Æ19 - Gordian III ΕΚΤΩΡ ΙΛΙΕΩΝ

Ilium — the city built on or near the ruins of Troy — was acutely conscious of its mythological identity and exploited it aggressively on its civic coinage. The appearance of Hector, Troy's great defender, on an issue of Gordian III's reign reflects a long local tradition of invoking Homeric figures to assert prestige, particularly useful when petitioning emperors for civic privileges. Gordian himself visited the Troad region, and ancient sources record he paid respects at the tomb of Ajax — a detail that made Iliensian flattery toward Rome both politically calculated and geographically pointed.