Download Artifact: Silver denarius of Julius Caesar 47-46 BC

Post 3: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Website Picture Artifact study
A little over 2000 years ago, Rome was at a volatile point. Caesar had defeated
Pompey Magnus’s larger force to claim control of the Rome Republic, and also forced
the senate to grant him dictatorship and tribunate powers effectively making him
sovereign of Rome. To prove he deserved to be the first ‘king’ of Rome in 500 years and
quell plotting senators and citizens, he needed to show his divine lineage, through his
alleged link to the one’s whose actions lead to Rome’s legendary founding, Aeneas.
The artifact that shows this is a silver denarius dated to 47-46 BCE. Its weight
around three and ½ grams and with a rough purchasing power of a little over twenty
dollars in today’s money; with the head of Caesar depicted and his supposed mother, the
goddess Venus, on the head side (Smith). On the other side this coin has a depiction of
Aeneas, whom Caesar alleged he was descended with the palladium (a wooden statue of
Pallas, daughter of the sea messenger Triton that was said to have protected Troy) in one
hand and his father, Anchises, on his other shoulder.
This coin was minted just a couple years after Caesar defeated Gnaeus Pompeius
Magnus and was given dictatorship and the tribunate powers, effectively making him the
sovereign of Rome. To show he had the lineage for such a position he alleged he was the
son of the goddess Venus and descendant of Aeneas. For Caesar to associate with this
showed how valued the story was held, that the Aeneas was not just a myth to the
Romans but in fact a reality.
The palladium was created by Athena in her grief after she accidently killed
Pallas in a friendly game of wrestling. It was said to protect the city of Troy and after the
Trojan war made its way to Italy via Aeneas and make it way eventually to the Temple of
Vesta. Aeneas is also carrying his father Anchises out of the burning city showing his
strength and confirming the depicted is Aeneas. This directly relates to Virgil’s Aeneid
and Rome’s legendary past.
To study this artifact I would like to look at both sides of it in detail, hopefully
under a magnifying glass or microscope. So I can see in better detail how Aeneas and the
different people and gods are physically built. Also I want to see what clothes they are
wearing and how Caesar depicts himself relative to a goddess like Venus or a hero like
Aeneas. Also, I want to compare to modern coins to see how Romans depicted their
legendary founding fathers, relative to how the United States depicts its founding fathers
on its money.
Besides modern coins, a number of different Greek and Roman artifacts exist
around this coin in the Greek and Roman art section of the Met. I could compare it with
earlier and later coins and contrast size and who or what is depicted on the artifacts. I
could also look at other artifacts like vases, glasses, and other depictions and look for
relative artifacts to early Rome.
One Greek artifact is an archaic age Greek jar with Aeneas carrying his father.
This is similar to the silver denarius with hmcarrying his father but different in that he is
not the Palladium. This shows the gap between the Greek version and Roman versions of
the Trojan War, but also shows how Romans like many throughout history link
themselves to the Trojan War. Along with this their will almost certainly be other
artifacts that depict Rome’s founding legends and their relativity to the Greeks (Daly).
Even more modern art shows this relationship. Countless paintings from the
Romantic and Classic eras in Europe show the Greek and Roman legends. In the met one
such artifact is the 17th century Aeneas and Anchises drawing Leonard Bramer which
depicts also depicts Aeneas carrying his father. These paintings give a unique
perspective to an ancient legend.
I look forward to going to the Metropolitan and writing my next post about such an
artifact.
Bibliography
Daly, Kathleen N. "Palladium." Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z, Revised Edition.
Revised by Marian Rengel. Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2004. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On File,
Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE49&iPin=GRMAZ401&SingleRecord=True (accessed
December 13, 2010).
Smith, Douglas. "Buying Power of Ancient Coins." Ancient Greek and Roman Coins
2009 Version. 2000. Web. 11 Dec. 2010.
<http://dougsmith.ancients.info/worth.html>.