Publications and Research
Periodicals
Bank of Canada Review
Spring 2004
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The Bank of Canada's Business Outlook Survey by Monica Martin
Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Industralized Countries
Are Wealth Effects Important for Canada?
See also: Tables A1, A2, and Notes to the Tables Full Review (PDF, 387 kb) |
Cover: The Millennial Celebrations in Ancient Rome
The practice of issuing commemorative coins to celebrate significant milestones in a nation's history has a long tradition that goes back to ancient Greece and Rome. In 1992, Canada celebrated its 125th anniversary by issuing one-dollar and twenty-five cent coins with designs featuring national historic sites and symbols, including the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia, the hoodoos in Alberta, and an aboriginal Inukshuk.
The celebrations to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Rome took place in AD 248 during the reign of the emperor Philip I (244–249). Philip's career was noted for various military victories, administrative improvements, and a certain degree of religious tolerance. Its pinnacle, however, was the millennial celebrations. By the middle of the tumultuous third century, the small village founded on the Tiber River in 753 BC had risen to become the capital of an empire stretching from Spain in the west to Mesopotamia in the east and from Britain in the north to Egypt in the south.
Philip's millennial celebrations began on 21 April and included sumptuous games in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Many of the animals showcased at the games, such as lions, hippopotamuses, gazelles, goats, and stags, were depicted on a series of commemorative coins. Struck in the names of members of the imperial family in gold, silver, or bronze, the coins also featured portraits of Philip, his wife Otacilia Severa, and his son, Philip II.
Among the coins shown on our cover is one bearing a representation of the temple of Roma, the personification of the city. Other coins depicted a column inscribed "Cos III" in reference to the emperor's third consulship, a suggestion that his reign would continue. Legends adorning the coins proclaimed the dawning of a new era. Glory, however, is fleeting. One year later, Philip was dead, killed in battle at Verona.
The coins pictured on the cover range from approximately 20 to 35 mm in diameter and form part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.
Photography by Gord Carter, Ottawa