Æ39 - Valerian and Gallienus ΙΛΙΕΩΝ ΕΚΤΩΡ

Ilium — the city built atop the ruins of Troy — minted this bronze under the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, exploiting its mythological identity with characteristic aggression. The city had cultivated imperial favor for centuries by positioning itself as the ancestral homeland of Rome itself, a claim Augustus had taken seriously enough to consider relocating the capital there. Local bronze issues frequently invoked Hector, the city's greatest Homeric champion, as a deliberate assertion of that lineage.

The Conventus of Adramyteum administered a coastline dense with cities competing for prestige mintages. Ilium punched above its actual economic weight throughout the provincial bronze period.