592518. The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. April-August 49 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.70 g, 9h). Military mint traveling with Caesar. Elephant advancing right, trampling on horned serpent; CAeÍAr in exergue / Emblems of the pontificate: simpulum, aspergillum, securis, and apex. Crawford 443/1; CRI 9; Sydenham 1006; RSC 49; BMCRR Gaul 27; RBW 1557. Beautiful iridescent toning. Choice EF. Well struck. $9750 Despite being the most widespread of all Caesar’s coins, the design of this type, the first issue in the dictator’s name, is still somewhat mysterious. Authorities have even debated which side is which: Crawford describes the elephant as the obverse, but other experts dispute this. The symbolism is commonly held to show the triumph of good (elephant) over evil (serpent or dragon). Alternatively, the “horned serpent” may be intended to represent a carnyx, a serpent-shaped horn used by the Celtic tribes in Gaul, whom Caesar had recently overcome in his epic eight-year conquest, in which case the elephant would again represent Caesar himself, or the unstoppable juggernaut of Rome. Unlike Pompey, Caesar brazenly placed his own name on the coinage without having the constitutional authority to do so, as Sulla had done 33 years before. The reverse depicts the emblems of the Pontifex Maximus, an office Caesar had possessed since 63 BC.
587435. The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. Late 48-47 BC. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.87 g, 6h). Military mint traveling with Caesar in North Africa. Diademed head of Venus right / Aeneas advancing left, holding palladium and bearing Anchises on his shoulder; CAeÍAr downward to right. Crawford 458/1; CRI 55; Sydenham 1013; RSC 12; BMCRR East 31; Kestner 3577-9; RBW 1600. Light iridescent tone. Choice EF. $5750 Julius Caesar traced his descent all the way back to the Trojan hero Aeneas, legendary founder of the Latin race. Aeneas, in turn, was the product of a sexual liaison between the goddess Venus and Anchises, a herdsman who was related to the Trojan royal family. In a scene recounted by Virgil in the Aeneid, when the Greeks torched Troy, Aeneas escaped from the burning city carrying the aged Anchises on his shoulder and the sacred Palladium, a cult statue of Pallas Athena rescued from the household shrine. The scene is depicted on the reverse of this denarius of Caesar, struck in 48-47 BC, at least two decades before the Aeneid was composed. Venus, the mother of Aeneas (and thus the divine antecedent of Caesar) appears on the obverse.
Gold for the Victors of Thapsus
589964. The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. Early 46 BC. AV Aureus (21mm, 8.13 g, 12h). Rome mint; A. Hirtius, praetor. Veiled head of female (Vesta or Pietas?) right; C • CAeÍAr COÍ Ter around / Emblems of the augurate and pontificate: lituus, capis, and securis; A • hirTiuÍ • pr around from lower left. Crawford 466/1; Molinari 148-54 (D12/R215); CRI 56; Sydenham 1018; Bahrfeldt 19; Calicó 37; Biaggi 27-8; BMCRR Rome 4052; Kestner 3634-6; RBW 1634. Light reddish tone, a few faint cleaning marks. Near EF. Struck on a broad flan from dies of pleasing style. $22,500 Aulus Hirtius, friend and confidant of Julius Caesar, was praetor in 46 BC, and thus charged with the distribution of the first truly large issue of Roman gold coins to date. The aurei were for distribution to the general’s successful troops after their final victory over the Pompeians in Africa at Thapsus. Each legionary received 5000 denarii (200 aurei), centurions twice that. Since Caesar had at least 40,000 legionnaires at Thapsus, the amount of coin needed was immense. But the amount of booty collected from Caesar’s many campaigns was also colossal, and Hirtius seems to have been able to supply the need. Hirtius later finished the dictator’s memoirs after his assassination and was himself killed at the siege of Mutina in 43 BC.
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