178. Head of Venus right, wearing diadem. Border of dots. Reverse; Aeneas left, carrying palladium in right hand and Anchises on left shoulder, on right, inscription

This classic ancient Roman silver denarius was issued by Julius Caesar andwas struck by a mobile military mint traveling with Caesar during his African campaign between 47 and 46 BCE(around the time of the Battle of Thapsus).

The coin features remarkable propaganda intended to legitimize Caesar's political power and divine lineage:

• Obverse (Head of Venus right): The portrait represents the goddess Venus. The gens Julia (Julius Caesar's family) famously claimed direct descent from Venus through her grandson, Iulus (the son of Aeneas). 
• Reverse (Aeneas and Anchises): This side depicts the Trojan hero Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy. He is shown carrying his crippled father, Anchises, on his shoulder and the Palladium (a sacred statue of the goddess Athena/Minerva) in his outstretched right hand. 
• Inscription: The inscription on the right side reads CAESAR.

This specific mythology beautifully ties together Caesar's claimed divine grandmother (Venus) and his heroic ancestor (Aeneas). The reverse scene was later heavily popularized in Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid.

This coin was minted in the middle of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, albeit after the latter’s defeat and death. Already in 50 BCE, the Senate commanded Caesar to return to Rome because his term as governor was over. In answer to that, in 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with only one legion. This act resulted in a civil war between Caesar and the optimates, who chose Pompey as their leader. Afterwards Caesar defeated Pompey's allies in Spain and returned to the East, to confront the latter in Illyria.
Later on, Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus, in Greece, and pursued him to Egypt, arriving soon after the murder of the general. There, he supported Cleopatra VII against her younger brother Ptolemy XIV. Caesar decided to bestow the pharaoh's crown on the head of Cleopatra in 47 BCE, after having successfully defeated her opponents. After the defeat of the King of Pontus, who had sided with Pompey, by 46 BCE, Caesar advanced to Africa to deal with Cato, and others supporters of the optimates' rule.

Possibly the coin was minted on the spot to pay the soldiers who fought on African soil.  At that time Julius Caesar had witnessed in person all the pageantry of the Hellenistic monarchy in Ptolemaic Egypt, as well as the Ptolemies’ claim to divinity. Contrary to the previous warlords such as Sulla, who claimed a close bond with Venus Felix, and to his rival Pompey, who claimed a close bond with Venus Victrix, but without pretending to descend from the goddess, Julius Caesar claimed much more. Perhaps drawing on the example of the Hellenistic monarchies of the Greek East, Caesar emphasized the divine ancestry of his family, the gens Iulia. They claimed descent from the goddess Venus and her son, the Trojan hero Aeneas, who saved his father from the fall of Troy and, according to the legend, fled to Italy. The Romans traced their history back to him. Caesar’s claim was accepted by his adopted son Octavian and it became one of the main vehicles of imperial propaganda.

The Aeneid, written by Virgil, as well as various coins minted by Octavian/Augustus, and his well-known portrait, the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta, convey the idea of a close relationship between the gens Iulia and Venus. This denarius suggests that the Roman Republic had to be identified with the personal power of Julius Caesar, by then also dictator, or supreme magistrate of the Roman Republic.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that this coin also forwards an ideal of pietas, by reffering to the pietas of Aeneas towards his father, as well as to the pietas of Julius Caesar towards his ancestors, the goddess Venus and Aeneas himself. The idea of pietas consisted in "fulfilling one's responsibilities to anyone or anything to whom one was bound in any way. The fulfillment of these responsibilities could be motivated by the requirements of duty or obligations, in which case pietas was often overlapped with the notion of officium, fides, or religio, or by the deeper sentiments of love and affection" (Noreña, Imperial Ideals in the Roman West, p. 71). Later on, in the early imperial period, according to Carlos Noreña, pietas was one of the most important virtues displayed on Roman imperial coinage.

Minted in Africa

Currency Denarius

Paid £150 - Kevin - Charing Cross

Date 18/12/1999

Reference s.1402 / s.2355

Current Value

Size

Weight

112. Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) - Elephant Trampling Snake

* Contemporary Counterfeit *

This is the first coin ever issued by Julius Caesar, struck in 49 BC at the very start of the civil war against Pompey. It shows:

> Obverse: An elephant advancing right, trampling a serpent

> Reverse: A collection of priestly symbols (simpulum, aspergillum, axe, and apex)

The message was pure propaganda: Caesar = the mighty elephant crushing evil / chaos / Pompey’s faction.

A contemporary counterfeit means:

• It was made in antiquity, not modern.

• Usually produced by criminals or local moneyers during Caesar’s lifetime.

• Often silver‑plated bronze, or low‑grade silver.

• Style is usually slightly “off”:

  • Elephant looks more cartoonish or stiff

  • Legends irregular

The weight is 1.75g as oposed to the heavier silver original of 3.8–4.0g.

These were made to pass in everyday circulation — essentially ancient fraud.

Currency Denarius

Paid £130 - Alan Cherry - Commonwealth Institute

Date 17th November 1999

Reference s.353

Current Value

Size 16mm

Weight 1.75g

241.Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) - Elephant Trampling Snake

This is the first coin ever issued by Julius Caesar, struck in 49 BC at the very start of the civil war against Pompey. It shows:

> Obverse: An elephant advancing right, trampling a serpent

> Reverse: A collection of priestly symbols (simpulum, aspergillum, axe, and apex)

The message was pure propaganda: Caesar = the mighty elephant crushing evil / chaos / Pompey’s faction.

Currency Denarius

Paid £120 - Kevin - Charing Cross

Date 12th August 2000

Reference s.1399

Current Value

Size 19mm

Weight 3.25g

104. Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) - Trophy of Gallic Arms

Roman Republican/Imperatorial. Military mint moving with Caesar in Spain, 46-45 BCE.
Obv: Head of Venus to right, wearing stephane; Cupid behind shoulder
Rev: Trophy of Gallic arms, composed of helmet and cuirass, oval shield and two carnyxes. Two Gallic captives seated at base, to left, a female (Gallia) in posture of mourning, head resting in r. hand; to right, a bearded male (Vercingetorix) with hands bound behind him, looking l. CAESAR in exergue.
Reference: Crawford 468/1; CRI 58; RSC 13; Sydenham 1014.

Numismatic Notes: The figures on the reverse of this coin are traditionally identified as the same as those portrayed on the obverses of the pair of Hostilius Saserna AR Denarii, c. 48 BC, depicting Gallia (left) and Vercingetorix (right).
This coin became the archetype for Roman numismatic depictions of captives for the next 400 years. The trophy with two captives beneath was used frequently in the 3rd century (e.g., by Septimius Severus and Caracalla) and became a popular type on 4th century small bronze coinage (see, e.g., the Constantine AE3s). Even those depicting a single captive borrowed from this imagery; e.g., Judaea (under Vespasian et al.), Armenia (L. Verus et al.), and Dacia (Trajan et al.), among others, were depicted as female personifications in the same attitude of dejection/posture of mourning.

Currency Denarius

Paid £220 - Bob Unger - Charing Cross

Date 11th July 1999

Reference s.354

Current Value

Size 19mm

Weight 3.72g

122. Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) - Trophy of Gallic Arms

Roman Republican/Imperatorial. Military mint moving with Caesar in Spain, 46-45 BCE.
Obv: Head of Venus to right, wearing stephane; Cupid behind shoulder
Rev: Trophy of Gallic arms, composed of helmet and cuirass, oval shield and two carnyxes. Two Gallic captives seated at base, to left, a female (Gallia) in posture of mourning, head resting in r. hand; to right, a bearded male (Vercingetorix) with hands bound behind him, looking l. CAESAR in exergue.
Reference: Crawford 468/1; CRI 58; RSC 13; Sydenham 1014.

Numismatic Notes: The figures on the reverse of this coin are traditionally identified as the same as those portrayed on the obverses of the pair of Hostilius Saserna AR Denarii, c. 48 BC, depicting Gallia (left) and Vercingetorix (right).
This coin became the archetype for Roman numismatic depictions of captives for the next 400 years. The trophy with two captives beneath was used frequently in the 3rd century (e.g., by Septimius Severus and Caracalla) and became a popular type on 4th century small bronze coinage (see, e.g., the Constantine AE3s). Even those depicting a single captive borrowed from this imagery; e.g., Judaea (under Vespasian et al.), Armenia (L. Verus et al.), and Dacia (Trajan et al.), among others, were depicted as female personifications in the same attitude of dejection/posture of mourning.

Currency Denarius

Paid £120 - Bob Unger - Charing Cross

Date 7th August 1999

Reference s.357

Current Value

Size 18mm

Weight 3.88g

185. Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC) - Trophy of Gallic Arms

Roman Republican/Imperatorial. Military mint moving with Caesar in Spain, 46-45 BCE.
Obv: Head of Venus to right, wearing stephane; Cupid behind shoulder
Rev: Trophy of Gallic arms, composed of helmet and cuirass, oval shield and two carnyxes. Two Gallic captives seated at base, to left, a female (Gallia) in posture of mourning, head resting in r. hand; to right, a bearded male (Vercingetorix) with hands bound behind him, looking l. CAESAR in exergue.
Reference: Crawford 468/1; CRI 58; RSC 13; Sydenham 1014.

Numismatic Notes: The figures on the reverse of this coin are traditionally identified as the same as those portrayed on the obverses of the pair of Hostilius Saserna AR Denarii, c. 48 BC, depicting Gallia (left) and Vercingetorix (right).
This coin became the archetype for Roman numismatic depictions of captives for the next 400 years. The trophy with two captives beneath was used frequently in the 3rd century (e.g., by Septimius Severus and Caracalla) and became a popular type on 4th century small bronze coinage (see, e.g., the Constantine AE3s). Even those depicting a single captive borrowed from this imagery; e.g., Judaea (under Vespasian et al.), Armenia (L. Verus et al.), and Dacia (Trajan et al.), among others, were depicted as female personifications in the same attitude of dejection/posture of mourning.

Currency Denarius

Paid £100 - Kevin - Charing Cross

Date 18th December 1999

Reference s.1404

Current Value

Size 20mm

Weight 4.04g

137. Agrippa (63 - 12 BC) - Neptune - Struck by Tiberius

Neptune standing, nude, with a cloak over his shoulders, holding a dolphin and a trident. 

Agrippa is one of the greatest men of Ancient Rome. His lifetime accomplishments were spectacular and his heritage is incredibly rich even two thousand years after his death. However, only a few Roman coins issued during his lifetime bear his portrait or name. This is due to the role that money played at the time of the Roman Empire. In addition to being a means of payment, coins were also a form of propaganda. As this centered around the person of Octavian, and later his family, other subjects or persons, with rare exceptions, had no place on Rome’s coins.

Currency Sestertius

Paid £45 - Saive

Date 11th September 1999

Reference s.556 / s.1812

Current Value £350

Size 25mm

Weight 13.06 g

172. Agrippa (63 - 12 BC) - Neptune - Struck by Tiberius

Neptune standing, nude, with a cloak over his shoulders, holding a dolphin and a trident. 

Agrippa is one of the greatest men of Ancient Rome. His lifetime accomplishments were spectacular and his heritage is incredibly rich even two thousand years after his death. However, only a few Roman coins issued during his lifetime bear his portrait or name. This is due to the role that money played at the time of the Roman Empire. In addition to being a means of payment, coins were also a form of propaganda. As this centered around the person of Octavian, and later his family, other subjects or persons, with rare exceptions, had no place on Rome’s coins.

Currency Sestertius

Paid £50 - Ziele

Date 13th November 1999

Reference s.556 / s.1812

Current Value £350

Size 27mm

Weight 13.67g