, timber and honey that would export its resources mostly to ancient Greece.  

This area of Colchis was populated by Colchians, an early set of Kartvelian-speaking tribes, from the 13th to 1st Centuries B.C.

History

The city of Dioscurias was founded in the mid-6th century BC when an earlier settlement of the second and early first millennia BC, frequented by local Colchian tribes, was replaced by the Milesian Greek colony of Dioscurias.  It became busily engaged in the commerce between Greece and the indigenous tribes, importing wares from many parts of Greece, and exporting local salt and Caucasian timber, linen, and hemp.  The city and its surroundings were remarkable for the multitude of languages spoken in its bazaars. 

Although the sea made continuous inroads upon the territory of Dioscurias, it continued to flourish until its conquest by Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus in the later 2nd century. 

Under the Roman emperor Augustus the city assumed the name of Sebastopolis. But its prosperity was past, and in the 1st century Pliny the Elder described the place as virtually deserted though the town still continued to exist during the times of Arrian in the 130s.   The remains of towers and walls of Sebastopolis have been found underwater; on land the lowest levels so far reached by archaeologists are of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. According to Gregory of Nyssa there were Christians in the city in the late 4th century.  

In 542 the Romans evacuated the town and demolished its citadel to prevent it from being captured by Sassanid Iran. In 565, however, the emperor Justinian I restored the fort and Sebastopolis continued to remain one of the Byzantine strongholds in Colchis until being sacked by the Arab conqueror Marwan II in 736.