During his reign from 119 to 63 B.C. the King of Pontes, the most powerful man in Asia Minor, fought three bloody wars against the glorious Roman republic, but defeats finally lead to rioting in the army and among his overtaxed subjects. Mithradates fled to his citadel in the capital Panticapaeum and reportedly committed suicide to avoid humiliation. The co-capital Phanagoria’s center was incinerated in the same uprising.

During this year’s excavation the team found more than 300 ancient coins, some depicting the king himself, and other artifacts heavily damaged in the fire. The findings allowed archeologists to successfully date the ruins and identify them as Mithradates’s palace. Kuznetsov believes the coins, some of which were found in money bags, were left behind by fleeing residents as they tried to escape the violence and fire.

Three years ago an underwater excavation produced a marble tomb stone of the king’s wife, with an epitaph. Called by a male name, Hypsikrates, in tribute to her courage, the queen apparently died earlier during the uprising, the scientists say.