Kings of Galatia, Amyntas. AE As

Kings of Galatia, Amyntas. AE As. (39-25 BC). 
Obv: Head of Herakles right, club over shoulder.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΜΥΝΤΟΥ.
Lion standing right.
Condition: Near Very Fine

BMC 8; RPC I 3502; SNG France 2355-8.

Bronze.
Weight: 6.00 gr.
Diameter: 20.0 mm.

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/3502

Around 278 B.C., 'Galatian'people arrived in Asia Minor. They responded to an invitation extended by Nicomedes the king of Bithynia to serve as mercenaries. They located to an area in north central Asia Minor but by 189 B.C. they were under the control of Rome. These original Galatian people and their descendants “retained a great deal of their original culture well beyond the New Testament era. They spoke a Celtic dialect which continued to survive into the fourth century A.D., at least in rural areas of ethnic Galatia. They had a distinctive form of Celtic religious and political organization and were widely revered and feared as great warriors and mercenaries. They were considered barbarians due to their strange dialect, considerable physical stature, and wild appearance, though by Paul’s time most of them seem to have been capable of speaking Greek.”

In 64 B.C., they found favor with Pompey and became a favored client kingdom under Roman rule. Marc Antony, in about 40 B.C., appointed a secretary, Amyntas, to serve as king over Phrygia and Pisidia. Amyntas also acquired other lands in the area as bonus: Pamphylia, a part of Lycaonia, and Cilicia Tracheia. By 25 B.C., Amyntas controlled the entire Galatian kingdom except for portions of Pamphylia and Cilicia which were under another region’s control.

Reference : RPC I 3502; SNG France 2355-8;

Source : https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/3502

Collection : Roman Imperatorial collection