Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 429. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TROAS, Ilion. Circa 188-133 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.98 gm). Head of Athena right, wearing a laureate, crested helmet / AQHNAS ILIADOS, Athena Ilias standing right, wearing polos and chiton, holding distaff and filleted spear; owl at her feet right, winged caduceus behind; KLE-WNOS across field, IWILOU in exergue. Bellinger, Troy, T52; Bellinger, "The First Civic Tetradrachms of Ilium," ANSMN VIII (1958), 17; BMC Troas pg. 58, 10; SNG Copenhagen -. Lightly toned VF, light porosity. Very rare. ($1000)

Founded in the seventh century BC by Aeolians on the site of ancient Troy, Ilion prospered and ultimately developed into a successful Hellenistic and Roman city. It possessed a famous temple of Athena (‘Ilias’) which was visited by King Xerxes of Persia and later by Alexander the Great. The Romans always had a high regard for Ilion because of the legend of Aeneas and the tradition that Rome's founders were of Trojan origin. With the collapse of Seleukid authority in Asia Minor in 189 BC, Ilion, in common with many other communities of western Asia Minor, celebrated its liberation from regal authority by issuing large and impressive tetradrachms. These honor the goddess Athena Ilias, whose helmeted head appears as the obverse type, while the reverse features her standing figure, probably the statue which stood within the sanctuary. The series extended down to the first century BC, the later issues being on smaller and thicker flans.