The city of Panticapaeum was founded by Miletians in the middle of the sixth century B.C. on the easternmost end of the Crimean peninsula. By the 480s it became a leader of a union of independent cities, and then served as the capital of the Bosporian kingdom. Panticapaeum was known as a major stronghold of the Greek civilization on the North coast of the Black Sea. Coins with the name of this city were minted for five hundred years, from 530 to 20 B.C.

Most coins of Panticapaeum include the portrait or the iconography of the Greek god Pan as well as the Greek legend “ΠAN”. The copper/bronze coins demonstrate much more diversity in reverse types including bulls, horses and fish corresponding to the peaceful, daily life of the inhabitants of the city, while the bow and arrow reflected their military activities. Mythological creatures, such as griffins and Pegasus, also occurred on the coins of Paticapaeum in the 4^th and 3^rd centuries B.C.

TYPE 1: Tauric Chersonesos, Pantikapaion. Ca. 200-150 B.C. Æ (Approximately 12mm) Laureate head of Apollo right / Π-A-N, bow in bowcase. Reference citations: MacDonald 139; SNG BM Black Sea 920

TYPE 2: Tauric Chersonesos, Pantikapaion. Ca. 304-250 B.C. Æ (Approximately 15mm). Head of young Pan left / ΠAN, bow and arrow. Reference citations: cf. MacDonald 116/1; cf. SNG BM Black Sea 894

TYPE 3 (Nicer grade): Tauric Chersonesos, Pantikapaion. Civic issue. Fourth/third century B.C. AE (Approximately 19mm). Beardless head of young Pan left, wreathed in ivy / ΠAN, bow and arrow (to right) above ethnic. Reference citations: cf. SNG Cop 43; MacDonald 116; Cf. SNG BM Black Sea 894-9