|
|
|
|
The Coins That Killed Caesar ?
A look at the precedent-shattering portrait coins that helped provoke one of
history's most notorious political murders.
 The final defeat of the forces of Pompey followed by the success of his campaigns in Egypt and Asia Minor made Julius Caesar the master of the Roman world. But his grip on power, though firm, required consolidation and legitimacy in the eyes of the Roman people. Caesar had always been popular with the plebs, the primary beneficiaries of his various reforms and policies. These same reforms and policies naturally placed him at odds with most of the patricians who had opposed him and supported Pompey in the civil war. Caesar, while generous with his defeated foes, was determined to see that Rome was governed his way. Idolized by his army (the most powerful military force in the world at that time), and beloved by the people, Caesar was confident that his opponents in the Senate had no choice but to support his plans for Rome and her empire. An important method for promoting his policies was propaganda. This was a common tool in Roman political life and Caesar was a past master. His writings, laws, public works and certainly his military achievements were presented to the world with the clear message- Caesar is great. Caesar is brave. Caesar is the wise author of your peace and prosperity. And one of the most effective mediums to broadcast this message was coinage. Everyone used coins everyday for transactions of all kinds, from buying bread to paying the legions. Even an illiterate citizen could understand the symbols on the coins, symbols that evoked a patron deity's blessing or celebrated a victory or some generous largess and , most important, who to thank for all this generosity and good fortune. The mints were, in effect, producing the first universal printed mass media, struck in vast numbers to an approved official design, and circulated across the Roman world. It had been done in the best of Roman families for centuries -holding the office of mint magistrate (or moneyer) was one of the important offices in an ambitious Roman ‘s career path-the cursus honorum - but no one had dared to put their own visage on a coin struck in Rome. Only kings did that, and Rome would not tolerate a king or the trappings of kingship. Then came Caesar. In January, 44 BC he instructed his moneyers to strike the first coin- a denarius- with his portrait on the obverse. Certainly ego and vanity played a part, but his decision to break so decisively with tradition was calculated to achieve a practical political end. By placing his image on the coins he was becoming the ubiquitous symbol of Roman greatness, the guarantor of Roman peace and prosperity-all at the expense of his political rivals. His face was, quite literally, in theirs everyday, a relentless reminder of their lost status. Brutus and Cassius, both moneyers earlier in their careers, understood exactly what Caesar was doing and why. Caesar, blinded by his success, failed to gauge the depth of their enmity, and their willingness to act against him,with catastrophic results for himself and Rome. The Ides of March came, and more than a decade of political strife and civil war followed. Did the minting of the coins themselves drive Brutus and Cassius and the other conspirators to murder Caesar on that eventful day? Certainly what the coins represented did exactly that, considering that just a month after these first denarii were struck, Caesar was made dictator for life, confirming their worst fears of impending tyranny. Ironically, once Caesar was safely dead, everyone began minting portrait coins, including Brutus himself, whose famous EID MAR coin commemorated the assassination and Rome’s 'liberation" from the tyrant. When Caesar’s heir, Octavian/Augustus, eventually secured his position as emperor, portrait coins became the norm for him and for all the emperors who followed, and for the same reasons that Caesar had so fatally pioneered. Augustus succeeded by making a shrewd political accommodation with the Senate, which included senatorial control of the bronze coinage. Precious metal coins –used to pay taxes and the army-remained the sole province of the emperor. But the appearance of deference to the Senate remained intact. Caesar had misjudged the reaction of his political foes to his policies, the minting of the portrait coins being but one. But there is no question that what those coins symbolized was the motive behind his famous demise. In that sense they were, indeed, “The Coins that Killed Caesar”. |
Library
|
