This coin was issued by Julius Caesar in 47-46 BCE; it depicts Aeneas leaving Troy, carrying his father Anchises on his shoulder and the Palladium in his right hand. According to Greek mythology, the Palladium was a small wooden statue of Athena that fell from the heavens into Troy; the safety of the city of Troy depended on their keeping the statue within their walls. Roman tradition before Vergil wrote the Aeneid claimed that Aeneas had taken the statue and brought it with him to Italy, where it was kept in the Temple of Vesta and supposedly transferred its protection to the city of Rome.