Ilium — the ancient city claiming direct descent from Troy — leveraged that mythology aggressively under Roman rule, and civic bronzes like this one were part of that effort. The city had no strategic or economic significance by the Severan period; what it had was a story, and Roman emperors indulged it. Julius Caesar had visited, Augustus had considered making it a capital of the eastern empire, and Caracalla made a theatrical pilgrimage to Achilles' tomb there just years before Elagabalus took the throne.
Production at Ilium was modest and intermittent, which keeps survival numbers low for the entire civic series.
Ilium — the ancient city claiming direct descent from Troy — leveraged that mythology aggressively under Roman rule, and civic bronzes like this one were part of that effort. The city had no strategic or economic significance by the Severan period; what it had was a story, and Roman emperors indulged it. Julius Caesar had visited, Augustus had considered making it a capital of the eastern empire, and Caracalla made a theatrical pilgrimage to Achilles' tomb there just years before Elagabalus took the throne.
Production at Ilium was modest and intermittent, which keeps survival numbers low for the entire civic series.