Silver Denarius of Julius Caesar and Marcus Mettius, 3.78 g.
Title
Silver Denarius of Julius Caesar and Marcus Mettius, 3.78 g.
Creator
Julius Caesar, Marcus Mettius
Date
44 BCE
Description
Obverse: Laureate head of Julius Caesar facing right, with long neck; CAESAR IMPER(ATOR): Caesar, imperator.
Reverse: Venus Victrix walking to left, holding small Victoria in left and spear in right, with shield at left side; monogram in left field; M METTIVS: Marcus Mettius (mint magistrate).
Style/Period: Roman Republic
Julius Caesar was born in 100 BCE to a patrician family that claimed descent from Aeneas, mythical founder of Rome, and his mother, the goddess Venus. He was one of the greatest speakers, writers, and generals of republican Rome, and he quickly rose through a succession of offices to become dictator. Among those who opposed him were the sons of Pompey the Great, whom Caesar had defeated in 48 B.C. He defeated them at the battle of Munda in 45 BCE, after which the Senate voted him the title imperator for life and the right to wear the laurel wreath, the sign of the victorious general hailed by his troops. As Caesar's power grew and he accepted honors appropriate to a king and even a god, Roman aristocrats formed a plot and had him assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BCE.
Julius Caesar's coinage before 44 BCE. used the traditional types struck for his army, making reference to his own achievements and to his claim that his family was descended from Aeneas and Venus. But in 44 BCE he also began to issue coins bearing his own portrait, the first of a Roman to appear on a coin in his own lifetime, and he thereby established the model for Roman imperial coinage. The portrait depicts Caesar in the "veristic" style typical of the late republic, in which experience and wisdom are suggested by an apparently truthful record of the person's advanced age. He is shown with a very long, lined neck, a prominent Adam's apple, lined cheeks, and a high, lined forehead that hints at the baldness he is said to have tried to conceal with the laurel wreath (Suetonius, Divine Julius, 45). Here the laurel perhaps represents the gold wreath that he had increasingly taken to wearing on public occasions. The reverse depicts the family goddess, Venus, in her military guise as Victrix (Victorious), with her armor and holding Victoria in her right hand.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins (London 1978) 17.
Julius Caesar's coinage before 44 BCE. used the traditional types struck for his army, making reference to his own achievements and to his claim that his family was descended from Aeneas and Venus. But in 44 BCE he also began to issue coins bearing his own portrait, the first of a Roman to appear on a coin in his own lifetime, and he thereby established the model for Roman imperial coinage. The portrait depicts Caesar in the "veristic" style typical of the late republic, in which experience and wisdom are suggested by an apparently truthful record of the person's advanced age. He is shown with a very long, lined neck, a prominent Adam's apple, lined cheeks, and a high, lined forehead that hints at the baldness he is said to have tried to conceal with the laurel wreath (Suetonius, Divine Julius, 45). Here the laurel perhaps represents the gold wreath that he had increasingly taken to wearing on public occasions. The reverse depicts the family goddess, Venus, in her military guise as Victrix (Victorious), with her armor and holding Victoria in her right hand.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins (London 1978) 17.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Bought from Edward Gans, Mar., 1959.
Identifier
91.106
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Roman, Republic, Julius Caesar, Venus Victrix, Victoria, shield, Marcus Mettius
Files
Citation
Julius Caesar, Marcus Mettius, “Silver Denarius of Julius Caesar and Marcus Mettius, 3.78 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/235.