Roman Republic Julius Caesar

Aeneas, son of the goddess Aphrodite and the Trojan prince Anchises​

During the Trojan War, his mother Aphrodite was his tutelary goddess. Spending his childhood on the slopes of Mount Ida, the Trojan hero settled in Italy after the Trojan War and founded a kingdom, which will be the basis of Rome. On the coin we can see the old father of Aeneas. On his shoulders and in his other hand we see Palladium, the symbol of the city. In connection with a number of mysterious myths and the myth of the founding of the city of Ilion, Palladion was sent to Italy by Aeneas. Remus and Romulus, who founded afterwards the city Rome, are descended from Aeneas, i.e. from the Trojan family tree. Julius Caesar also traces his descent back to Aeneas and used this coin to refer to his own descent.


The reverse of this coin features a scene from Virgil's Aeneid. Aeneas is depicted carrying his lame father, Anchises, from the destroyed city of Troy to find new dwellings to the west. According to Virgil, Aeneas and his entourage eventually settled in Italy and their descendants, Romulus and Remus, went on to play a key role in founding the city of Rome. As a member of the Julian gens, which claimed to trace its ancestry back to Romulus, Remus and Aeneas, Caesar is here emphasising his connection to the mythical founders of Rome and demonstrating his divine right to rule.