OTD: Julius Caesars born in 100, 101 (102?)BCE probably NOT by C section and no he didn't like salad

Its called July for a reason. Julius Caesar:



JC was indeed born on this day, July 12th, round about 100, 101 or possibly 102 BCE. We know so much about the man for being one of the most impactful men to all of recorded history. And yet we have such an abundance of misinformation.
He also didn't create the Julian calendar. He just brought it back from Egypt after his dalliances with Cleopatra VII (heck, even Cleopatra VII probably wasn't the seventh!?).



He probably didn't say, "The die is cast." after crossing a small unimportant river named the Rubicon. And if he did, it doesn't mean what you think.



And let's not even discuss his dispatches back to Rome, better known as his war commentaries. From them history learned that it is written by a group of guys named Victor (see! More misinformation).
Even the statement is flawed. It is carried out by the victor. It's actually written by...

... people like us.
What I can say for certain is that he fought, a lot, he won, a lot and he slept around, a lot (and may not have been to picky about gender... or nose size)!
Oh, and that I have several of his coins

L. Iulius Lf Caesar
AR Denarius (16 mm, 3.96 g), Rome, 103 BC.
Obv. Helmeted head of Mars to left; above visor, ·F· and behind, CAESAR.
Rev. Venus in biga of Cupids to left; above, ·F· and below, lyre; in exergue, L·IVLI·L·F.
Syd. 593; Craw. 320/1.
Ex: Savoca

Did you fall for it? It's not even Julius Caesar! Well it is... just not that one. It says Caesar... but it was minted the year before the earliest likely year of his birth! (A family member of his)


Julius Caesar 49-48 BCE AR denarius (18 mm, 3.43 g, 2 h). Military mint traveling with Caesar. CAESAR in exergue, elephant advancing right, trampling on horned serpent / Simpulum, sprinkler, axe (surmounted by a dog's head), and priest's hat. Crawford 443/1; HCRI 9; Sydenham 1006; RSC 49. Banker's mark on obverse, porous. Near fine. From the Expatriate Collection.
From the Expatriate Collection.
The Expatriate Collection Expatriate comes from the Latin roots ex-, ""away from,"" and patria, ""one's native country."" The Expatriate Collection was formed by an American who has lived abroad for nearly fourteen years in Japan, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East. His collection was formed almost exclusively while living outside the United States.


Julius Caesar
Denarius fouree, Africa, 47-46 BCE. AR 2.8 g. 18mm, Diademed head of Venus r. Rev. CAESAR Aeneas running l., carrying his father Anchises on his l. shoulder, holding palladium on his outstretched r. hand. This coin represents Caesar’s war coinage for the protracted campaign against the Pompians in Africa culminating in the battle of Thapsus.Cr. 458/1. Syd. 1013.



Julius Caesar
P. Sepullius Macer - Venus Denarius, lifetime issue Feb-March 44 BC. Moneyer P. Sepullius Macer. Obv: CAESAR DICT PERPETVO legend with laureate and veiled head of Gaius Julius Caesar right. Rev: P SEPVLLIVS MACER legend with Venus standing left, holding Victory in right hand, and sceptre set on shield in left. 20mm, 3.18 grams. Crawford 480/13; Sydenham 1074; RSC 39; Sear 1414. Fine. Scarce. Ex-Savoca


Augustus with Divus Julius Caesar
(27 BC-14 AD) MACEDON. Thessalonica. Obv: ΘEOΣ.
Wreathed head of Julius Caesar right; uncertain c/m on neck.
Rev: ΘEΣΣAΛONIKEΩN.
Bare head of Augustus right; Δ below. RPC I 1554.
Fine. 12.3 g.21 mm.
Former: Numismatik Naumann
The D has been interpreted as either a denomination mark (four assaria) or, more likely, a date - year four of the Actian era (28/7 BC). The ligate NK monogram has been generally accepted as a reference to Nero (Nerwn Kaisar). This is problematic considering that Thessalonica had abundant coinages issued under Claudius and Nero, such that countermarking these quite older coins would be unlikely. Touratsoglou (p. 105) follows Kraay's suggestion that the NK is an abbreviation for Nike (NiKh), and was applied to the coins during celebrations of the city's 50th anniversary of its grant of liberty by the Romans. All but two of the known specimens of this countermark occur on the coins of this first issue of Thessalonica, and the wear on the countermarks is nearly identical to that of the coins, suggesting that the countermarks could not have been applied very long after the coins entered circulation.

Pop a cork. Tell a lie. And help celebrate the man, the myth, the Julius Caesar by sharing his coins, stories (true or not) and have fun

 

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@Ryro Great writeup and admirable array of coins relating to Caesar.

My only coin relating to Julius Caesar is this posthumus issue struck the year following his assasination in 43 B.C. by the moneyer L. Flaminius.
Crawford 485/1
3.70 g.
Ex Superior Galleries, December 1987 - The Dr. Feori Pipito Collection Sale

 

Great stuff, @Ryro.



Denarius, Crawford, Roman Republican Coins (RRC), No. 480/8 (March 44 BC - Alfoldi)

Coin obverse depiction: Julius Caesar wreathed head facing right

Inscription clockwise from right: [CAESAR DICT] PERPETVo (Dictator in Perpetuity)

Coin reverse depiction: Venus Genetrix standing, facing left, holding statuette of victory on palm of right hand and supporting vertical scepter with left hand

Inscription vertical to right: L BVCA (L. Aemilius Buca, Moneyer)

Weight: 3.5g

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn’t he actually say: “I don’t really like salad but I have Krafted some great dressing that will definitely improve it”

and …...

“bring up the video camera Marcus so I can prove that I actually was here, saw this town and conquered it” (or something like that). [EDITED:] because I thought of a slightly different rendition. [/EDIT]

I enjoyed your whimsical post @Ryro - of course, I enjoy many things now that I didn’t used too - twenty years (well it seems like that long) of home quarantine will do that to you!

 

My only Caesar:


Roman Republic, Imperatorial Coinage, Julius Caesar, AR denarius, 49–48 BC, military mint moving with Caesar. Obv: [CA]ESAR; elephant walking r., trampling snake. Rev: priestly implements: culullus, aspergillum, axe, apex. 20mm, 3.70g. Ref: RRC 443/1. Ex Artemide, eLive Auktion 8, lot 208.

 

Thanks @jamesicus! Congrats on the lifetime portrait denarius

Though, the second quote is doubtless spot on (as can been viewed on JCs Tik Tok timeline).
He would never have said that first quote. His family roots went back to the "founding" of Rome. He surely would have had a "new man" do it for him...

 

Ha, ha, I like that @Ryro!

 

I purchased this artistic masterpiece from his new Palace in Las Vegas...


Coin is a little older...


Large AE portrait of Julius Caesar. Imperatorial Era: Octavian/Augustus and Divus Julius Caesar, Orichalcum Sestertius, 29mm, 12.98 gm, 2h. Mint in Italy, 38 BC. Obv: CAESAR DIVI F bare head of Octavian right Rx: DIVOS IVLIVS laureate head of Julius Caesar right (here Caesar shown on the left).

 

Well, he most certainly invented the Orange Julius...right?

No, it's been longer than 20 years, hasn't it!!!...wait, what...

Oh, somebody please paint some pupils on the eyeballs!...

 

A few months ago I bought this lovely lifetime issue of January-February 44 BC, so I might as well show it off again:

He once famously said, "All Gaul is divided into three parts: the weenie, the weedy, and the weak-y."

 

What a fun write-up, thanks! I have a traveling mint denarius of JC i do have another Julius example that I received as a Secret Saturnalia gift from a very generous donor here on CT. A pic of that coin will take a little digging to produce. Cool thread.

 

Dang, I like that @Clavdivs …………… I wish I would have bought one - hit a big jackpot did ya?

 

Good one @PlanoSteve - we are getting good at this!

 

Very exquisite acquisition
I always thought it was funny that the one I picked up from the same palace in '07 is clearly of his nephew, right down to the full head of hair, ears that stick out like a taxi with both doors open and chest plate

(Don't look to your right Auggie)

 

My Caesar offering (as usual a repeat since most of my coins have been shown here over the last decade) is a fourree issued by Octavian when he was still making sure everyone accepted him as heir to Caesar and, therefore, the man in charge. The reverse was a simple text M AGRIPPA COS DESIG showing that Octavian not only had good taste when picking a father but was smart enough to associate with the greatest general of the day. Had everything gone well, Agrippa would have been the second emperor. Exactly what would have happened after that will never be known but it sems likely that the names of two of his descendants (Caligula and Nero) might have come up anyway so all Rome would have gained might have been to be spared Tiberius.


Believe it or not, my coin is NOT the worst one of these I have seen. Somewhere out there is a solid denarius with portraits so poorly struck that this coin might be graded 'EF for these'. I like fourrees. They allow me to have coins like this that would never come to little old me otherwise. When it comes to being called ugly, this coin is highly qualified. ex. Colosseum Coin 1989.

 

Silver Denarius
Rome mint, 44 B.C.
Obv: DICT PERPETVO - CAESAR - Veiled head of Julius Caesar
Rev: P SEPVLLIVS MACER - Venus holding Victory and scepter; shield at base
RSC 39; S362; RRC 480/13
18 x 20mm, 3.2g.

 

Hilariously one-of-a-kind celebration of JC, @Ryro, and also an admirable collection of his coins!

 

That's a good one. I wish I were still teaching. I could have inflicted that on my students, not that more than handful would have gotten it.

 

I've heard it was rumored JC had a Child who carried on his Julian namesake, gens Julia if you will, a couple millennia later... And with life being ironic and such, took up and became known for cooking Gallic cuisine. That's what I've heard anyways...


Here's my only JC (Julius Caesar) coin, er, half coin...

Octavian, as Imperator (43-27 BC), with Divus Julius Caesar (died 44 BC)
Vienna, Gaul (Vienne, France)
AE “Halved” Dupondius, Struck 36 BC
Obverse: [•IMP• above, DIVI•IULI•CAESAR left and below, DIVI•F• right], bare heads of Julius Caesar facing left, [and Octavian facing right, back to back].
Reverse: Prow of quinquireme right, decorated with eye; mast right; [surmounted with multi-story forecastle and standard or corvus above]; [C•I•V above.]
References: RPC I 517, SNG Copenhagen 703
Size: 30mm, 7.44g

Notes: A scarce and unusual coin struck in Southern Gaul in the Roman Colony of Vienna (Vienne, FR; Vienna, AU was known by Romans as Vindobona). Vienna was conquered by the Romans in 121 BC, and was transformed into an official Roman colony in 47 BC by Julius Caesar.

Those expelled during a revolt in 61 BC ended up founding Lugdunum (Lyon FR). Lugdunum would become more important than Vienna. Lugdunum would later (69 AD) plead to Vitellius to destroy Vienna, which did not happen.

The reverse of this coin could refer to one of several naval actions in 36 BC, but the most likely to which it alludes is the action of Sept 3rd, when Agrippa defeated Sextus Pompey in a major naval engagement off Naulochus in Sicily.

On Jan 1st 42 BC, the senate posthumously elevated Julius Caesar to Imperial God, “Divus Julius”. As Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavian was quick to emphasize that this made him “Divi filius”: the son of a god.