Sale: Triton V, Lot: 1721. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilium. Crispina, wife of Commodus. Died 183 AD. Æ 28mm (11.89 gm). KPICPEINA CEBACTH, draped bust right / IL-IE-WN, Ilos standing left, sacrificing bull before Athena Ilias standing right. Bellinger 199; SNG Copenhagen 413 var. (reverse legend placement); SNG von Aulock -; BMC Troas, etc. pg. 67, 67. VF, dark brown patina with sandy highlights. ($1000)

From the David Simpson Collection. Ex Auctiones AG Auktion 17 (7 June 1988), lot 343; Frank Sternberg Auktion XI (20 November 1981), lot 276.

Ilos was the legendary founder of Troy, which he named after his father, Tros. Ilos had followed a cow until it rested, and there built the city after having prayed for a sign that he had chosen the right spot. The sign that Zeus had provided was a statue that was sacred to Athena, the Palladium (Athena Ilias). Ilos built a temple to house the statue, and Troy was safe from foreign enemies as long as the Palladium remained within the city walls (Homer, Iliad 21.231-236; Apollodorus 3.12.2-3).