Ancient Roman Imperatorial - 48-46 BCE Julius Caesar AR Denarius NGC AU

This coin is a wonderful work of cultural and political propaganda from ancient Rome.  It features the wreathed head of Venus facing right on the obverse. The reverse presents Aeneas moving to the left, carrying palladium in his right hand and Anchises over his left shoulder. ‘CAESAR’ is downward on the right.

This issue was produced by the African mint of the Roman Republic. The striking of this issue reinforces Caesar's divine heritage. On the night before the crucial Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE) Caesar took a solemn oath to dedicate a temple to Venus in Rome. She was the alleged ancestor of his gens. 

Remains of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar in Rome. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Venus is the Roman goddess who represented love, beauty, desire, sexuality, fertility, prosperity and victory. In order to fulfill his vow, Caesar built a temple of Venus Genetrix in the new Roman Forum. By establishing the cult of Venus, he confirmed the claim of his own gens of descent from the goddess through Iulus, the son of Aeneas.  In Roman mythology, Venus was the ancestor of the people of Rome through her son, Aeneas, who appears on the reverse of this coin. Thus her representation upon this coin's obverse was carefully orchestrated by Julius Caesar, who claimed her as his ancestor.