Virgil

These stamps page showing ancient scenes are related in some way to Publius Vergilius Maro, better known as Virgil. He was from Ancient Rome, from what is now Mantua, Italy. He lived from 70 to 19 b.c.e. and was a famous writer, a poet of his time – and still famous, although I’ve never read anything he wrote. One of his best works, written in Latin, was the Aeneid. It’s an epic poem about the legendary Aeneas, a Trojan who left Troy when it fell and went to Rome. He was the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

These are mostly standard postage stamps, but there are a few semi-postal stamps and some air mail stamps, two of which are both. All of these stamps depict scenes from the Aenid. The semi-postal and semi-postal air mail stamps cost more than the normal price to raise funds for the restoration of Virgil monuments around the country – which was a big thing the Fascists like to do, restore and herald key places and figures of the old empire. This also seemed to have been a common thing for the Italian post office, to raise money for something or other. I can’t imagine that people of Tripolitania bought many of them.

Leptis Magna

Leptis Magna is located in Libya, along the coast not too far from Tripoli. It was founded in the 7th Century b.c.e. b the Punician and soon after became part of the Carthaginian Empire. In the first and secon century c.e., it became a Roman republic under Caesar Augustus.

In 193 c.e., Septimius Severus, who was born in Leptis Magna, became emperor of Rome. As such, he directed major improvements and expansion of his home town. Being a port city, docks were constructed, along with many streets and buidings. An ampitheater and a market place were built. One of those arches Rome likes was built in honor of the hometown boy made emperor. There were also many elaborate mosaics.

In time, the city fell out of favor, trade shifted elsewhere, others conquored the area, a tsunami hit, and eventually all of these Roman structures and art were deserted and lost to sand storms. In the 1920s and 30s, while a colony of Italy, Italian archeologists began excavate almost all of the ancient city, some in ruins but much intact.

The stamps on the first three rows of this album page depict some of the ruins that were excavated by the Italians. It’s meant to celebrate the city made great under the Roman empire – with which the Kingdom of Italy and the Fascists identified greatly – but to show that these lands the kingdom was colonizing have long belonged to Italy and that the colonies are better as a result of being part of the kingdom.

Note

I don’t particularly like the look of these Virgil stamps. Maybe if there were just four of them, but this is too many of a drab design. Plus, there are a four more from this series, a set of Virgil air mail stamps on the previous page.

Contains 17 spots: own 17 – 17 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 10, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Virgil

1.1	✓	78	Helenus Greets Aeneas	15c (dec 1930) comm., slate lilac
1.2	✓	79	Aeneas Receives Mandate	20c (dec 1930) comm., brownish orange
1.3	✓	80	Aeneas Landed on Tiber	25c (dec 1930) comm., dark green
2.1	✓	81	Greetings to Italy	30c (dec 1930) comm., brown
2.2	✓	82	Wealth of Farmers	50c (dec 1930) comm., lilac
2.3	✓	83	The Family	75c (dec 1930) comm., carmine
3.1	✓	84	Anchises & Italy	1.25₤ (dec 1930) comm., greyish blue
3.2	✓	85	Pastoral Life	5+1.50₤ (dec 1930) semi-postal, violet
3.3	✓	86	Turn Encourages His Men	10+2.50₤ (dec 1930) semi-postal, brown

Leptis Magna

4.1	✓	A9	Leptis Magna Ruins	50c (jan 1931) air mail, carmine
4.2	✓	A10	Leptis Magna	60c (jan 1931) air mail, orange red
4.3	✓	A11	Leptis Magna	75c (aug 1932) air mail, blue
4.4	✓	A12	Leptis Magna	80c (jan 1931) air mail, lilac

Other

5.1	✓	A13	Arab Rider	1₤ (jan 1931) air mail, blue
5.2	✓	A14	Arab Rider	1.20₤ (jan 1931) air mail, brown
6.1	✓	A15	Arab Rider	1.50₤ (jan 1931) air mail, orange
6.2	✓	A16	Arab Rider	5₤ (jan 1931) air mail, green

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.