Mythology is filled with stories of romance, heroism, and adventure. A great way to get youth reading, and maybe collecting stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp today is sponsored by a youth organization promoting the study of mythology. The story presented on the stamp has war, adventure, and romance. The presentation on the stamp is so formal and old fashioned, that I wonder if the effect is lost on the youth of the day. The stamp designers clearly loved the subject matter so their reverence can be forgiven.
Todays stamp is issue A106, a 1.25 Lira stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy on October 21st, 1930. The stamp features Anchises and his sailors first viewing Italy after the fall of Troy. The stamp was part of a 9 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the bimillenary of the birth of Virgil. The stamp was sponsored by the National Institute Figli del Littorio and the higher denominations of this issue included a surcharge benefiting them. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $12 used.
The National Institute Figli del Littorio was a fascist scouting type organization that tried to get chapters started among those of Italian descent around the world. They were notably successful in Malta, where the mostly Italian people were under British rule. The real boy scouts of Italy had been banned and the Catholic youth organization had been severly restricted. School teachers were also heavily pressured to sign up the children. In 1937, the organizations both foreign and domestic were directly absorbed by the Gioventu Italian del Littorio, the youth arm of the then in power fascist party.
Long term readers might remember I was more sympathetic to a same era Soviet stamp on their similar Scout replacing Young Pioneers stamp. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/29/soviet-union-1936-the-young-pioneers-take-a-bite-out-of-crime/. Here I admit to being swayed by the fun stamp and the great period video on them that you can see below. Commenters please feel free to post videos of fascist scouts looking harmless. My German uncle was in the Hitler Youth in his youth and I remember gasps at an eighties family reunion at an old picture of the family dinner table with him in a scout uniform that did not benefit from the Nazi armband.
Anchises was a simple sheppard when he was spotted by the God Venus, who fell instantly in love with him. She disguised herself as a maiden girl and got Anchises alone. He was overwhelmed by her attractiveness and she told him she was really a visiting Princess. Anchises was full of lust and he removed her clothing and they made love. Afterward Venus cast a sleeping spell on him and dressed herself. She then revealed herself as a God to Anchises. He begged to be killed as he thought nothing good could come from a mortal being with a God. She informed him that he would be okay and that she would bear him a son named Aeneas. The baby would be raised by nymphs until age five then brought to him.
Anchises was instructed never to boast of seducing a God or he would anger Zeus. When he did later he was either killed or blinded depending on the telling. He still later featured in Virgil’s story of his son Aeneas. After the defeat of Troy, Aeneas with his father and fellow defeated Trojans went in search of a new home. There travels took them to Crete where many died. They then traveled to Sicily and Carthage. This story is told by Roman poet Virgil in his epic poem Aeneid. The story told the tale of how Aeneas became the father of the Romans. The poem was written about 25 BC.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another while I imagine myself being seduced by the Goddess of love. I have been married to her for 28 years and I have no fear of Zeus learning of it. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.