Quintus Caepio Brutus (Marcus Junius Brutus), silver denarius (Type I), 3.83 g.

Quintus Caepio Brutus (Marcus Junius Brutus), silver denarius (Type I), 3.83 g.

Quintus Caepio Brutus (Marcus Junius Brutus)

c. 54 BCE

Obverse: Head of Libertas facing right; behind, LIBERTAS downwards. Border of dots.

Reverse: The consul Lucius Junius Brutus walking left between two lictors carrying fasces and preceded by an accensus; in exergue, BRVTVS. Border of dots.

Style/Period: Roman Republic

Quintus Caepio Brutus (Marcus Junius Brutus) was one of the assassins of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE. With this coin he commemorates the success of his ancestor Lucius Junius Brutus, who was responsible for the expulsion of the Etruscan kings from Rome, helping to found the Roman Republic, and who served as one of the first consuls in 509 BCE. The obverse depicts Libertas, the personification of Liberty, who granted liberty to the Romans after the expulsion of the kings. The reverse depicts a procession of Junius as consul. According to Greuber, the coin also played an important propagandistic role by demonstrating Brutus' consistent opposition to Pompey's intentions of seeking to become the sole ruler at the time.
-- Bradford W. Wendel, LU '96

Bibliography: E. Babelon, Description historique et chronologique des monnaies de la republique romaine (Paris and London 1885-1886) Junia, 31; H. A. Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum (London 1910), I, 479-480, no. 3861; E. A. Sydenham, The Coinage of the Roman Republic (London 1952) 150, no. 906; M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (London 1974) 455-456, no. 433/1; C. H. V. Sutherland, Roman Coins (New York 1974) 85, no. 134; J. P. C. Kent, Roman Coins (New York 1978) pl. 18, no. 67; R. A. G. Carson, Principal Coins of the Romans, I (London 1978) 55, no. 192; C. Foss, Roman Historical Coins (London 1990) 11, no. 42.

Classics Department Collection

C040

Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890