GALLIENUS
AD 253-268
AE21. 4.73g, 21mm
MINTED: TROAS, Alexandria Troas, AD 253-268
REF: Bellinger A456; SNG Cop 207
OBVERSE: IMP LICIN GALLIENV, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
REVERSE: COL AVG TRO, eagle flying right holding bull's head in claws.
 
Notes:
Slightly weathered brown-green patina. 
 
Historical Notes:
In 301 BC, this port-city on the northwestern coast of Anatolia was named Alexandria Troas by Lysimachus, after Alexander the Great.  It prospered and retained its name into the period it came under Roman rule, when it was granted the status of a Roman colony.  At its height, it may have had as many as 100,000 inhabitants, profiting from the transit of trade between Europe and the east, as well as from nearby mining and farming activity, and its temple to Apollon Smintheion (Apollo the Mouse God).  Emperor Hadrian built public baths there, and the famously wealthy Roman politician philosopher Herodes Atticus furnished it with an aqueduct.  Later, in the 4th century AD, Constantine the Great was said to have considered making Alexandria Troas the new capital of the Roman Empire (that honour went instead to Constantinople, present day Istanbul).