Julius Caesar.
Text: COEPTA PROFLIGATAQVE OPERA A PATRE MEO PERFECI
works begun and almost finished by my father, I completed
Extract from Mon.Anc. 20:
Forum Iulium et basilicam, quae fuit inter aedem Castoris at aedem Saturni coepta profligataque opera a patre meo perfeci.
The Forum Julium and the basilica which used to stand between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn works begun and almost finished by my father, I completed.
The statue of Caesar is standing in front of a row of unfinished columns. The extract and the motive certainly refer to the Fascist project of clearing the Imperial Fora in Rome by constructing Via dell'Impero from Colosseo to the Monument of Vittorio Emanuelle,
and perhaps also to the Fascist claim that they finished the process of uniting Italy.
The star to the left is the star of Julius, IVLIVM SIDVS, a daylight comet that was observed in 44 B.C. during games that the future Roman emperor Augustus gave in honor of the late Julius Caesar. The comet was regarded as a prophecy of Caesar's deification.
Michel 580, Sassone 420, AFA 512
Date of issue: 1937
Face value: 30 c.
Date created: 22/03/00 11:41:49