This very rare and exemplary Silver Denarius was produced under the reign of Julius Caesar, a powerful general and dictator of the Roman Republic. After grand victories in the Gallic wars that extended Rome’s reach to the Rhine and the English Channel, the senate of the Roman Republic ordered Caesar to step down from his position. Instead, Caesar marched on Italy with his legions, and established himself as dictator of Rome.
This Denarius features an image of an unknown female goddess on its obverse, wearing a diadem of oak leaves. The design seems to be hellenistic in style, and alongside it bears the inscriptions “IIT.” The reverse design is that of a Trophy of Arms from the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar, showing a captured Gaul, an ornamental axe, and a carnyx - a large “S” shaped bronze trumpet of the Gauls. Directly through the lower center of the reverse is the inscriptions “CAESAR.”