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The Bosporan Kingdom

Issued into circulation on  28 July 2010 The coin is dedicated to the Bosporan Kingdom (VI-th century B.C. – IV-th century A.D.), one of the ancient states on the Northern coast of the Black Sea, which originated from a league of Greek colonies, the cities on the shores of the Strait of Kerch, with its capital in Panticapaeum, and regularly minted its coins.

The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (see Strait of Kerch). It is interesting as the first truly 'Hellenistic' state—in the sense of one in which a mixed population adopted the Greek language and civilization.

The Bosporan Kingdom was a Roman Province from 63 to 68 AD, under emperor Nero. I-II centuries AD was a period of a new golden age of the Bosporos state. In the end of II AD the king Sauromates II inflicted a critical defeat to the Scyths and included all the territories of the Crimea in the structure of his state.

The prosperity of the Bosporan Kingdom was based on the export of wheat, fish and slaves, and this commerce supported a class whose showy wealth over the centuries is still being dug out, often illegally, from numerous burial barrows or kurgans. The once thriving cities of the Bosporus have left extensive architectural and sculptural remains, while the kurgans continue to yield spectacular Greco-Sarmatian objects, the best examples of which are now preserved in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. These include gold work, vases imported from Athens, coarse terracottas, textile fragments and specimens of carpentry and marquetry.

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Obverse: 
On the coin obverse above there is the Small Coat of Arms of Ukraine with the coin issue year 2010 thereunder and semicircular inscription НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ БАНК УКРАЇНИ (National Bank of Ukraine), beneath - the coin face value 100/ГРИВЕНЬ (100 hryvnias); in the centre there is a fragment of Panticapaeum ruins against the background of reconstructed appearance of the city with sphinxes to the left and right thereof.
Reverse: 
On the coin reverse against the dark background there is depicted a sailing vessel with images of dolphins and decorative meander lines, symbolizing the water, thereunder; to the left and right of the vessel there are depicted fragments of buildings of the city; above, against the light background, there is depicted a gold coin, i.e. Panticapaeum stater with the legend БОСПОРСЬКЕ ЦАРСТВО (Bosporan Kingdom) thereunder.

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Country: 
Catalog ID: 
UA512CM1
Value: 
€1350
Mintage: 
3000
Quality: 
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Material: 
Purity: 
0.9
Weight: 
31.1g
Diameter: 
32mm
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Edge Lettering: 
Au 900, 31.1 g and the National Bank of Ukraine Mint logotype
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