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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orielensis, post: 4253410, member: 96898&quot;]Alright, I&#039;ll play:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>1. Favorite Caesar</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>Vespasian all the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1084953[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Vespasian, Roman Empire, denarius, 77/78 AD, Rome mint. Obv: CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right. Rev; ANNONA AVG, Annona seated left, holding corn ears. 19mm, 3.33g. Ref: RIC II Vespasian 964.</font></p><p><br /></p><p><b>2. But why?</b></p><p>His famous urine joke has already been mentioned above, but there are numerous other good ones. Is there something like pathological humor? If so, Vespasian is a prime example. To quote Suetonius:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Nothing could stop this flow of humour, even the fear of imminent death. Among the many portents of his end was a yawning crevice in Augustus&#039; mausoleum. &#039;That will be for Junia Calvina,&#039; he said, &#039;she is one of his descendants.&#039; And at the fatal sight of a comet he cried: &#039;Look at that long hair! The King of Parthia must be going to die.&#039; His death-bed joke was: &#039;Dear me! I must be turning into a god.&#039;&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>That alone makes Vespasian deserving of the honorary title of MFCTHOW (&quot;Most Fun Caesar to Hang Out With&quot;). Unfortunately, it doesn&#039;t appear on his coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Apart from cracking good jokes, Vespasian brought peace and stability to an empire almost wrecked by the shenanigans of some of his incapable predecessors, reformed the senate, and built the Colosseum. Also, Vespasian can be considered an inventor of public education: he funded Quintilian&#039;s teaching efforts with a very generous stipend. Working in education myself, I can only applaud this as a shining example that every modern politician should follow!</p><p><br /></p><p><b>3. Ryro&#039;s Favorite Caesar</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Probably either Caligula or Elagabalus – he strikes me as that sort of guy... Just kidding.</p><p><br /></p><p>My guess would be Claudius, pretty much the only loveable and good-natured Julio-Claudian emperor apart from, maybe, Augustus.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m about 94.7% sure that Ryro indicated in another thread that he has both read Robert Graves&#039; wonderful <i>Claudius </i>novels and watched the classic TV series based on them. If he didn&#039;t develop a sympathy for Claudius after that, he must be completely heartless. Yet, him doing this give-away proves that he is not. Ergo, his favorite Caesar must be Claudius. QED.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a humble Claudius as:</p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[ATTACH=full]1084952[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><font size="3">Claudius, Roman Empire, as, 41–54 AD, Rome mint. Obv: [TI] CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP, bareheaded head of Claudius left. Rev; S–C, Minerva walking left, brandishing javelin and holding shield. 29mm, 10.35g. Ref: RIC I, 100.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="4">If you should choose this post, please send the coin and book to [USER=76543]@Johndakerftw[/USER] . I guess Erin could use some cheering up these days.</font></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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