12 Caesars walk into a bar. The guy at the counter says...

Though we often joke about the arbitrariness of it being 12 Caesars, "Why not 7, 10 or 42???", it was, however, the amount of Caesars that the man/writer/historian/sensationalist who wrote the biographies decided upon (up to the time of his death there had been 15. Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian being left in the reign). This decision was made by a man named Suetonius.



"A boy named Sue"tonius was born around 69 (if his parents had then we wouldn't have "The 12 Caesars"!) CE and lived until after 122 CE. He was the emperor Trajan's secretary of studies and director of Imperial archives thanks to his friendship with Pliny the younger. And he, in his most well known writing would, unknowingly, set the bar for ancient collectors higher than a hippy in a helicopter!
You don't just run to the corner store and tell the ol' fella, Wally, that works there, "Heya pal. I need a coin of each of the first 12 Caesars, some funions and a box of Trojans, stat!" You have to take your time. I wasn't even sure I would ever get all of them. But once you get close to having the set...that itch really sets in. And then pretty soon they all have to be portraits (they don't, but in my excitedly addicted to ancient mind they DO). Followed up by getting them all in silver. Though, that is what in my line of business we refer to as a stretch goal (not there yet).
I've always admired the threads and posts that others have done on their 12 Caesars sets. They have put together some really stunning collections. Collections that I probably will never be able to afford. My slight embarrassment at the quality of some of my Caesars probably being a bit of the driving force behind me not having posted my neat-O accomplishment sooner. However, I do enjoy creating and have been putting something together for the last couple of weeks with my 12 Caesars that I am almost done with and thought I would share. Sorry for the glare. And please keep in mind it is still a work in progress...



Please post all your Caesar's, all your sets, all your artistic attempts or anything else you deem relevant (stories and anecdotes about Suetonius and the Caesars will get you likes with or without pics!).

 

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Here is a little limerick I came up with:


There once was a man named Suetonius

Whose prose was close to felonious

He took up his stylus

In order to ply us

With matters true and erroneous

 

Oh man Orfew! That limerick is priceless!!! And those coins almost are...

 

I don't have all the 12 Caesars yet so here is my attempt at Haiku...

Suetonius Wrote
To the Din of Caesars Quotes
History Aghast

 

Superb presentation, but we gotta have those close ups!

My Augustus and Claudius need a desperate upgrade, but otherwise I'm proud of what I have

 

And that's al... Hey! What are you guys doing here? GET OUT! THIS CLUB IS INVITE ONLY

 

BEA-utiful coins my friend! LOVE your Caligula portrait, btw.
Yeah, with a pic like that I think I better.

 

And the rest of the gang:

 

Always bringing the class!



Did the son that made that fantastic MA display get that one for you as well.
Bing, you are what I want to be when I grow up!

 

The 12 Caesars and the Guy who ended the Julio-Claudians...

Seutonius 12 and the Vindex Cleaning man!


Tets, Denarii, Quinarii, Dupondius, As, etc... combo pack of ocular pleasure!

 

AMAZE-balls JC, Alegandron!!! I had to zoom in to see it, but now I see why you call him the "V"index Cleaning man:

 

Double-entendre... RHYMES with Windex, AND he started the CLEAN-UP of the Julio-Claudian Regime (Nero)

NYUK-NYUK-NYUK



RI Civil War Revolt of Vindex CE 68-69 AR Denarius ROMA RESTITVTA - IVPITER LIBERATOR Jupiter seated r Tbolt Scepter 17mm 3.02g RIC I 62 RSC 374-RARE

 

one of my favorite movies! .. and here's a vintage copy of the book, but not the original

 

... Otho says, "Give me a martinus." The Bartender asks, "You mean Martini?" Otho snaps, "if I wanted two drinks I would have ordered two."

 

Massive Ditto. Redefined real life!

 

My parents bought me a copy of Robert Grave's translation of the Twelve Caesars the summer I turned 14. If they knew what was in that book I doubt it would've been a birthday gift!

I still have it.

 

Awesome sets everyone, I'm a big fan of the 12 myself.