Legendary Italian poet: Virgil.

So here we have the Italian lira, nominal - 500. The year of issue of this coin is 1981, Mint: Rome, Italy. Total circulation – 341.000. The coin commemorates the 2000th anniversary of Virgil’s death.

Virgil, also spelled Vergil, Latin in full Publius Vergilius Maro, he was born October 15, 70 BCE, Andes, near Mantua, Italy — died in September 21, 19 BCE, Brundisium.

Virgil was regarded by the Romans as their greatest poet, an estimation that subsequent generations have upheld. His fame rests chiefly upon the Aeneid, which tells the story of Rome’s legendary founder and proclaims the Roman mission to civilize the world under divine guidance.

His reputation as a poet endures not only for the music and diction of his verse and for his skill in constructing an intricate work on the grand scale but also because he embodied in his poetry aspects of experience and behaviour of permanent significance.

Virgil was born of peasant stock, and his love of the Italian countryside and of the people who cultivated it colours all his poetry. He was educated at Cremona, at Milan, and finally at Rome, acquiring a thorough knowledge of Greek and Roman authors, especially of the poets, and receiving a detailed training in rhetoric and philosophy.