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Greek city of Kios (Cius) in Bithynia
Bronze 18mm,
Struck circa 400 BC
Reference: Sear 3761; RG 6; SNG Copenhagen 380
Certification: NGC Ancients Ch F 4285281-035
Head of Mithras right, wearing peaked cap.
ΚΙΑΝΩΝ, Club right; two monograms below.
Coin Notes:
VERY RARE REPRESENTATION OF MITHRAS!
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 Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, the Greek Mithras is linked to a new and distinctive imagery, with the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice debated. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th century CE.
Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those “united by the handshake”. They met in underground temples, now called mithraea (singular mithraeum), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its centre in Rome, and was popular throughout the western half of the empire, as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia, as far north as Roman Britain, pp 26–27) and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east.
Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the empire by the end of the century.
Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments. It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in the city of Rome. No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.
Cius, later renamed Prusias on the Sea (Latin: Prusias ad Mare) after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis (now known as the Sea of Marmara), in Bithynia (in modern northwestern Turkey), and had a long history, being mentioned by Aristotle, Strabo and Apollonius Rhodius. It was colonized by the Milesians and became a place of much commercial importance. It joined the Aetolian League, and was destroyed by Philip V of Macedon in the II. Macedonian War (200-197). It was rebuilt by Prusias I of Bithynia who renamed it for himself. An important chain in the ancient Silk Road, it became known as a wealthy town.
Cius became an early Christian bishopric. Its bishop, Cyrillus, took part in the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The names of many of his successors in the first millennium are known from extant contemporary documents. At first a suffragan of Nicomedia, it soon became an autocephalous archdiocese, being listed as such in Notitiae Episcopatuum from the 7th century onward. No longer a residential bishopric, Cius is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.
Following the population exchange in 1923, the Greek refugees from Cius established the village of Nea Kios, in Argolis, Greece. There are only few remnants of the ancient town and its harbour today. Somewhat more to the west, the new modern town of Gemlik, Bursa Province, Turkey is found.
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