Caius Julius Caesar denarius coin
Date46-45 B.C.
MediumSilver
DimensionsWeight: 3.912 grams, Die Axis: 8:30
CultureRoman
ClassificationsMetalwork
Credit LineGift of Robert E. Ostrander, Class of 1952, and Margaret Servello Ostrander
Terms
- Metalwork
- Silver
- Goddesses
- Cupid
- Prisoners
- Soldiers
- Shields
- Roman
Object number2001.002.008
Label CopyThis era of Roman coinage marks a significant change from the Roman coinage that preceded it. Julius Caesar minted this coin type sometime between 46 and 45 BCE, only one to two years before he was assassinated in 44 BCE. Departing from convention, Caesar placed a portrait of the goddess Venus on this denarius, the deity through whom he claimed divine descent, complete with a small Cupid perched on her shoulder. On the reverse, Caesar signed his own name and included imagery referring to his famous military exploits against the Gauls, a tribe dwelling mostly in the land that forms modern-day France. (Olivia Graves, PhD student, “Wonder and Wakefulness: The Nature of Pliny the Elder,” exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Verity J. Platt, presented at the Johnson Museum January 21–June 11, 2023)
Collections
49-48 BC
ca. 250 BC
361-334 B.C.
ca. 400 B.C.