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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 4219600, member: 72790&quot;]Readers are asked to prepare themselves for the funeral of Gaius Julius Caesar scheduled for a few days after&nbsp; the Ides of this month. Yes we are fast approaching the date we commemorate (the Gauls would probably prefer, &quot;celebrate&quot;) the demise and apotheosis of the first of the Twelve Caesars. You may need some time to gather what you will need.</p><p><br /></p><p>First of all, you will want to find any coins you have that are connected with the perpetual dictator. But next you will need some objects to contribute to his send off, which was quite a send off. As most readers know, a few days after his passing he was to be given a state funeral, which at that time, meant a really big bonfire. The consul and distant cousin Marc Antony, would give a eulogy and then read the will. It may even have started of with the &quot;Friends, Romans, Countrymen...&quot; preamble we know from Shakespeare but whatever was originally planned got badly out of hand. When Antony revealed all the money and property Caesar had bequeathed to the huge crowd, mostly of the common people,&nbsp; all sense of decorum was lost and it went wild. They precipitously lit the funeral pyre (coming close to burning down the forum in the process) and then started throwing everything they could get their hands on onto the pyre as their final gift to Caesar and perhaps as offerings to the appropriate deities. A Senator Cinna, mistaken as one of Caesar&#039;s assassins, was ripped to pieces by the mob and disappeared from sight (perhaps he contributed his bit to the pyre). Troops from outside the walls of Rome had to be sent in to restore order. It must have been a sight to behold.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well of course we could not be there for that funeral but perhaps we can virtually contribute something to the funeral pyre and so honor Caesar in the traditional manner. Maybe a coin to pay Charon to get Caesar across the River Styx (while he awaited apotheosis and his promotion to Elysium). Or maybe something that you might have had with you if you had been there in the forum back in 44BC. Below I have displayed my offerings. First is a denarius issued by one of his assassins, Brutus, about ten years before the assassination. The Brutus on the coin is one of the assassin&#039;s liberty loving, tyrannicidal&nbsp; ancestors. Throwing this coin onto the pyre might have really pleased Caesar. The second denarius is one of Caesar himself. Foreshadowing his deification it is a posthumous issue to recognize his deification which many mourners undoubtedly looked forward to. </p><p><br /></p><p>In case prudence and thriftiness militated against casting these coins onto the flames I have brought three objects, some of them ad hoc, for the occasion. First, on the upper left is a cabinet or cupboard key to lock up the valuable spices at home. On the upper right is an applique I just happened to have on me. Below is the buckle from my belt. All three&nbsp; artifacts date from the time period of 100 BC to 100 AD. </p><p><br /></p><p>So take a look at what you have in your collection of coins and artifacts that you might want to bring to a virtual funeral (the best kind) to commemorate and honor great Caesar&#039;s ghost.[ATTACH=full]1080385[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1080388[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1080393[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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