Title:
Roman, Julius Caesar
Description:
The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. Late 48-47 BC. AR Denarius (18.5mm, 3.87 g, 6h). Military mint traveling with Caesar in North Africa.
Diademed head of Venus right / Aeneas advancing left, holding palladium and bearing Anchises on his shoulder. Crawford 458/1; CRI
55; Sydenham 1013; RSC 12; RBW 1600. Light golden toning with some luster. EF.
Julius Caesar traced his descent to the Trojan hero Aeneas. According to legend, Aeneas was the result of a liaison between the goddess Venus and Anchises, a herdsman who was related to the Trojan royal family. In a scene recounted in Virgil’s Aeneid, as the Mycenaean confederation torched Troy, Aeneas escaped the burning city carrying his aged father Anchises on his shoulder and the sacred Palladium, the cult statue of Pallas Athena saved from the household shrine. This scene is depicted on the reverse of this denarius of Caesar, struck in
48-47 BC, at least two decades before the Aeneid was composed.
Venus, the mother of Aeneas (and thus the divine progenitor of Caesar) appears on the obverse.
Diademed head of Venus right / Aeneas advancing left, holding palladium and bearing Anchises on his shoulder. Crawford 458/1; CRI
55; Sydenham 1013; RSC 12; RBW 1600. Light golden toning with some luster. EF.
Julius Caesar traced his descent to the Trojan hero Aeneas. According to legend, Aeneas was the result of a liaison between the goddess Venus and Anchises, a herdsman who was related to the Trojan royal family. In a scene recounted in Virgil’s Aeneid, as the Mycenaean confederation torched Troy, Aeneas escaped the burning city carrying his aged father Anchises on his shoulder and the sacred Palladium, the cult statue of Pallas Athena saved from the household shrine. This scene is depicted on the reverse of this denarius of Caesar, struck in
48-47 BC, at least two decades before the Aeneid was composed.
Venus, the mother of Aeneas (and thus the divine progenitor of Caesar) appears on the obverse.
Country:
Italy
Material:
Silver
Date Added:
2023-09-19 12:28:20
Automatic Estimated Date:
2026-01-26
Date Added:
2023-09-19 12:28:20
