Laodice of Pontus: Queen and Numismatic Figure of the Mithridatic Dynasty

Introduction

Laodice was a 2nd-century BC princess of the Mithridatic dynasty who became queen of the Kingdom of Pontus by marrying her brother, King Mithridates IV. She was a daughter of Mithridates III of Pontus and his wife Laodice, and her brothers included Mithridates IV and Pharnaces I. Ancient literary sources do not record her; her existence and career are known through coins, a statue and inscriptions.

Numismatic evidence indicates she exercised authority as queen, likely as joint ruler with Mithridates IV, with coin issues dated roughly to 162 BC into the 150s BC. Joint coinage presents matched portraits and adopts a Ptolemaic model; one common reverse shows Zeus and Hera standing frontally, while legends identify the rulers as “Mithridates and Laodice Philadelphoi,” the sibling-loving couple. Laodice also issued coinage in her own name, sometimes monogrammed; one series bears her alone facing veiled, with reverses depicting Hera, a double cornucopia and a six-rayed star, and one issue styles her with the epithet epiphanes, a unique occurrence for a queen on Greek coinage. She is recorded as having no children by Mithridates IV and was commemorated with a statue and inscription on Delos.

Laodice’s historical footprint rests on her coinage and public honors, which attest to a recognized royal status and Hellenistic titulary and iconography within Pontus; direct evidence for policies, military actions or the circumstances of the end of her influence is not preserved in the surviving sources.