Greek Mysia Pergamon Pergamum Bergama

To Troy, Alexander the Great, and the founding of Rome are all joined in a single coin.

Pergamon became the seat of the Attalid dynasty, a sophisticated center of wealth, art, literature and military power. It was famous for its cult of Asklepios, the god of healing, and for the great Altar of Pergamon, erected to commemorate the defeat of the Gauls by Attalus I Soter.

The Pergamon stater is the only gold coin that features the famous Athena Palladium of Troy. This image of Athena was regarded as the guardian of Troy. According to one myth, the city could never be taken as long as the Palladium remained in Troy. Entering the city through a secret passage, the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus removed the Palladium, thus making it possible for the Greeks to get the Trojan Horse into the city and win the war.

The most common story is that it was not taken from Troy at all until the fall of the city, when the Trojan hero Aeneas rescued it and carried it with other Trojan refugees to Italy. Aeneas’ descendants founded Rome, and the Palladium, now regarded as the guardian of Rome, was deposited in the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum. The Athena Palladium is often depicted on Roman coinage held by Rome or by the emperor, but it is never shown so clearly or in such detail as on this coins of Pergamon. https://antiksikkelernumizmatik.com/