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A 13-year-old on a walk in the Spandau district of Berlin discovered a rare ancient bronze coin from Troy. It dates to between 281 and 261 B.C. and was issued by the mint at Ilion (Classical and Hellenistic era Troy). Now on display at the PETRI Museum, it is the first Greek antiquity ever discovered inside the city of Berlin.
The city of Ilion during the period when this coin was minted is known as Troy VIII by archaeologists, a numbering system based on the excavation layers. It was built by Greek colonists within the remaining walls of the Hittite-era Bronze Age Troy VI citadel (ca. 1500 B.C.). From its founding in 700 B.C., Troy VIII prospered and grew. Its temple of Athena Ilias was a major regional religious center, and it drew tourists from all over the Classical world to pay homage to the tombs of the heroes of Homeric legend. Alexander the Great himself visited the temple and made sacrificial offerings at the tombs.
By the Hellenistic period, its yearly Panathenaia festival attracted large numbers pilgrims and did brisk trade at the associated market. That made it a target for the Gauls when they invaded Greece and the Balkans in 278 B.C., as did its crumbling walls, still the same ones built in the 1500s B.C. by the northern Anatolian occupants of Troy VI. They sacked it, but the city still stood until 85 B.C. when it was besieged and destroyed by the Roman general Gaius Flavius Fimbria during the civil war between partisans of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
The coin features the patron deity of Ilion on both sides. The obverse has a profile portrait of the goddess Athena wearing the Corinthian helmet that is one of her most characteristic attributes. The reverse show Athena Ilias wearing a kalathos (headdress) holding aloft a spear in her right hand and a spindle in her left. It is 12mm in diameter and weighs seven grams.
At first, archaeologists wondered if the coin was a “modern loss”—perhaps dropped by a collector in recent years. However, a professional excavation of the discovery site suggests a much deeper connection.
The field was found to be a multi-layered historical site, containing Bronze Age and Iron Age burial remains, Roman-era artifacts, and even a medieval Slavic knife fitting. This “archaeological context” suggests the coin likely arrived in the region centuries ago, rather than falling out of someone’s pocket last week.
The presence of a Trojan coin in Northern Europe poses a fascinating puzzle. Historians believe it likely traveled along ancient trade routes. The Mediterranean and the Baltic regions were linked by the Amber Road, where southern merchants traded goods for precious northern amber (which the Greeks called elektron).
Interestingly, because the coin is made of bronze rather than gold or silver, it had very low material value. This suggests it wasn’t used for a major business transaction. Instead, its discovery near burial remains hints at a symbolic or ritual use—perhaps kept as a charm, a souvenir of a long journey, or an offering to the dead.
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