Julius Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC) is one of the most famous Romans from antiquity. His victory in the civil war with Pompey (49-45 BC) marked the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. Before the war, Caesar had led an invasion of Gaul for almost a decade, and his refusal to give up his provinces and armies led him to march on Rome, crossing the Rubicon in 49BC. Upon his victory in the civil war, Julius Caesar was named ‘dictator perpetuo’ (dictator for life) in 44BC. He was assassinated very soon after 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius. It is said that in the morning of the Ides of March, his wife Calpurnia begged him not to go to the Theatre of Pompey due to a prophetic dream she had of his death. Caesar did not heed her calls and it is at the Theatre of Pompey that he is attacked in all directions by the conspirators and stabbed 23 times. In the aftermath of Caesar’s death, there was an immense power vacuum, which allowed Octavian, his adopted son and heir, to seize power, becoming the first Emperor of Rome.
Aeneas was a Trojan hero, born to the Trojan prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus in the Roman religion, depicted on the obverse of this coin). A relatively minor figure in Greek mythology, appearing briefly in the Homeric ‘Iliad’ and ‘Hymn to Aphrodite,’ his story and history were continued by Roman writers. In the Roman tradition, he became their first true hero, founder of Alba Longa, and ancestor to Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, and Remus, his twin brother. In Virgil’s ‘Aeneid,’ his key characteristic was his pietas, his piety, which could be best understood as one’s duty towards one’s country, one’s gods, and one’s family. The scene of Aeneas carrying both the Palladium and his father on the reverse of this piece encompasses every aspect of the Roman concept of ‘pietas.’ It shows Rome’s first hero fulfilling his duty towards his elderly father, who would have otherwise been unable to escape the burning and fall of Troy due to his frailty, and towards both his city, Troy, and his gods in his saving of the Palladium. The Palladium was a wooden cult statue of the goddess Pallas Athena, on which the safety of Troy depended, and thus his saving of this statue served both his gods and his country.
