VENI VIDI VICI

Julius Caesar, 49-44 BC. AR Denarius, 18mm (3.86 gm). Head of Venus right, diademed, wearing earring and necklace; hair in knot / Aeneas walking left, holding palladium and bearing Anchises on his shoulder, CAESAR to right. Struck 47 BC, North Africa. RSC Julius Caesar 12; RCV I 1402; CRR 1013.


Ah, Julius Caesar, the first and most famous of Suetonius’ Twelve Caesars. Suetonius’ work, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars), is a set of twelve biographies that begins with Julius Caesar and follows with the first eleven emperors, from Augustus to Domitian.

Gaius Julius Caesar was born to a patrician family, the Julii, in either 102 or 100 BC. The Julii were not considered politically influential, having only three consuls credited to their family name. This was unfortunate for poor Caesar, as he craved bigger and better things for himself. So young Caesar set upon building the foundation for those ‘bigger and better things’. This foundation included service in the army, where he served under Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia and Servilius Isauricus in Cilicia. Caesar also tuned his oratory skills, studying under the same orator as that of Cicero.

Caesar’s political career began when he was elected military tribune. From there he was elected quaestor (69 BC), then Pontifex Maximus (63 BC) and finally consul (59 BC). Caesar was now heading down the path he had envisioned for himself.

Virgil’s Aeneid tell us that Aeneas was one of the few Trojans not killed or captured in the battle of Troy. Instead, he is said to have taken his father Anchises and the palladium, a statuette upon which the safety of the city was said to depend, to safety. The reverse of the denarius above depicts this event. Aeneas was the son of Anchises and the goddess Venus. The obverse of the coin above depicts Venus, so we have a coin that depicts mother (Venus), father (Anchises) and son (Aeneas).

Julius Caesar claimed to be a descendant of Aeneas, making Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) and the first kings of Rome his ancestors. Caesar makes this claim with this denarius. This connection to the progenitor of Rome, Aeneas, is important as it establishes legitimacy for Caesar in his rule over Rome.

This coin, and the story it tells, is one of the reasons I enjoy collecting ancient coins… especially those of the Twelve Caesars. If you haven’t done so already, read The Twelve Caesars, as translated by Robert Graves. If you do, I think you’ll find collecting coins of the Twelve Caesars as interesting as I do!

D O M I T I A N ! ! ! ! !

Domitian. Cilicia, Tarsus.
AR Tetradrachm, 26mm (14.00 gm). Struck AD 93-95.

Laureate head right, AYTO KAI ΘE YI ΔOMITIANOΣ ΣE ΓEP / Tyche seated right, holding palm branch, river-god (Kydnos?) swimming beneath, TAP in right field. RPC II 1727; Sear GIC 865.


Let me begin by giving proper credit where credit is due. The photograph above was taken by Merrill Gibson of Apollo Numismatics. When I purchased the coin from Merrill, I asked if I could use his photo on my collection website and in this blog... I knew I could never top his photo!

I love this coin! It's big! It's silver! It's gorgeous! And, it's Domitian!!! This is definitely the jewel of my Domitian collection. Merrill's photo is stunning, but so is the coin. The details on the face of the swimming river-god are well intact, as are those on Tyche and the palm branch she holds. Click on the image above and you'll be taken to a larger image... and there you'll see what I mean!

The portrait reveals an emperor weary from insecurity and suspicion of conspiracy in the later years of his reign. His gaze bears witness to the demons that incited his paranoia. Domitian's reign of terror began at around AD 93 and lasted until his death in AD 96... about the same time that this coin was struck.

Domitian was murdered by his own servants who feared that they themselves were slated for a similar fate. The empress Domitia, also fearing for her life during these, Domitian's unstable years, provided encouragement to his murderers.

The cruelty and executions during his reign of terror were so odius that he earned the nickname "the Beast" amongst Romans, Greeks, Christians and Jews, according to Ethelbert Stauffer in Coniectanea Neotestamentica XI in honorem Antonii Fridrichsen sexagenarii. Ethelbert Stauffer was a German Protestant theologian who held that gematria, the numerology of the Hebrew language and alphabet, could be used to explain the Biblical number 666. Stauffer computed this "Number of the Beast" using the short form of Domitian's names and titles: Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus... which in Greek is: Autokrator Kaisar Dometianos Sebastos Germanikos. The latter abbreviates to A KAI ΔOMET ΣEB ΓE and the gematrical formula reads:

A. K A I. Δ O M E T. Σ E B. Γ E.
1+ 20+1+10+4+70+40+5+300+200+5+2+ 3+5 = 666

Stauffer further contended that "the Beast" could only refer to Domitian because he reigned during the time that the Book of Revelation was written... the Book in which the number 666 was introduced. To further the idea that the number 666 related to Domitian, Robert Graves wrote, in The White Goddess, that DCLXVI, 666 in Roman numerals, is an abbreviation for the Latin sentence “Domitianus Caesar Legatos Xti Violenter Interfecit”, or “The Emperor Domitian violently killed the envoys of Christ".

Another interesting correlation comes from The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity, by James Jeffers. In that book, Jeffers writes, "A number of New Testament commentators have seen a connection between Rome and its cult of emperor worship and the Book of Revelation. The reference in Revelation 17:9 to seven heads of the "beast", which are "seven hills on which the woman [the great harlot] sits", has been taken as a reference to the famed seven hills on which Rome was founded. The woman is identified later as "the great city that rules over the kings of the earth" (Revelations 17:18). The connection to emperor worship is seen in Revelation 13:4, 8, where this same beast is worshipped by all the people of the earth. As the emperor of Rome (eg. Nero and Domitian) had persecuted Christians, Revelation predicts that this beast will war on the people of God. In this interpretation, Revelation 14:9-10 is warning Christians not to engage in emperor worship."

Others, including Nero, have been identified with the number 666 via Hebrew gematria. However, we're not talking about a coin of Nero, now are we? If you're interested in an interesting explanation of gematria, take a look at the following webpage on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria

Apologies for the long tangent about the theory that the number 666 refers to Domitian... I just found it interesting and thought you might too. This coin isn't without its own Biblical reference. Tarsus, the city in which this coin was minted, was the birthplace of the Apostle Paul. Isn't it ironic then, that a coin of the purported Biblical "Beast" was struck in the very city that brought us the most notable of early Christian missionaries.

'O' My!!!

Domitian, AR Denarius, 19mm (3.21 gm). Ephesus (?) mint, struck AD 76.

Laureate head right, small 'o' below neck truncation, CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS / Eagle standing facing on garlanded base, wings open, head right, COS IIII. RIC II.1 Vespasian 1492 (pg. 171); BMCRE II 487 (pg.102), 'o' mint-mark lost on BM example; RPC II 1466.


People are social creatures. We need to interact with one another to nourish our soul and maintain a sense of equilibrium. People need people, or as Vince Vaughn says in my favorite line from the movie Wedding Crashers, “People helping people!” That was certainly a ‘social’ moment! Those who liked the movie as I do should be enjoying a little chuckle right now.

Anyway…..... to maintain this equilibrium, one must find social outlets. Collecting coins is one of the ways I express myself. Take this blog, for example. It provides a means to convey anything and everything about my favorite past time. It allows my creative side to peek out from time to time, via the written word. My collection website, http://www.socalcoins.com/collection is another such means of expression. That site allows me to express my creative side in site layout/presentation, themes by which to display my collection, and so on. Both of these venues, though not obviously social in nature, have proven a surprising source of interaction... people leave comments on my blog entries and I receive comments, via email, about my collection site from time to time!

What does all this have to do with Domitian and the denarius shown above? Nothing… and everything. I belong to a small group of friends who email each other regularly. We share new acquisitions, point out interesting new listings in eBay or Vcoins, help each other with reference citations, etc. It's a great group of guys and I appreciate their friendship greatly! The denarius above was brought to my attention by one of these friends. He knows I collect Domitian and that I likely didn't have an example of this issue in my collection. It was a perfect example of "People helping people," though not like that in the movie Wedding Crashers!!

That aspect of this particular coin is enough to make it special to me. However, this coin is special in its own right! Take a look at the obverse, just below Domitian's bust. There you'll note a small "o". This coin belongs to a rare series of denarii struck at an uncertain mint, traditionally attributed to a mint in Asia Minor... possibly Ephesus. As the mint is uncertain, they are commonly referred to as o-Mint denarii. This particular series only includes coins with the following consular dates, which corresponds to AD 76 (though Domitian's COS III complicates this dating a bit):

Vespasian - COS VII

Titus - COS V

Domitian - COS III and COS IIII

Ian Carradice and T.V. Buttrey, in The Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume II Part 1, describe this series as such:

"The coins are characterised by a uniformity of style. Most portraits are broadly similar to those on contemporary coins of the Roman mint, though not close enough to suggest shared engravers, and the heads are always large, whereas Roman mint coins of thise period include many small heads. Lettering tends to be uneven, often larger and more crowded than on contemporary Roman coins..." Take another look at the photo above... the lettering is indeed uneven and noticeably larger than Roman mint issues.

Carradice and Buttrey continue, "The discovery of some new varieties since the publication of RPC in 1999 suggests that the full range of output of this issue may not yet be known..." It is the style of these o-mint denarii that lead Carradice and Buttrey to concur with the previous tentative placement of these coins at the mint of Ephesus. They cite the comparability of an Ephesian portrait of Titus (RIC II.1, 1468) to that of an o-mint portrait of Domitian (RIC II.1, 1490) as evidence to support this placement.

This is an intriguing coin. The "o" mark below Domitian's portrait begs the question, "Why an 'o'?". What does it mean? The refined portrait and eagle seem to contradict the crude-ish legends. An interesting rarity, to say the least! And, the eye appeal isn't too shabby either... look at that irridescent toning around the eagle on the reverse! To my email friend, Jack, thank you for pointing this one out to me!

"Little Boots"

Caligula, AE As, 28mm (11.75 gm). Rome mint, struck AD 37-38.

Bare head left, C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT / Vesta, veiled, draped, seated left on throne with ornamental back and legs, holding patera in right hand and long transverse sceptre in left; VESTA above, S-C to left and right. RIC I 38 (pg. 111); BMCRE I 46 (pg. 154).


Gaius, better known as Caligula, is best known to history as one of Rome's most eccentric and maniacal emperors. Michael Grant, in the Introduction to his, The Twelve Caesars, states that "Those dozen men were a fabulous series, the theme of countless legends." Caligula, no doubt, features in many of the more sensational of these legends!

Gaius and his mother accompanied his father, Germanicus, while he was stationed with the Rhine legions on the German frontier. It was during this time that Gaius was dubbed 'Caligula'. This nickname was given young Gaius when he was between the ages of 2 and 4 because he wore a miniature version of the same military boots, or caligae, that the soldiers wore. Tacitus, in his Annals I.1, wrote: "There was also her little son, born in camp and bred the playmate of the legions; whom soldier-like they had dubbed 'Bootkins' because, as an appeal to the fancy of the rank and file, he generally wore the footgear of that name."

Suetonius, in his De Vita Caesarum ("Lives of the Caesars"), wrote: "He was sound neither of body nor mind." This unstable mental state was the source of Gaius' legendary exploits. Stories of incest with his sisters, opening a brothel in the imperial palace to raise much needed money, claims of divinity and other bizzare behavior paint the history we all remember about this, Rome's third emperor.

It is this 'history' that draws our fascination. And, owning a coin of this fascinating character allows a tangible connection with that history.

Locating a coin of Caligula that I would welcome into my collection taught me patience. While asses such as this issue are relatively common, those worthy of his prominence and notoriety are not. The great thing about his hobby, though, is that there are so many other coins to collect while waiting for that one example to surface!

One of the features I like best about this coin is the portrait of Caligula. It follows the Julio-Claudian formula for portraiture, but also manages to provide a glimpse into the tortured soul of lost innocence. Though my primary collecting focus is the coinage of Domitian, this is without a doubt, my favorite coin! Can you tell?!