The Coin that Killed Caesar

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Jochen1, Jan 19, 2019.

  1. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    (1) The coin
    Gaius Iulius Caesar, 13.6.100-15.3.44 BC, gens Iulia
    AR - Denarius, 3.83g, 19.7mm, 90°
    Rome, Febr.-March 44 BC, moneyer P. Sepullius Macer
    obv. CAESAR - DICT PERPETVO (from upper r. clockwise)
    Head of Caesar, veiled and wreathed, r.
    rev. Venus Victrix with bare l. breast stg. l., holding in extended r. hand Victory with
    raised wreath and in raised l. hand long sceptre at which a shield is leaning
    ref. Crawford 480/13; Sydenham 1074; RSC I Julius Caesar 39; BMCRR I Rome
    4173; SRCV I 1414; Vagi 56; Sear CRI 107d
    VF, portrait!, scratches, light toned, somewhat excentric
    iulius_caesar_Cr480.13.jpg

    Note: This coin was struck for Caesar's planned war against the Parthians. This type is often struck very carelessly indicating the mint was working under great pressure. This coin is not rare but because of its historical importance sought-after.

    (2) Iconography, historical meaning
    The rev. can be understand easily: The Iulians ascribed their gens back to Aeneas who was the son of Venus (Aphrodite) and Anchises.Venus war the tutelary goddess of the gens Iulia and hence of Caesar. 46 BC Caesar has consecrated together with his new built forum also the temple of Venus Genetrix, the ancestress of his gens. On this denarius with Victory, spear and shield it is rather Venus Victrix.

    The portrait on obv. is imposing by its realistic depiction. It was for the first time that a living ruler was pictured on a Roman coin. This too raised suspicion that Caesar - even if he wasn't acclaimed king - would behave as such.

    Caesar's portrait attracts attention by the wreath he is wearing. It protrudes notable wide beyond his forehead. Furthermore it is padded and very ragged. This characteristic received too little attention until now. There is every indication that it is not a usual wreath but a corona graminea, a Grass or Blockade crown. This crown was dedicated by the army to that commander who has freed them from an encirclement and saved them from certain death. The crown was composed from flowers and tuft of grass which was plucked at the location of their liberation. This crown was regarded as the highest of all crowns! Pliny (nat. 22, 6) has known only of 8 persons with this honour:

    1. Lucius Siccius Dentatus, tribunus plebis 454 BC
    2. Publius Decius Mus, 343 BC, 1st Samnite War, dedicated even by 2 armies!
    3. Marcus Calpurnius Flamma, 258 BC, at Carmina on Sicily
    4. Quintus Fabius Maximus, after the departure of the Carthaginians from Italy, 203 BC (dedicated by the Senate and the people of Rome, possibly posthumous)
    5. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
    6. Gnaeus Petreius Atinas, centurio during the war against the Cimbri
    7. Lucius Cornelius Sulla, during the Allied War at Nola 89 BC
    8. Quintus Sertorius, 97 BC aa military tribune in Spain under Titu Ddius.
    To Caesar and Augustus the crown was dedicated by the Senate!

    The veil Caesar is wearing as Pontifex Maximus for lifetime.

    (3) DICTATOR PERPETVVS
    During Republican times a dictator was designated when the state was in an emergency situation. His position was always temporally limited, yes, sometimes designated only for a single task. In the beginning Caesar too was dictator limited to 1 year and had to be designated again for the next year. Already 46 BC Caesar has been nominated dictator for 10 years but the title had to be renewed each year. So we know of coins with DICT, DICT ITER (= again, for the second time), IC TER (for the third time) and DICT QVART.

    Since the proclamation as king has failed the title dictator disappeared from the denarii and were replaced by IMP. But soon behind Caesar's head appeares a star, a crescent, or Victory's spear stands on a star. These celestial signs - and that was understod by all - stand for divinity and should raise Caesar high above all Romans. Incompatible with the idea of a republican constituted Rome.

    The point of culmination in this series is the legend DICT PERPETVO of this coin. Now the title of dictator was no more temporally limited but was valid like his office as Pontifex Maximus for all his life and it no more was necessary to confirm the title each year. That actually was a spectacular violation of the Roman constitution! The fact that he appeared at the Lupercalia on February 15. 44 BC in the ancient robe of kings strengthened the suspicion that he was looking for the kingship. In fact he has publicly
    refused the royal crown that was offered to him by Marcus Antonius, but his authority to exert power was equal a king even without bearing the title of king. That was the most hateful title of the Roman Republic.

    Now he has passed a line that his republican enimies couldn't tolerate any more if they still wanted to be taken seriously. So this coin actually led to his murder by the conspirators. So "The coin that killed Caesar" is by no means an exaggeration.

    Only few weeks later at the Ides of March (15th of March) 44 BC Caesar was stabbed to death by 60 conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. According to Plutarch he has been warned by a seer of the Ides of March. On his way to the theatre of Pompey, where he was killed, he met this seer and joked: "The Ides of March have come" to say, that his forecast has been wrong. But the seer answered: "Yes, Caesar, but they are not yet over." This scene is dramatically depicted in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar".

    (4) The planned Parthian War
    Caesar has planned a war against the Parthians. In March 44 BC he wanted to start for a campaign to the east. His assassination inhibited this intention. In science disputed are the goals which Caesar has had in mind with his war. They are reaching from a boundary adjustment, as Mommsen suggested, to world domination like Alexander the Great, as Plutarch is writing: According to him Caesar after the submission of the Parthians would go across Hyrcania at the Caspian Sea, then round the Black Sea via the Caucasus, invade the land of the Scyths, attack Germania and would finally return to Italy through the land of the Celts. In this way he would have conquered the world known to the Ancients and his limits were only the shores of the surrounding Okeanos.

    Probably Sueton who was sitting directly at the sources was more realistic. And we know of the campaigns of Marcus Antonius and Augustus who surely have known Caesar's plans and have used them for their own purposes. It's clear that Caesar doesn't want to repeat the errors of Crassus who perished at Carrhae, and has tried to avoid he Parthian cavalry units. Therefore a route through Lesser Armenia is most probable. And there was hope that the Mesopotamian cities would raise against the Parthians. Caesar had gathered an army of 16(!) legions, a huge power that alone by its mere bigness would ensure the victory. Caesar was no gambler, rather a cautious and prudential commander. The famous "veni, vidi, vici" doesn't exist longer. What he actually had in mind we don't know. It's speculative. But there is every indication that it was a reorganisation of the east. And that rather by establishing client-kingdoms than creating new Roman provinces.

    Probably the conspirators were afraid of Caesar's Parthian War, because a victory, which was possible or even probable, would have strengthen Caesar's position and has made him practically invulnerable.


    (5) Literature

    (1) Appian, Emphylia
    (2) Cassius Dio, Roman History
    (3) Livius, Ab urbe condita
    (4) Plutarch, Parallel Lifes
    (5) Sueton, De vita Caesarum

    (6) Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
    (7) Mommsen, Römische Geschichte
    (8) Jürgen Malitz, Caesars Partherkrieg, Historia 33, 1984, S. 21-59
    (9) Andreas Alföldi, Der Denar des P. Sepvllivs Macer mit CAESAR IMP - *,
    Schweizer Münzblätter, Band (Jahr): 13-17 (1963-1967), Heft 61, S. 4-17
    (10) Wikipedia

    Best regards
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Eduard

    Eduard Supporter**

    Beautiful coin and very interesting, well-recounted background to this issue

    Willkommen bei uns, Jochen!
     
    7Calbrey likes this.
  4. gsimonel

    gsimonel Well-Known Member

    Here's mine. It has a 90 degree die rotation, which is unusual. The OP appears to have a rotation axis through 1:00/7:00. Am I correct about this? Apparently these were made using unlinked dies. I know very little about about RR and Imperatorial denarii. Is this typical?
    [​IMG]
     
  5. frankjg

    frankjg Well-Known Member

    Great coin and write up. Thanks.
     
  6. CoinBlazer

    CoinBlazer Numismatic Enthusiast

    Excellent read.
     
  7. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    IULIUS CAESAR

    Veil and Wreath, with Star (harder to find)
    upload_2019-1-19_8-11-39.png
    Roman Imperiatorial
    Julius Caesar Lifetime
    P Sepullius Macer
    AR Denarius, 1st 2 weeks-Mar 44 BCE, 19 mm, 4.03g.
    Obv: CAESAR – DICT PERPETVO Veiled and wreathed head of Caesar R.
    Rev: P·SEPVLLIVS – MACER Venus standing l., holding Victory and sceptre resting on star.
    Ref: Syd 1074a Sear Imperators 107e Cr 480-14 Rare
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2019
  8. Ryro

    Ryro Trying to remove supporter status

    Another Excellent write up! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I had always wondered why the wreath looked a little over sized. Now I know:pompous:
    Here he is wearing the wreath post mortem:
    275636.l.jpg
    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
     
  9. Orfew

    Orfew Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus

    A very nice writeup @Jochen Thanks for this.

    Here is my lifetime portrait coin of Julius Caesar.

    Julius Caesar. AR Denarius, 44 BC.
    (19.00 mm 3.68 g)
    Obv:. Laureate head right; before, CAESAR IMP; behind, star of eight rays.
    Rev: P. SEPVLLIVS MACER. Venus standing left, holding Victory and sceptre (resting on star?).
    Cr. 480/5b RSC 41 BMC 4165 Syd 1071Sear (2000) 1412
    A very elegant portrait. Perfectly struck on broad flan. Areas of flatness and scratch on obverse, otherwise about VF.
    Ex: Artemide Asti E-Auction 43 E, June 9, 2018.

    Julius Caesar 480 5b small.jpg
     
  10. Loong Siew

    Loong Siew Well-Known Member

    Beautiful coin with a portrait of Caesar.. Highly sought after.. Well done!!
     
  11. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    That’s one of the nicest, non-ghoulish portraits I have seen of JC!
     
  12. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Nice coin and excellent write-up. There are echoes of this in the present times.
     
  13. Eduard

    Eduard Supporter**

    My humble (but very affordable:)) example.

    Julis Caesar denarius macer obv1 N - 1.jpg Julis Caesar denarius macer rev1 N - 1.jpg
     
    Theodosius, dlhill132, Orfew and 6 others like this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page