Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin
Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin
Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin

Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin
NGC Choice Fine 5/4. The item “Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin” is in sale since Thursday, April 4, 2019. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Roman\ Imperial (27 BC-476 AD)”. The seller is “corneralleycollectibles” and is located in Henderson, Nevada. This item can be shipped to United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Egypt, Cayman islands, Sri lanka, Macao, Oman, Peru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Viet nam, Uruguay.
  • Certification: NGC
  • Composition: Gold
  • Ruler: Vespasian
  • Denomination: Aureus

Roman Empire VESPASIAN Gold Aureus NGC Choice Fine 5/4 ancient coin
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Authentic Ancient Coin of. Assassin of Julius Caesar. Gold Propaganda Coin with Obverse of his silver Coin from 54 B. With his famous ancestor L. Brutus Struck under: Dynast of Thrace: Koson Gold Stater 17mm (8.48 grams) Struck After 44 B. Reference: RPC 1701; BMC Thrace pg. 208, 2; BMCRR II pg. 474, 48 Certification: NGC Ancients. MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 5/5 2077743-003 KO , Roman consul accompanied by two lictors; BR monogram to left Eagle standing left on sceptre, holding wreath. Koson: Golden Ally of Brutus. Marcus Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus left for Greece in August of 44 BC, having failed to win popular support at Rome following the assassination of Caesar. In the next two years the tyrannicides collected an immense war chest as they assembled their forces for the contest against Antony and Octavian. The historian Appian Bell. 75 tells us that L. Brutus struck from the treasures consigned to him by Polemocratia, the widow of the Thracian dynast Sadalas. Although the identity of the “Koson” named on the coins remains uncertain, the coinage in his name must be the coinage of L. Brutus described by Appian. The obverse depicts the great consul L. Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins from Rome in 509 BC, accompanied by two lictors bearing axes. The design is copied from the denarius issued by M. Junius Brutus when he was a moneyer in 54 BC (Crawford 433/1). The reverse, an eagle standing on a sceptre and holding a victory wreath, was evidently a standard type at Rome and occurs on the coinage of Q. Pomponius Rufus (Crawford 398/1). The monogram is to be read as BR or LBR Brutus or L. The designs express Brutus’ propaganda in the civil war perfectly: the obverse represents the historic fight against tyranny, and the reverse represents the victorious Roman eagle. Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar’s assassins. Prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome had been ruled by kings. Brutus led the revolt that overthrew the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin’s son Sextus Tarquinius. The account is from Livy’s Ab urbe condita and deals with a point in the history of Rome prior to reliable historical records (virtually all prior records were destroyed by the Gauls when they sacked Rome under Brennus in 390 BC or 387 BC). Overthrow of the Monarchy. Lucius Iunius Brutus, on right. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy. Brutus was the son of Tarquinia, daughter of Rome’s fifth king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and sister to Rome’s seventh king Tarquinius Superbus. According to Livy, Brutus had a number of grievances against his uncle the king, amongst them was the fact that Tarquin had put to death a number of the chief men of Rome, including Brutus’ brother. Brutus avoided the distrust of Tarquin’s family by feigning slow-wittedness (in Latin brutus translates to dullard). He accompanied Tarquin’s sons on a trip to the Oracle of Delphi. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The Oracle responded the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted “mother” to mean the Earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the ground. Brutus, along with Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Publius Valerius Publicola, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus were summoned by Lucretia to Collatia after she had been raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king Tarquinius Superbus. Lucretia, believing that the rape dishonored her and her family, committed suicide by stabbing herself with a dagger after telling of what had befallen her. According to legend, Brutus grabbed the dagger from Lucretia’s breast after her death and immediately shouted for the overthrow of the Tarquins. The four men gathered the youth of Collatia, then went to Rome where Brutus, being at that time Tribunus Celerum , summoned the people to the forum and exhorted them to rise up against the king. The people voted for the deposition of the king, and the banishment of the royal family. Brutus, leaving Lucretius in command of the city, proceeded with armed men to the Roman army then camped at Ardea. The king, who had been with the army, heard of developments at Rome, and left the camp for the city before Brutus’ arrival. The army received Brutus as a hero, and the king’s sons were expelled from the camp. Tarquinius Superbus, meanwhile, was refused entry at Rome, and fled with his family into exile. The Oath of Brutus. According to Livy, Brutus’ first act after the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was to bring the people to swear an oath never to allow any man again to be king in Rome. Omnium primum avidum novae libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis regiis posset, iure iurando adegit neminem Romae passuros regnare. First of all, by swearing an oath that they would suffer no man to rule Rome, it forced the people, desirous of a new liberty, not to be thereafter swayed by the entreaties or bribes of kings. This is, fundamentally, a restatement of the’private oath’ sworn by the conspirators to overthrow the monarchy. Castissimum ante regiam iniuriam sanguinem iuro, vosque, di, testes facio me L. Tarquinium Superbum cum scelerata coniuge et omni liberorum stirpe ferro igni quacumque dehinc vi possim exsecuturum, nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum. There is no scholarly agreement that the oath took place; it is reported, although differently, by Plutarch (Poplicola , 2) and Appian B. Brutus and Lucretia’s bereaved husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, were elected as the first consuls of Rome (509 BC). However, Tarquinius was soon replaced by Publius Valerius Publicola. Brutus’ first acts during his consulship, according to Livy, included administering an oath to the people of Rome to never again accept a king in Rome (see above) and replenishing the number of senators to 300 from the principal men of the equites. During his consulship the royal family made an attempt to regain the throne, firstly by their ambassadors seeking to subvert a number of the leading Roman citizens in the Tarquinian conspiracy. Amongst the conspirators were two brothers of Brutus’ wife Vitellia, and Brutus’ two sons, Titus Junius Brutus and Tiberius Junius Brutus. The conspiracy was discovered and the consuls determined to punish the conspirators with death. Brutus gained respect for his stoicism in watching the execution of his own sons, even though he showed emotion during the punishment. Tarquin again sought to retake the throne soon after at the Battle of Silva Arsia, leading the forces of Tarquinii and Veii against the Roman army. Valerius led the infantry, and Brutus led the cavalry. Aruns, the king’s son, led the Etruscan cavalry. The cavalry first joined battle and Aruns, having spied from afar the lictors, and thereby recognizing the presence of a consul, soon saw that Brutus was in command of the cavalry. The two men, who were cousins, charged each other, and speared each other to death. The infantry also soon joined the battle, the result being in doubt for some time. The right wing of each army was victorious, the army of Tarquinii forcing back the Romans, and the Veientes being routed. However the Etruscan forces eventually fled the field, the Romans claiming the victory. The surviving consul, Valerius, after celebrating a triumph for the victory, held a funeral for Brutus with much magnificence. The Roman noblewomen mourned him for one year, for his vengeance of Lucretia’s violation. Brutus in literature and art. The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by David, 1789. Lucius Junius Brutus is quite prominent in English literature, and he was quite popular among British and American Whigs. A reference to L. Brutus is in the following lines from Shakespeare’s play The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar , (Cassius to Marcus Brutus, Act 1, Scene 2). O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooktTh’eternal devil to keep his state in RomeAs easily as a king. One of the main charges of the senatorial faction that plotted against Julius Caesar after he had the Roman Senate declare him dictator for life, was that he was attempting to make himself a king, and a co-conspirator Cassius, enticed Brutus’ direct descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, to join the conspiracy by referring to his ancestor. Brutus is a leading character in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece and in Nathaniel Lee’s Restoration tragedy (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country. In The Mikado , Nanki-poo refers to his father as “the Lucius Junius Brutus of his race”. The memory of L. Brutus also had a profound impact on Italian patriots, including those who established the ill-fated Roman Republic in February 1849. Brutus was a hero of republicanism during the Enlightenment and Neoclassical periods. In 1789, at the dawn of the French Revolution, master painter Jacques-Louis David publicly exhibited his politically charged masterwork, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons , to great controversy. Marcus Junius Brutus (early June, 85 BC – late October, 42 BC), often referred to as Brutus , was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later Julius Caesar’s mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father, despite Caesar’s being only 15 years old when Brutus was born. Brutus’ uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him in about 59 BC, and Brutus was known officially for a time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before he reverted to using his birth-name. Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, Brutus revived his adoptive name in order to illustrate his links to another famous tyrannicide, Gaius Servilius Ahala, from whom he was descended. Brutus held his uncle in high regard and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus. From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. When civil war broke out in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his old enemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. When the Battle of Pharsalus began, Caesar ordered his officers to take Brutus prisoner if he gave himself up voluntarily, and if he persisted in fighting against capture, to let him alone and do him no violence. After the disaster of the Battle of Pharsalus, Brutus wrote to Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him. Caesar then accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated Brutus to serve as urban praetor for the following year. Also, in June 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato’s daughter. According to Cicero the marriage caused a semi-scandal as Brutus failed to state a valid reason for his divorce from Claudia other than he wished to marry Porcia. The marriage also caused a rift between Brutus and his mother, who resented the affection Brutus had for Porcia. Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC). Main article: Assassination of Julius Caesar. Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. Around this time, many senators began to fear Caesar’s growing power following his appointment as dictator for life. Brutus was persuaded into joining the conspiracy against Caesar by the other senators. Eventually, Brutus decided to move against Caesar after Caesar’s king-like behavior prompted him to take action. His wife was the only woman privy to the plot. The conspirators planned to carry out their plot on the Ides of March (March 15) that same year. On that day, Caesar was delayed going to the Senate because his wife, Calpurnia Pisonis, tried to convince him not to go. The conspirators feared the plot had been found out. Brutus persisted, however, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and allegedly still chose to remain even when a messenger brought him news that would otherwise have caused him to leave. When Caesar finally did come to the Senate, they attacked him. Publius Servilius Casca Longus was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked. However, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate. The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand and in the legs. After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the assassins. This amnesty was proposed by Caesar’s friend and co-consul Marcus Antonius. Nonetheless, uproar among the population caused Brutus and the conspirators to leave Rome. Brutus settled in Crete from 44 to 42 BC. In 43 BC, after Octavian received his consulship from the Roman Senate, one of his first actions was to have the people that had assassinated Julius Caesar declared murderers and enemies of the state. Marcus Tullius Cicero, angry at Octavian, wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that the forces of Octavian and Marcus Antonius were divided. Antonius had laid siege to the province of Gaul, where he wanted a governorship. In response to this siege, Octavian rallied his troops and fought a series of battles in which Antonius was defeated. Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Upon hearing that neither Antonius nor Octavian had an army big enough to defend Rome, Brutus rallied his troops, which totaled about 17 legions. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he made peace with Antonius. Their armies, which together totaled about 19 legions, marched to meet Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The two sides met in two engagements known as the Battle of Philippi. The first was fought on October 3, 42 BC, in which Brutus defeated Octavian’s forces, although Cassius was defeated by Antonius’ forces. The second engagement was fought on October 23, 42 BC and ended in Brutus’ defeat. After the defeat, he fled into the nearby hills with only about four legions. Knowing his army had been defeated and that he would be captured, Brutus committed suicide. Among his last words were, according to Plutarch, By all means must we fly; not with our feet, however, but with our hands. Brutus also uttered the well-known verse calling down a curse upon Antonius (Plutarch repeats this from the memoirs of Publius Volumnius): Forget not, Zeus, the author of these crimes (in the Dryden translation this passage is given as Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills). Plutarch wrote that, according to Volumnius, Brutus repeated two verses, but Volumnius was only able to recall the one quoted. Antonius, as a show of great respect, ordered Brutus’ body to be wrapped in Antonius’ most expensive purple mantle (this was later stolen and Antonius had the thief executed). Brutus was cremated, and his ashes were sent to his mother, Servilia Caepionis. His wife Porcia was reported to have committed suicide upon hearing of her husband’s death, although, according to Plutarch (Brutus 53 para 2), there is some dispute as to whether this is the case: Plutarch states that there is a letter in existence that was allegedly written by Brutus mourning the manner of her death. 85 BC: Brutus was born in Rome to Marcus Junius Brutus The Elder and Servilia Caepionis. 58 BC: He was made assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus which helped him start his political career. 53 BC: He was given the quaestorship in Cilicia. 49 BC: Brutus followed Pompey to Greece during the civil war against Caesar. 48 BC: Brutus was pardoned by Caesar. 46 BC: He was made governor of Gaul. 45 BC: He was made Praetor. 44 BC: Murdered Caesar with other liberatores; went to Athens and then to Crete. 42 BC: Battle with Marcus Antonius’s forces. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elements So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world This was a man! William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar , Act 5, Scene 5 (Mark Antony). The phrase Sic semper tyrannis! Thus, ever (or always), to tyrants! Is attributed to Brutus at Caesar’s assassination. The phrase is also the official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, claimed to be inspired by Brutus. Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, was named for Brutus, and Booth (as Marcus Antonius) and his brother (as Brutus) had performed in a production of Julius Caesar in New York just six months before the assassination. On the night of the assassination, Booth is alleged to have shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” while leaping to the stage of Ford’s Theater. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for… Booth was also known to be greatly attracted to Caesar himself, having played both Brutus and Caesar upon various stages. The well-known phrase Et tu, Brute? Is famous as Caesar’s utterance in the play Julius Caesar, although it is not his last words, and the sources describing Caesar’s death disagree about what his last words were. In Dante’s Inferno , Brutus is one of three people deemed sinful enough to be chewed in one of the three mouths of Satan, in the very center of Hell, for all eternity. The other two are Cassius, who was Brutus’s fellow conspirator and Judas Iscariot (Canto XXXIV). Dante condemned these three in the afterlife for being Treacherous Against Their Masters and enemies of the King/Emperor. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar depicts Caesar’s assassination by Brutus and his accomplices, and the murderers’ subsequent downfall. In the final scene, Marcus Antonius describes Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all”, for he was the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. In the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough, Brutus is portrayed as a timid intellectual who hates Caesar for personal reasons, foremost of them the fact that his marriage arrangement with Caesar’s daughter, Julia, whom Brutus deeply loved, was dissolved in Caesar’s political gamble to give his daughter’s hand to Pompey to cement with him an alliance. Cassius and Trebonius use him as a figurehead because of his family connections, and his descendence from the founder of the Republic. He appears in Fortune’s Favourites , Caesar’s Women , Caesar and The October Horse. Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the TV series Rome , Brutus, portrayed by Tobias Menzies, is depicted as a young man torn between what he believes is right, and his loyalty and love of a man who has been like a father to him. In the series, his personality and motives are accurate but Brutus’ relationship to Cassius and Cato is not mentioned, and his three sisters and wife Porcia are omitted from the series completely. Brutus is an occasional supporting character in Asterix comics, most notably Asterix and Son in which he is the main antagonist. The character appears in the live Asterix film adaptations – though briefly in the first two – Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (played by Didier Cauchy) and Asterix at the Olympic Games. In the latter film, he is portrayed as a comical villain by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde: he is a central character to the film, even though he was not depicted in the original Asterix at the Olympic Games comic book. Following sources cited in Plutarch, he is implied in that film to be Julius Caesar’s biological son. The Hives’ song “B is for Brutus” contains titular and lyrical references to Junius Brutus. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy (the patricians), and other talented Romans who were not from famous families, the plebeians. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the early history of the kingdom. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. During the first two centuries, the Republic saw its territory expand from central Italy to the entire Mediterranean world. In the next century, Rome grew to dominate North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and what is now southern France. During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, it grew to dominate the rest of modern France, as well as much of the east. At this point, the republican political machinery was replaced with imperialism. The precise event which signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the transition into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Towards the end of the period a selection of Roman leaders came to so dominate the political arena that they exceeded the limitations of the Republic as a matter of course. Historians have variously proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator in 44 BC, the defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman Senate’s grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian (Augustus) under the first settlement in 27 BC, as candidates for the defining pivotal event ending the Republic. Many of Rome’s legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and the rest of the world by modern nation state and international organizations. The Romans’ Latin language has influenced grammar and vocabulary across parts of Europe and the world. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143″ is in sale since Tuesday, April 2, 2019. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Culture: Greek
  • Certification Number: 2077743-003
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: MS
  • Composition: Gold
  • Coin Type: Ancient

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO
SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO
SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO
SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO

SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO
[5934] Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily under Tyrant Agathokles Electrum Dekadrachm or 50 Litrai 15mm (3.45 grams) Struck circa 310-300 B. Reference: HGC 2, 1294; BAR Issue 10. BMC 263 (same dies); Jenkins Group B; (O4/R1). SNG ANS 621 Certification: NGC Ancients VF Strike: 4/5 Surface: 4/5 3761048-008 Laureate head of Apollo to left; behind, amphora. Excellent early Hellenistic style. When in it’s foundations that the city of Syracuse only consisted of the island of Ortygia, that island was said to have been the home of the nymph Arethusa. She had been a chaste, faithful attendant of Artemis. It is said that she got the unwanted attentions from the river god, Alpheios, while bathing in his Peloponnesian stream. Artemis hid her in a cloud in an attempt to save her, however she sweated so profusely out of fear that she was transformed into a stream. Artemis broke apart the ground to allow her to escape. She found her way to the island of Ortygia where she became the fountain on that island. Agathocles (361-289 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse (317-289 BC) and king of Sicily (304-289 BC). Agathocles was born at Thermae Himeraeae (modern name Termini Imerese) in Sicily. The son of a potter who had moved to Syracuse in about 343 BC, he learned his father’s trade, but afterwards entered the army along with his brother Antander. In 333 BC he married the widow of his patron Damas, a distinguished and wealthy citizen. He was twice banished for attempting to overthrow the oligarchical party in Syracuse. Having banished or murdered some 10,000 citizens, and thus made himself master of Syracuse, he created a strong army and fleet and subdued the greater part of Sicily. War with Carthage followed. In 311 BC Agathocles was defeated in the Battle of the Himera River and besieged in Syracuse. In 310 BC he made a desperate effort to break through the blockade and attack the enemy in Africa. In 309/8 BC, Agathocles turned his attention towards Ophellas ruler of Cyrenaica as likely to prove a useful ally in his war against the Carthaginians. In order to gain him over he promised to cede to him whatever conquests their combined forces might make in Africa, reserving to himself only the possession of Sicily. Ophellas gathered a powerful army from the homeland of his wife Euthydike (a descendant of Miltiades) Athens, where many citizens felt disgruntled after having lost their voting rights. Notwithstanding all the natural obstacles which presented themselves on his route, succeeded in reaching the Carthaginian territories after a toilsome and perilous march of more than two months’ duration. He was received by Agathocles with every demonstration of friendship, and the two armies encamped near each other: but not many days had elapsed when Agathocles betrayed his new ally, attacked the camp of the Cyrenaeans, and had Ophellas himself killed. The Cyrenean troops, left without a leader, went over to Agathocles. Following several victories he was at last completely defeated (307 BC) and fled secretly to Sicily. After concluding peace with Carthage in 306 BC, Agathocles styled himself king of Sicily in 304 BC, and established his rule over the Greek cities of the island more firmly than ever. A peace treaty with Carthage left him in control of Sicily east of the Halycus River. Even in his old age he displayed the same restless energy, and is said to have been contemplating a fresh attack on Carthage at the time of his death. His last years were plagued by ill-health and the turbulence of his grandson Archagathus, at whose instigation he is said to have been poisoned; according to others, he died a natural death. He was a born leader of mercenaries, and, although he did not shrink from cruelty to gain his ends, he afterwards showed himself a mild and popular tyrant. Agathocles restored the Syracusan democracy on his death bed and did not want his sons to succeed him as king. Agathocles was married three times. His first wife was the widow of his patron Damas by whom he had two sons: Archagathus and Agathocles, who were both murdered in 307 BC. His second wife was Alcia and they had a daughter called Lanassa, who married as the second wife of King Pyrrhus of Epirus. His third wife was the Greek Ptolemaic Princess Theoxena, who was the second daughter of Berenice I from her first husband Philip and was a stepdaughter of Ptolemy I Soter. Theoxena bore Agathocles two children: Archagathus and Theoxena. He had further descendants from his second and third marriage. Agathocles was cited as an example “Of Those Who By Their Crimes Come to Be Princes” in Chapter VIII of Niccolò Machiavelli’s treatise on politics – The Prince (1513). He was described as behaving as a criminal at every stage of his career. It cannot be called prowess to kill fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be treacherous, pitiless, irreligious. Still, if the courage of Agathocles in entering into and extricating himself from dangers be considered, together with his greatness of mind in enduring and overcoming hardships, it cannot be seen why he should be esteemed less than the most notable captain. Nevertheless, his barbarous cruelty and inhumanity with infinite wickednesses do not permit him to be celebrated among the most excellent men. Machiavelli goes on to reason that Agathocles’ success, in contrast to other criminal tyrants, was due to his ability to mitigate his crimes by limiting them to those that. Are applied at one blow and are necessary to one’s security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects. However, he came to “glory” as much as he did brutality by repelling invading Carthaginians and winning the loyalty of the denizens of his land. In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. Apollo was worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion, as well as in the modern Greco-Roman Neopaganism. As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god – the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing were associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague as well as one who had the ability to cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans. In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, god of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, goddess of the moon. In Latin texts, on the other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with Sol among the Augustan poets of the first century, not even in the conjurations of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161-215). Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third century CE. A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is particularly associated with Apollo and the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece, and the word “tripod” comes from the Greek meaning “three-footed”. The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the Delphic Tripod from which the Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity. The seat was formed by a circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which a branch of laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by the priestess. In this sense, by classical times the tripod was sacred to Apollo. According to the myth, Hercules went to the oracle of Delphi in order to ask what to do in order to be expiated from the murder of Iphitos. The oracle did not want to give him an omen. Then, the hero was enraged and he grabbed the tripod on which the Pythia sat in order to pronounce her oracles. Apollo tried to prevent him and this resulted in a fight between the god and the hero. Finally, Zeus had to intervene in order to end this quarrel. The mytheme of Heracles contesting with Apollo for the tripod appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth. In the Geometric period, the tripods were fastened to the cauldrons they supported. In the Museum of Delphi there are fragments of such tripods, most distinctive of which is the one with a ring-shaped handle. Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the Plataean Tripod; it was made from a tenth part of the spoils taken from the Persian army after the Battle of Plataea. This consisted of a golden basin, supported by a bronze serpent with three heads (or three serpents intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the Phocians during the Third Sacred War (356-346 BC); the stand was removed by the emperor Constantine to Constantinople in 324, where in modern Istanbul it still can be seen in the hippodrome, the Atmeydan , although in damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as support in addition to the three legs. Tripods frequently are mentioned by Homer as prizes in athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served the same purpose. They appear also to be precious gifts for the guests, as in the case of the Phaeakes, who offered a cauldron and tripod to Odysseus. Our guest has already packed up the clothes, wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance; let us now, therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy of a general rate; for private individuals cannot be expected to bear the burden of such a handsome present. Odyssey, 13.10-15 tr. Butler They also were used as dedicatory offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic contests at the Dionysia the victorious choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He would either dedicate the tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in Athens, called the street of tripods, from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, erected by him to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The form of the victory tripod, now missing from the top of the Lysicrates monument, has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century. West writes that the Pythia at Delphi shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible. According to Herodotus The Histories, I. 144, the victory tripods were not to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications. Syracuse pronounced, Sicilian: Sarausa , is a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is famous for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture and association to Archimedes, playing an important role in ancient times as one of the top powers of the Mediterranean world; it is over 2,700 years old. Syracuse is located in the south-east corner of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Syracuse next to the Ionian Sea. The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth, exerting influence over the entire Magna Grecia area of which it was the most important city. Once described by Cicero as “the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all”, it later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans , and the local language spoken by its inhabitants is the Sicilian language. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12 as Paul stayed there. The patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy; she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucy’s Day, is celebrated on 13 December. The item “SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO” is in sale since Saturday, August 15, 2015. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “victoram” and is located in Forest Hills, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: VF 4/5; 4/5
  • Composition: Gold

SYRACUSE in SICILY under Tyrant AGATHOKLES Electrum Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
Authentic Ancient Coin of. Assassin of Julius Caesar. Gold Propaganda Coin with Obverse of his silver Coin from 54 B. With his famous ancestor L. Brutus Struck under: Dynast of Thrace: Koson Gold Stater 19mm (8.34 grams) Struck After 44 B. Reference: RPC 1701; BMC Thrace pg. 208, 2; BMCRR II pg. 474, 48 Certification: NGC Ancients. Ch MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 5/5 3988752-005 KO , Roman consul accompanied by two lictors; BR monogram to left Eagle standing left on sceptre, holding wreath. Koson: Golden Ally of Brutus. Marcus Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus left for Greece in August of 44 BC, having failed to win popular support at Rome following the assassination of Caesar. In the next two years the tyrannicides collected an immense war chest as they assembled their forces for the contest against Antony and Octavian. The historian Appian Bell. 75 tells us that L. Brutus struck from the treasures consigned to him by Polemocratia, the widow of the Thracian dynast Sadalas. Although the identity of the “Koson” named on the coins remains uncertain, the coinage in his name must be the coinage of L. Brutus described by Appian. The obverse depicts the great consul L. Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins from Rome in 509 BC, accompanied by two lictors bearing axes. The design is copied from the denarius issued by M. Junius Brutus when he was a moneyer in 54 BC (Crawford 433/1). The reverse, an eagle standing on a sceptre and holding a victory wreath, was evidently a standard type at Rome and occurs on the coinage of Q. Pomponius Rufus (Crawford 398/1). The monogram is to be read as BR or LBR Brutus or L. The designs express Brutus’ propaganda in the civil war perfectly: the obverse represents the historic fight against tyranny, and the reverse represents the victorious Roman eagle. Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar’s assassins. Prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome had been ruled by kings. Brutus led the revolt that overthrew the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin’s son Sextus Tarquinius. The account is from Livy’s Ab urbe condita and deals with a point in the history of Rome prior to reliable historical records (virtually all prior records were destroyed by the Gauls when they sacked Rome under Brennus in 390 BC or 387 BC). Overthrow of the Monarchy. Lucius Iunius Brutus, on right. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy. Brutus was the son of Tarquinia, daughter of Rome’s fifth king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and sister to Rome’s seventh king Tarquinius Superbus. According to Livy, Brutus had a number of grievances against his uncle the king, amongst them was the fact that Tarquin had put to death a number of the chief men of Rome, including Brutus’ brother. Brutus avoided the distrust of Tarquin’s family by feigning slow-wittedness (in Latin brutus translates to dullard). He accompanied Tarquin’s sons on a trip to the Oracle of Delphi. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The Oracle responded the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted “mother” to mean the Earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the ground. Brutus, along with Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Publius Valerius Publicola, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus were summoned by Lucretia to Collatia after she had been raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king Tarquinius Superbus. Lucretia, believing that the rape dishonored her and her family, committed suicide by stabbing herself with a dagger after telling of what had befallen her. According to legend, Brutus grabbed the dagger from Lucretia’s breast after her death and immediately shouted for the overthrow of the Tarquins. The four men gathered the youth of Collatia, then went to Rome where Brutus, being at that time Tribunus Celerum , summoned the people to the forum and exhorted them to rise up against the king. The people voted for the deposition of the king, and the banishment of the royal family. Brutus, leaving Lucretius in command of the city, proceeded with armed men to the Roman army then camped at Ardea. The king, who had been with the army, heard of developments at Rome, and left the camp for the city before Brutus’ arrival. The army received Brutus as a hero, and the king’s sons were expelled from the camp. Tarquinius Superbus, meanwhile, was refused entry at Rome, and fled with his family into exile. The Oath of Brutus. According to Livy, Brutus’ first act after the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was to bring the people to swear an oath never to allow any man again to be king in Rome. Omnium primum avidum novae libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis regiis posset, iure iurando adegit neminem Romae passuros regnare. First of all, by swearing an oath that they would suffer no man to rule Rome, it forced the people, desirous of a new liberty, not to be thereafter swayed by the entreaties or bribes of kings. This is, fundamentally, a restatement of the’private oath’ sworn by the conspirators to overthrow the monarchy. Castissimum ante regiam iniuriam sanguinem iuro, vosque, di, testes facio me L. Tarquinium Superbum cum scelerata coniuge et omni liberorum stirpe ferro igni quacumque dehinc vi possim exsecuturum, nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum. There is no scholarly agreement that the oath took place; it is reported, although differently, by Plutarch (Poplicola , 2) and Appian B. Brutus and Lucretia’s bereaved husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, were elected as the first consuls of Rome (509 BC). However, Tarquinius was soon replaced by Publius Valerius Publicola. Brutus’ first acts during his consulship, according to Livy, included administering an oath to the people of Rome to never again accept a king in Rome (see above) and replenishing the number of senators to 300 from the principal men of the equites. During his consulship the royal family made an attempt to regain the throne, firstly by their ambassadors seeking to subvert a number of the leading Roman citizens in the Tarquinian conspiracy. Amongst the conspirators were two brothers of Brutus’ wife Vitellia, and Brutus’ two sons, Titus Junius Brutus and Tiberius Junius Brutus. The conspiracy was discovered and the consuls determined to punish the conspirators with death. Brutus gained respect for his stoicism in watching the execution of his own sons, even though he showed emotion during the punishment. Tarquin again sought to retake the throne soon after at the Battle of Silva Arsia, leading the forces of Tarquinii and Veii against the Roman army. Valerius led the infantry, and Brutus led the cavalry. Aruns, the king’s son, led the Etruscan cavalry. The cavalry first joined battle and Aruns, having spied from afar the lictors, and thereby recognizing the presence of a consul, soon saw that Brutus was in command of the cavalry. The two men, who were cousins, charged each other, and speared each other to death. The infantry also soon joined the battle, the result being in doubt for some time. The right wing of each army was victorious, the army of Tarquinii forcing back the Romans, and the Veientes being routed. However the Etruscan forces eventually fled the field, the Romans claiming the victory. The surviving consul, Valerius, after celebrating a triumph for the victory, held a funeral for Brutus with much magnificence. The Roman noblewomen mourned him for one year, for his vengeance of Lucretia’s violation. Brutus in literature and art. The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by David, 1789. Lucius Junius Brutus is quite prominent in English literature, and he was quite popular among British and American Whigs. A reference to L. Brutus is in the following lines from Shakespeare’s play The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar , (Cassius to Marcus Brutus, Act 1, Scene 2). O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooktTh’eternal devil to keep his state in RomeAs easily as a king. One of the main charges of the senatorial faction that plotted against Julius Caesar after he had the Roman Senate declare him dictator for life, was that he was attempting to make himself a king, and a co-conspirator Cassius, enticed Brutus’ direct descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, to join the conspiracy by referring to his ancestor. Brutus is a leading character in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece and in Nathaniel Lee’s Restoration tragedy (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country. In The Mikado , Nanki-poo refers to his father as “the Lucius Junius Brutus of his race”. The memory of L. Brutus also had a profound impact on Italian patriots, including those who established the ill-fated Roman Republic in February 1849. Brutus was a hero of republicanism during the Enlightenment and Neoclassical periods. In 1789, at the dawn of the French Revolution, master painter Jacques-Louis David publicly exhibited his politically charged masterwork, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons , to great controversy. Marcus Junius Brutus (early June, 85 BC – late October, 42 BC), often referred to as Brutus , was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later Julius Caesar’s mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father, despite Caesar’s being only 15 years old when Brutus was born. Brutus’ uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him in about 59 BC, and Brutus was known officially for a time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before he reverted to using his birth-name. Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, Brutus revived his adoptive name in order to illustrate his links to another famous tyrannicide, Gaius Servilius Ahala, from whom he was descended. Brutus held his uncle in high regard and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus. From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. When civil war broke out in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his old enemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. When the Battle of Pharsalus began, Caesar ordered his officers to take Brutus prisoner if he gave himself up voluntarily, and if he persisted in fighting against capture, to let him alone and do him no violence. After the disaster of the Battle of Pharsalus, Brutus wrote to Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him. Caesar then accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated Brutus to serve as urban praetor for the following year. Also, in June 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato’s daughter. According to Cicero the marriage caused a semi-scandal as Brutus failed to state a valid reason for his divorce from Claudia other than he wished to marry Porcia. The marriage also caused a rift between Brutus and his mother, who resented the affection Brutus had for Porcia. Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC). Main article: Assassination of Julius Caesar. Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. Around this time, many senators began to fear Caesar’s growing power following his appointment as dictator for life. Brutus was persuaded into joining the conspiracy against Caesar by the other senators. Eventually, Brutus decided to move against Caesar after Caesar’s king-like behavior prompted him to take action. His wife was the only woman privy to the plot. The conspirators planned to carry out their plot on the Ides of March (March 15) that same year. On that day, Caesar was delayed going to the Senate because his wife, Calpurnia Pisonis, tried to convince him not to go. The conspirators feared the plot had been found out. Brutus persisted, however, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and allegedly still chose to remain even when a messenger brought him news that would otherwise have caused him to leave. When Caesar finally did come to the Senate, they attacked him. Publius Servilius Casca Longus was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked. However, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate. The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand and in the legs. After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the assassins. This amnesty was proposed by Caesar’s friend and co-consul Marcus Antonius. Nonetheless, uproar among the population caused Brutus and the conspirators to leave Rome. Brutus settled in Crete from 44 to 42 BC. In 43 BC, after Octavian received his consulship from the Roman Senate, one of his first actions was to have the people that had assassinated Julius Caesar declared murderers and enemies of the state. Marcus Tullius Cicero, angry at Octavian, wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that the forces of Octavian and Marcus Antonius were divided. Antonius had laid siege to the province of Gaul, where he wanted a governorship. In response to this siege, Octavian rallied his troops and fought a series of battles in which Antonius was defeated. Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Upon hearing that neither Antonius nor Octavian had an army big enough to defend Rome, Brutus rallied his troops, which totaled about 17 legions. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he made peace with Antonius. Their armies, which together totaled about 19 legions, marched to meet Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The two sides met in two engagements known as the Battle of Philippi. The first was fought on October 3, 42 BC, in which Brutus defeated Octavian’s forces, although Cassius was defeated by Antonius’ forces. The second engagement was fought on October 23, 42 BC and ended in Brutus’ defeat. After the defeat, he fled into the nearby hills with only about four legions. Knowing his army had been defeated and that he would be captured, Brutus committed suicide. Among his last words were, according to Plutarch, By all means must we fly; not with our feet, however, but with our hands. Brutus also uttered the well-known verse calling down a curse upon Antonius (Plutarch repeats this from the memoirs of Publius Volumnius): Forget not, Zeus, the author of these crimes (in the Dryden translation this passage is given as Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills). Plutarch wrote that, according to Volumnius, Brutus repeated two verses, but Volumnius was only able to recall the one quoted. Antonius, as a show of great respect, ordered Brutus’ body to be wrapped in Antonius’ most expensive purple mantle (this was later stolen and Antonius had the thief executed). Brutus was cremated, and his ashes were sent to his mother, Servilia Caepionis. His wife Porcia was reported to have committed suicide upon hearing of her husband’s death, although, according to Plutarch (Brutus 53 para 2), there is some dispute as to whether this is the case: Plutarch states that there is a letter in existence that was allegedly written by Brutus mourning the manner of her death. 85 BC: Brutus was born in Rome to Marcus Junius Brutus The Elder and Servilia Caepionis. 58 BC: He was made assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus which helped him start his political career. 53 BC: He was given the quaestorship in Cilicia. 49 BC: Brutus followed Pompey to Greece during the civil war against Caesar. 48 BC: Brutus was pardoned by Caesar. 46 BC: He was made governor of Gaul. 45 BC: He was made Praetor. 44 BC: Murdered Caesar with other liberatores; went to Athens and then to Crete. 42 BC: Battle with Marcus Antonius’s forces. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elements So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world This was a man! William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar , Act 5, Scene 5 (Mark Antony). The phrase Sic semper tyrannis! Thus, ever (or always), to tyrants! Is attributed to Brutus at Caesar’s assassination. The phrase is also the official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, claimed to be inspired by Brutus. Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, was named for Brutus, and Booth (as Marcus Antonius) and his brother (as Brutus) had performed in a production of Julius Caesar in New York just six months before the assassination. On the night of the assassination, Booth is alleged to have shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” while leaping to the stage of Ford’s Theater. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for… Booth was also known to be greatly attracted to Caesar himself, having played both Brutus and Caesar upon various stages. The well-known phrase Et tu, Brute? Is famous as Caesar’s utterance in the play Julius Caesar, although it is not his last words, and the sources describing Caesar’s death disagree about what his last words were. In Dante’s Inferno , Brutus is one of three people deemed sinful enough to be chewed in one of the three mouths of Satan, in the very center of Hell, for all eternity. The other two are Cassius, who was Brutus’s fellow conspirator and Judas Iscariot (Canto XXXIV). Dante condemned these three in the afterlife for being Treacherous Against Their Masters and enemies of the King/Emperor. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar depicts Caesar’s assassination by Brutus and his accomplices, and the murderers’ subsequent downfall. In the final scene, Marcus Antonius describes Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all”, for he was the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. In the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough, Brutus is portrayed as a timid intellectual who hates Caesar for personal reasons, foremost of them the fact that his marriage arrangement with Caesar’s daughter, Julia, whom Brutus deeply loved, was dissolved in Caesar’s political gamble to give his daughter’s hand to Pompey to cement with him an alliance. Cassius and Trebonius use him as a figurehead because of his family connections, and his descendence from the founder of the Republic. He appears in Fortune’s Favourites , Caesar’s Women , Caesar and The October Horse. Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the TV series Rome , Brutus, portrayed by Tobias Menzies, is depicted as a young man torn between what he believes is right, and his loyalty and love of a man who has been like a father to him. In the series, his personality and motives are accurate but Brutus’ relationship to Cassius and Cato is not mentioned, and his three sisters and wife Porcia are omitted from the series completely. Brutus is an occasional supporting character in Asterix comics, most notably Asterix and Son in which he is the main antagonist. The character appears in the live Asterix film adaptations – though briefly in the first two – Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (played by Didier Cauchy) and Asterix at the Olympic Games. In the latter film, he is portrayed as a comical villain by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde: he is a central character to the film, even though he was not depicted in the original Asterix at the Olympic Games comic book. Following sources cited in Plutarch, he is implied in that film to be Julius Caesar’s biological son. The Hives’ song “B is for Brutus” contains titular and lyrical references to Junius Brutus. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy (the patricians), and other talented Romans who were not from famous families, the plebeians. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the early history of the kingdom. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. During the first two centuries, the Republic saw its territory expand from central Italy to the entire Mediterranean world. In the next century, Rome grew to dominate North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and what is now southern France. During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, it grew to dominate the rest of modern France, as well as much of the east. At this point, the republican political machinery was replaced with imperialism. The precise event which signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the transition into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Towards the end of the period a selection of Roman leaders came to so dominate the political arena that they exceeded the limitations of the Republic as a matter of course. Historians have variously proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator in 44 BC, the defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman Senate’s grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian (Augustus) under the first settlement in 27 BC, as candidates for the defining pivotal event ending the Republic. Many of Rome’s legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and the rest of the world by modern nation state and international organizations. The Romans’ Latin language has influenced grammar and vocabulary across parts of Europe and the world. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667″ is in sale since Wednesday, August 8, 2018. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Coin Type: Ancient
  • Modified Item: No
  • Certification Number: 3988752-005
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: Ch MS
  • Composition: Gold
  • Culture: Greek

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i66667
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330

ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
Item: i70330 Authentic Ancient Coin of. Greek coin of Lydia. Under the Achaemenid Empire. Time of Darius I to Xerxes II 485-420 B. Gold Daric 16mm (8.27 grams) Struck circa 485-420 B. Reference: Carradice Type IIIb, Group B Certification: NGC Ancients. Ch AU Strike: 5/5 Surface: 5/5 4625722-020 Achaemenid king or hero, wearing cidaris and candys, quiver over shoulder, in kneeling-running stance right, transverse spear with globular terminal in right hand, bow forward in left. Irregular rectangular incuse punch with rough interior surface. Successors of Darius I, continued in the traditions established by that monarch, issuing gold darics and silver sigloi for circulation in western Anatolia. The Lydian capital of Sardes, the center of Achaemenid power in the area, was undoubtedly the principal mint, though other cities may have assisted in the production of this enormous coinage. The kneeling archer, with oblong punch on reverse, remained the sole type for this Persian imperial coinage down to Alexander’s conquest in 330 B. The Achaemenid Empire c. 550-330 BC, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great, notable for embracing various civilizations and becoming the largest empire of ancient history, spanning at its maximum extent from the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east. It is equally notable for its successful model of a centralised, bureaucratic administration (through satraps under a king) and a government working to the profit of its subjects, for building infrastructure such as a postal system and road systems and the use of an official language across its territories and a large professional army and civil services (inspiring similar systems in later empires), and for emancipation of slaves including the Jewish exiles in Babylon, and is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city states during the Greco-Persian Wars. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in the empire as well. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330″ is in sale since Thursday, December 6, 2018. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Certification Number: 4625722-020
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: Ch AU*
  • Composition: Gold
  • Denomination: Daric

ACHAEMENID EMPIRE Sardes Lydia 485BC Gold Daric Ancient Greek Coin NGC AU i70330
JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183

JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
Item: i66183 Authentic Ancient Coin of. Justinian I’The Great. Emperor: 1 August 527 – 14 November 565 A. Gold Solidus 20mm (4.39 grams) Constantinople, 8th officina Reference: Sear 140 Certification: NGC Ancients. MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 3/5 4244058-001 D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVI, helmeted, cuirassed bust of Justinian facing, globus cruciger in right hand, shield with horseman motif in left. VICTORIA AVGGG H, Angel (victory) standing facing, long linear staff surmounted by staurogram in right hand, globus cruciger in left; Star in right field, CONOB in exergue. The Staurogram meaning monogram of the cross, from the Greek , i. Cross , or Monogrammatic Cross or Tau-Rho symbol, is composed by a tau superimposed on a rho . The Staurogram was first used to abbreviate the Greek word for cross in very early New Testament manuscripts such as P66, P45 and P75, almost like a nomen sacrum, and may visually have represented Jesus on the cross. Ephrem the Syrian in the 4th-century explained these two united letters stating that the tau refers to the cross, and the rho refers to the Greek word “help” which has the numerological value in Greek of 100 as the letter rho has. In such a way the symbol expresses the idea that the Cross saves. The two letters tau and rho can also be found separately as symbols on early Christian ossuaries. The tau was considered a symbol of salvation due to the identification of the tau with the sign which in Ezekiel 9:4 was marked on the forehead of the saved ones, or due to the tau-shaped outstretched hands of Moses in Exodus 17:11. The rho by itself can refer to Christ as Messiah because Abraham, taken as symbol of the Messiah, generated Isaac according to a promise made by God when he was one hundred years old, and 100 is the value of rho. The Monogrammatic Cross was later seen also as a variation of the Chi Rho symbol, and it spread over Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries. In ancient Roman religion, Victoria or Victory was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, and was associated with Bellona. She was adapted from the Sabine agricultural goddess Vacuna and had a temple on the Palatine Hill. The goddess Vica Pota was also sometimes identified with Victoria. Unlike the Greek Nike , the goddess Victoria (Latin for “victory”) was a major part of Roman society. Multiple temples were erected in her honor. When her statue was removed in 382 CE by Emperor Gratianus there was much anger in Rome. She was normally worshiped by triumphant generals returning from war. Also unlike the Greek Nike, who was known for success in athletic games such as chariot races, Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and determined who would be successful during war. Victoria appears widely on Roman coins, jewelry, architecture, and other arts. She is often seen with or in a chariot, as in the late 18th-century sculpture representing Victory in a quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany; “Il Vittoriano” in Rome has two. Winged figures, very often in pairs, representing victory and referred to as “victories”, were common in Roman official iconography, typically hovering high in a composition, and often filling spaces in spandrels or other gaps in architecture. These represent the spirit of victory rather than the goddess herself. They continued to appear after Christianization of the Empire, and slowly mutated into Christian angels. The symbolism of angels has been adopted from the ancient Roman goddess of victory by the early Christians. The goddess transformed into what is known by the Christians as angels via the Christianization of the Roman empire. This is evidenced by many coins still depicting victory, yet of the time period where Christianity was already the official religion of the Roman empire. She appears along with symbols such as a Christogram (also known as a Chi-Rho which is a monogram of Jesus Christ), Staurogram, and the cross, attributing to it’s Christian symbolism. An angel is a purely spiritual being found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits or a guiding influence. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God’s tasks. The term “angel” has also been diversified to various notions of spirits or figures found in many other religious traditions. The theological study of angels is known as “angelology”. In art, angels are often depicted with bird-like wings on their back, a halo, robes and various forms of glowing light. Justinian I (Latin: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus , Greek: Flábios Pétros Sabbátios Ioustinianos) c. 482 – 14 November 565, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian in the Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine (East Roman) emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empire’s greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire. One of the most important figures of late antiquity and possibly the last Roman emperor to speak Latin as a first language, Justinian’s rule constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the Later Roman empire. The impact of his administration extended far beyond the boundaries of his time and domain. Justinian’s reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii , or “restoration of the Empire”. Because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the “last Roman” in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, re-extending Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths. The prefect Liberius reclaimed most of southern Iberia, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire’s annual revenue by over a million solidi. During his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani , a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis , which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states. This work was carried out primarily by his quaestor Tribonian. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, which was to be the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity for many centuries. A devastating outbreak of bubonic plague (see Plague of Justinian) in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. The Empire entered a period of territorial decline not to be reversed until the 9th century. Procopius provides the primary source for the history of Justinian’s reign. The Syriac chronicle of John of Ephesus, which does not survive, was used as a source for later chronicles, contributing many additional details of value. Both historians became very bitter towards Justinian and his empress, Theodora. Other sources include the histories of Agathias, Menander Protector, John Malalas, the Paschal Chronicle, the chronicles of Marcellinus Comes and Victor of Tunnuna. Justinian is considered a saint among Eastern Orthodox Christians, and is also remembered by some in the Lutheran Church on November 14. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482. His Latin-speaking peasant family is believed to have been of Thraco-Roman or Illyro-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus , which he took later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace, today in South East Serbia. His mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the imperial guard (the Excubitors) before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople, and ensured the boy’s education. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history. Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced and handsome. Another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinian’s appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, with significant help from Justinian. During Justin’s reign (518-527), Justinian was the emperor’s close confidant. Justinian showed much ambition, and it has been thought that he was functioning as virtual regent long before Justin made him associate Emperor on 1 April 527, although there is no conclusive evidence for this. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justin’s death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign. As a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as “the emperor who never sleeps” on account of his work habits. Nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople. She was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior. In earlier times, Justinian could not have married her because of her class, but his uncle, Emperor Justin I, had passed a law allowing intermarriage between social classes. Theodora would become very influential in the politics of the Empire, and later emperors would follow Justinian’s precedent in marrying outside the aristocratic class. The marriage caused a scandal, but Theodora would prove to be shrewd judge of character and Justinian’s greatest supporter. Justinian’s rule was not universally popular; early in his reign he nearly lost his throne during the Nika riots, and a conspiracy against the emperor’s life by dissatisfied businessmen was discovered as late as 562. Justinian was struck by the plague in the early 540s but recovered. Theodora died in 548 at a relatively young age, possibly of cancer; Justinian outlived her by nearly twenty years. Justinian, who had always had a keen interest in theological matters and actively participated in debates on Christian doctrine, became even more devoted to religion during the later years of his life. When he died on 14 November 565, he left no children, though his wife Theodora had given birth to a stillborn son several years into his reign. He was succeeded by Justin II, who was the son of his sister Vigilantia and married to Sophia, the niece of Empress Theodora. Justinian’s body was entombed in a specially built mausoleum in the Church of the Holy Apostles until it was desecrated and robbed during the pillage of the city in 1204 by the Latin States of the Fourth Crusade. Main article: Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian achieved lasting fame through his judicial reforms, particularly through the complete revision of all Roman law, something that had not previously been attempted. The total of Justinian’s legislature is known today as the Corpus juris civilis. It consists of the Codex Iustinianus , the Digesta or Pandectae , the Institutiones , and the Novellae. Early in his reign, Justinian appointed the quaestor Tribonian to oversee this task. The first draft of the Codex Iustinianus , a codification of imperial constitutions from the 2nd century onward, was issued on 7 April 529. The final version appeared in 534. It was followed by the Digesta (or Pandectae), a compilation of older legal texts, in 533, and by the Institutiones , a textbook explaining the principles of law. The Novellae , a collection of new laws issued during Justinian’s reign, supplements the Corpus. As opposed to the rest of the corpus, the Novellae appeared in Greek, the common language of the Eastern Empire. The Corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including ecclesiastical Canon Law) and, for historians, provides a valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire. As a collection it gathers together the many sources in which the leges (laws) and the other rules were expressed or published: proper laws, senatorial consults (senatusconsulta), imperial decrees, case law, and jurists’ opinions and interpretations (responsa prudentum). Tribonian’s code ensured the survival of Roman law. It formed the basis of later Byzantine law, as expressed in the Basilika of Basil I and Leo VI the Wise. The only western province where the Justinianic code was introduced was Italy (after the conquest, by the so-called Pragmatic Sanction of 554), from where it was to pass to Western Europe in the 12th century and become the basis of much European law code. It eventually passed to Eastern Europe where it appeared in Slavic editions, and it also passed on to Russia. It remains influential to this day. He passed laws to protect prostitutes from exploitation and women from being forced into prostitution. Rapists were treated severely. Main article: Nika riots. Justinian’s habit of choosing efficient, but unpopular advisers nearly cost him his throne early in his reign. In January 532, partisans of the chariot racing factions in Constantinople, normally divided among themselves, united against Justinian in a revolt that has become known as the Nika riots. They forced him to dismiss Tribonian and two of his other ministers, and then attempted to overthrow Justinian himself and replace him with the senator Hypatius, who was a nephew of the late emperor Anastasius. While the crowd was rioting in the streets, Justinian considered fleeing the capital, but eventually decided to stay, apparently on the prompting of Theodora, who refused to leave. In the next two days, he ordered the brutal suppression of the riots by his generals Belisarius and Mundus. Procopius relates that 30,000 unarmed civilians were killed in the Hippodrome. On Theodora’s insistence, and apparently against his own judgment, Justinian had Anastasius’ nephews executed. The destruction that had taken place during the revolt provided Justinian with an opportunity to tie his name to a series of splendid new buildings, most notably the architectural innovation of the domed Hagia Sophia. One of the most spectacular features of Justinian’s reign was the recovery of large stretches of land around the Western Mediterranean basin that had slipped out of Imperial control in the 5th century. As a Christian Roman emperor, Justinian considered it his divine duty to restore the Roman Empire to its ancient boundaries. Although he never personally took part in military campaigns, he boasted of his successes in the prefaces to his laws and had them commemorated in art. The re-conquests were in large part carried out by his general Belisarius. War with the Sassanid Empire, 527-532. Main article: Iberian War. From his uncle, Justinian inherited ongoing hostilities with the Sassanid Empire. In 530 a Persian army was defeated at Dara, but the next year saw the defeat of Roman forces under Belisarius near Callinicum. When king Kavadh I of Persia died (September 531), Justinian concluded an “Eternal Peace” (which cost him 11,000 pounds of gold) with his successor Khosrau I (532). Having thus secured his eastern frontier, Justinian turned his attention to the West, where Germanic kingdoms had been established in the territories of the former Western Roman Empire. Conquest of North Africa, 533-534. Main article: Vandalic War. An older Justinian; mosaic in Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna (possibly a modified portrait of Theodoric). The first of the western kingdoms Justinian attacked was that of the Vandals in North Africa. King Hilderic, who had maintained good relations with Justinian and the North African Catholic clergy, had been overthrown by his cousin Gelimer in 530. Imprisoned, the deposed king appealed to Justinian. In 533, Belisarius with a fleet of 92 dromons escorting 500 transports, landed at Caput Vada (modern Ras Kaboudia) in modern Tunisia with an army of about 15,000 men, as well as a number of barbarian troops. They defeated the Vandals, who were caught completely off guard, at Ad Decimum on 14 September 533 and Tricamarum in December; Belisarius took Carthage. King Gelimer fled to Mount Pappua in Numidia, but surrendered the next spring. He was taken to Constantinople, where he was paraded in a triumph. Sardinia and Corsica, the Balearic Islands, and the stronghold Septem near Gibraltar were recovered in the same campaign. An African prefecture, centered in Carthage, was established in April 534, but it would teeter on the brink of collapse during the next 15 years, amidst warfare with the Moors and military mutinies. The area was not completely pacified until 548, but remained peaceful thereafter and enjoyed a measure of prosperity. The recovery of Africa cost the empire about 100,000 pounds of gold. War in Italy, first phase, 535-540. Main article: Gothic War (535-554). As in Africa, dynastic struggles in Ostrogothic Italy provided an opportunity for intervention. The young king Athalaric had died on 2 October 534, and an usurper, Theodahad, had imprisoned queen Amalasuntha, Theodoric’s daughter and mother of Athalaric, on the island of Martana in Lake Bolsena, where he had her assassinated in 535. Thereupon Belisarius with 7,500 men invaded Sicily (535) and advanced into Italy, sacking Naples and capturing Rome on 9 December 536. By that time Theodahad had been deposed by the Ostrogothic army, who had elected Vitigis as their new king. He gathered a large army and besieged Rome from February 537 to March 538 without being able to retake the city. Justinian sent another general, Narses, to Italy, but tensions between Narses and Belisarius hampered the progress of the campaign. Milan was taken, but was soon recaptured and razed by the Ostrogoths. Justinian recalled Narses in 539. By then the military situation had turned in favour of the Romans, and in 540 Belisarius reached the Ostrogothic capital Ravenna. There he was offered the title of Western Roman Emperor by the Ostrogoths at the same time that envoys of Justinian were arriving to negotiate a peace that would leave the region north of the Po River in Gothic hands. Belisarius feigned to accept the offer, entered the city in May 540, and reclaimed it for the Empire. War with the Sassanid Empire, 540-562. Belisarius had been recalled in the face of renewed hostilities by the Persians. Following a revolt against the Empire in Armenia in the late 530s and possibly motivated by the pleas of Ostrogothic ambassadors, King Khosrau I broke the “Eternal Peace” and invaded Roman territory in the spring of 540. He first sacked Beroea and then Antioch (allowing the garrison of 6,000 men to leave the city), besieged Daras, and then went on to attack the small but strategically significant satellite kingdom of Lazica near the Black Sea, exacting tribute from the towns he passed along his way. He forced Justinian I to pay him 5,000 pounds of gold, plus 500 pounds of gold more each year. Belisarius arrived in the East in 541, but, after some success, was again recalled to Constantinople in 542. The reasons for his withdrawal are not known, but it may have been instigated by rumours of disloyalty on behalf of the general reaching the court. The outbreak of the plague caused a lull in the fighting during the year 543. The following year Khosrau defeated a Byzantine army of 30,000 men, but unsuccessfully besieged the major city of Edessa. Both parties made little headway, and in 545 a truce was agreed upon for the southern part of the Roman-Persian frontier. After that the Lazic War in the North continued for several years, until a second truce in 557, followed by a Fifty Years’ Peace in 562. War in Italy, second phase, 541-554. While military efforts were directed to the East, the situation in Italy took a turn for the worse. Under their respective kings Ildibad and Eraric (both murdered in 541) and especially Totila, the Ostrogoths made quick gains. After a victory at Faenza in 542, they reconquered the major cities of Southern Italy and soon held almost the entire peninsula. Belisarius was sent back to Italy late in 544, but lacked sufficient troops. Making no headway, he was relieved of his command in 548. Belisarius succeeded in defeating a Gothic fleet with 200 ships. During this period the city of Rome changed hands three more times, first taken and depopulated by the Ostrogoths in December 546, then reconquered by the Byzantines in 547, and then again by the Goths in January 550. Totila also plundered Sicily and attacked the Greek coastlines. Finally, Justinian dispatched a force of approximately 35,000 men (2,000 men were detached and sent to invade southern Visigothic Hispania) under the command of Narses. The army reached Ravenna in June 552, and defeated the Ostrogoths decisively within a month at the battle of Busta Gallorum in the Apennines, where Totila was slain. After a second battle at Mons Lactarius in October that year, the resistance of the Ostrogoths was finally broken. In 554, a large-scale Frankish invasion was defeated at Casilinum, and Italy was secured for the Empire, though it would take Narses several years to reduce the remaining Gothic strongholds. At the end of the war, Italy was garrisoned with an army of 16,000 men. The recovery of Italy cost the empire about 300,000 pounds of gold. In addition to the other conquests, the Empire established a presence in Visigothic Hispania, when the usurper Athanagild requested assistance in his rebellion against King Agila I. In 552, Justinian dispatched a force of 2,000 men; according to the historian Jordanes, this army was led by the octogenarian Liberius. The Byzantines took Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast and founded the new province of Spania before being checked by their former ally Athanagild, who had by now become king. This campaign marked the apogee of Byzantine expansion. During Justinian’s reign, the Balkans suffered from several incursions by the Turkic and Slavic peoples who lived north of the Danube. Here, Justinian resorted mainly to a combination of diplomacy and a system of defensive works. In 559 a particularly dangerous invasion of Sklavinoi and Kutrigurs under their khan Zabergan threatened Constantinople, but they were repulsed by the aged general Belisarius. Justinian’s ambition to restore the Roman Empire to its former glory was only partly realized. In the West, the brilliant early military successes of the 530s were followed by years of stagnation. The dragging war with the Goths was a disaster for Italy, even though its long-lasting effects may have been less severe than is sometimes thought. While the final victory in Italy and the conquest of the coast of southern Hispania significantly enlarged the area over which the Empire could project its power and influence, and while they must have contributed to the Empire’s prestige, most of the conquests proved ephemeral. The greater part of Italy would be lost to the invading Lombards three years after Justinian’s death (568), the newly founded province of Spania was completely recovered by the Hispanian Visigoths in 624 under the leadership of Suintila, and within a century and a half Africa would be forever lost for the empire to the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates during the Muslim conquests. Events of the later years of the reign showed that Constantinople itself was not safe from barbarian incursions from the north, and even the relatively benevolent historian Menander Protector felt the need to attribute the Emperor’s failure to protect the capital to the weakness of his body in his old age. In his efforts to renew the Roman Empire, Justinian dangerously stretched its resources while failing to take into account the changed realities of 6th-century Europe. Paradoxically, the grand scale of Justinian’s military successes probably contributed in part to the Empire’s subsequent decline. Main articles: 551 Beirut earthquake, Extreme weather events of 535-536 and Plague of Justinian. During the decade of the 530s, it seemed to many that God had abandoned the Christian Roman Empire. There was noxious fumes in the air, the Sun, while still providing day, refused to give much heat. This caused famine unlike anything those of the time had seen before, weakening the people of Europe and the Middle East. The cause of these disasters aren’t precisely known, but the Rabaul caldera, Lake Ilopango and Krakatoa volcanoes or a collision with a swarm of meteors are suspected. Scientists have spent decades on the mystery. Five years earlier a devastating outbreak of Bubonic Plague, second only to that of the 14th century, laid siege to the world, killing tens of millions. As an Emperor, Justinian got through the famine just fine, but he did contract the plague and survived. In 551, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Justinian saw the orthodoxy of his empire threatened by diverging religious currents, especially Monophysitism, which had many adherents in the eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt. Monophysite doctrine, which maintains that Jesus Christ had one divine nature or a synthesis of a divine and human nature, had been condemned as a heresy by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and the tolerant policies towards Monophysitism of Zeno and Anastasius I had been a source of tension in the relationship with the bishops of Rome. Justin reversed this trend and confirmed the Chalcedonian doctrine, openly condemning the Monophysites. Justinian, who continued this policy, tried to impose religious unity on his subjects by forcing them to accept doctrinal compromises that might appeal to all parties, a policy that proved unsuccessful as he satisfied none of them. Near the end of his life, Justinian became ever more inclined towards the Monophysite doctrine, especially in the form of Aphthartodocetism, but he died before being able to issue any legislation that would have elevated its teachings to the status of dogma. The empress Theodora sympathized with the Monophysites and is said to have been a constant source of pro-Monophysite intrigues at the court in Constantinople in the earlier years. In the course of his reign, Justinian, who had a genuine interest in matters of theology, authored a small number of theological treatises. As in his secular administration, despotism appeared also in the Emperor’s ecclesiastical policy. He regulated everything, both in religion and in law. At the very beginning of his reign, he deemed it proper to promulgate by law the Church’s belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation; and to threaten all heretics with the appropriate penalties; whereas he subsequently declared that he intended to deprive all disturbers of orthodoxy of the opportunity for such offense by due process of law. He made the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed the sole symbol of the Church, and accorded legal force to the canons of the four ecumenical councils. The bishops in attendance at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 recognized that nothing could be done in the Church contrary to the emperor’s will and command; while, on his side, the emperor, in the case of the Patriarch Anthimus, reinforced the ban of the Church with temporal proscription. Justinian protected the purity of the church by suppressing heretics. He neglected no opportunity for securing the rights of the Church and clergy, for protecting and extending monasticism. Although the despotic character of his measures is contrary to modern sensibilities, he was indeed a “nursing father” of the Church. Both the Codex and the Novellae contain many enactments regarding donations, foundations, and the administration of ecclesiastical property; election and rights of bishops, priests and abbots; monastic life, residential obligations of the clergy, conduct of divine service, episcopal jurisdiction, et cetera. Justinian also rebuilt the Church of Hagia Sophia (which cost 20,000 pounds of gold), the original site having been destroyed during the Nika riots. The new Hagia Sophia, with its numerous chapels and shrines, gilded octagonal dome, and mosaics, became the centre and most visible monument of Eastern Orthodoxy in Constantinople. Religious relations with Rome. From the middle of the 5th century onward, increasingly arduous tasks confronted the emperors of the East in ecclesiastical matters. For one thing, the radicals on all sides felt themselves constantly repelled by the creed adopted by the Council of Chalcedon to defend the biblical doctrine of the nature of Christ and bridge the gap between the dogmatic parties. The letter of Pope Leo I to Flavian of Constantinople was widely considered in the East as the work of Satan; so that nobody cared to hear of the Church of Rome. The Emperors, however, had a policy of preserving the unity between Constantinople and Rome; and this remained possible only if they did not swerve from the line defined at Chalcedon. In addition, the factions in the East that had become stirred up and disaffected because of Chalcedon needed restraining and pacifying. This problem proved the more difficult because, in the East, the dissenting groups exceeded supporters of Chalcedon both in numerical strength and in intellectual ability. Tension from the incompatibility of the two aims grew: whoever chose Rome and the West must renounce the East, and vice versa. Justinian entered the arena of ecclesiastical statecraft shortly after his uncle’s accession in 518, and put an end to the Monophysite schism that had prevailed between Rome and Constantinople since 483. The recognition of the Roman see as the highest ecclesiastical authority remained the cornerstone of his Western policy. Offensive as it was to many in the East, nonetheless Justinian felt himself entirely free to take a Despotic stance toward the popes such as Silverius and Vigilius. While no compromise could ever be accepted by the dogmatic wing of the church, his sincere efforts at reconciliation gained him the approval of the major body of the church. A signal proof was his attitude in the Theopaschite controversy. At the outset he was of the opinion that the question turned on a quibble of words. By degrees, however, Justinian came to understand that the formula at issue not only appeared orthodox, but might also serve as a conciliatory measure toward the Monophysites, and he made a vain attempt to do this in the religious conference with the followers of Severus of Antioch in 533. Again, Justinian moved toward compromise in the religious edict of 15 March 533, and congratulated himself that Pope John II admitted the orthodoxy of the imperial confession. The serious blunder that he had made at the beginning by abetting a severe persecution of the Monophysite bishops and monks and thereby embittering the population of vast regions and provinces, he remedied eventually. His constant aim now remained to win over the Monophysites, yet not to surrender the Chalcedonian faith. For many at court, he did not go far enough: Theodora especially would have rejoiced to see the Monophysites favoured unreservedly. Justinian, however, felt restrained by the complications that would have ensued with the West. But in the condemnation of the Three Chapters Justinian tried to satisfy both the East and the West, but succeeded in satisfying neither. Although the pope assented to the condemnation, the West believed that the Emperor had acted contrary to the decrees of Chalcedon. Though many delegates emerged in the East subservient to Justinian, many, especially the Monophysites, remained unsatisfied; all the more bitter for him because during his last years he took an even greater interest in theological matters. Justinian’s religious policy reflected the Imperial conviction that the unity of the Empire unconditionally presupposed unity of faith; and it appeared to him obvious that this faith could only be the Orthodox (Nicaean). Those of a different belief had to recognize that the process of consolidation, which imperial legislation had effected from the time of Constantius II, would now vigorously continue. The Codex contained two statutes that decreed the total destruction of paganism, even in private life; these provisions were zealously enforced. Contemporary sources (John Malalas, Theophanes, John of Ephesus) tell of severe persecutions, even of men in high position. Perhaps the most noteworthy event occurred in 529 when the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens was placed under state control as paganism by order of Justinian, effectively strangling this training school for Hellenistic philosophy and science. Paganism was actively suppressed. In Asia Minor alone, John of Ephesus claimed to have converted 70,000 pagans. Other peoples also accepted Christianity: the Heruli, the Huns dwelling near the Don, the Abasgi, and the Tzanni in Caucasia. The worship of Amun at Augila in the Libyan desert was abolished; and so were the remnants of the worship of Isis on the island of Philae, at the first cataract of the Nile. The Presbyter Julian and the Bishop Longinus conducted a mission among the Nabataeans, and Justinian attempted to strengthen Christianity in Yemen by despatching a bishop from Egypt. The civil rights of Jews were restricted and their religious privileges threatened. Justinian also interfered in the internal affairs of the synagogue, and he encouraged the Jews to use the Greek Septuagint in their synagogues in Constantinople. The Emperor had much trouble with the Samaritans, who resisted conversion to Christianity and were repeatedly in insurrection. He opposed them with rigorous edicts, but yet could not prevent hostilities towards Christians from taking place in Samaria toward the close of his reign. The consistency of Justinian’s policy meant that the Manicheans too suffered severe persecution, experiencing both exile and threat of capital punishment. At Constantinople, on one occasion, not a few Manicheans, after strict inquisition, were executed in the emperor’s very presence: some by burning, others by drowning. Architecture, learning, art and literature. Justinian was a prolific builder; the historian Procopius bears witness to his activities in this area. Under Justinian’s patronage the San Vitale in Ravenna, which features two famous mosaics representing Justinian and Theodora, was completed. Most notably, he had the Hagia Sophia, originally a basilica-style church that had been burnt down during the Nika riots, splendidly rebuilt according to a completely different ground plan, under the architectural supervision of Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. According to Procopius, Justinian stated at the completion of this edifice, “Solomon I have outdone thee” (in reference to the 1st Jewish temple). This new cathedral, with its magnificent dome filled with mosaics, remained the centre of eastern Christianity for centuries. Another prominent church in the capital, the Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been in a very poor state near the end of the 5th century, was likewise rebuilt. Works of embellishment were not confined to churches alone: excavations at the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople have yielded several high-quality mosaics dating from Justinian’s reign, and a column topped by a bronze statue of Justinian on horseback and dressed in a military costume was erected in the Augustaeum in Constantinople in 543. Rivalry with other, more established patrons from the Constantinopolitan and exiled Roman aristocracy (like Anicia Juliana) may have enforced Justinian’s building activities in the capital as a means of strengthening his dynasty’s prestige. Justinian also strengthened the borders of the Empire from Africa to the East through the construction of fortifications, and ensured Constantinople of its water supply through construction of underground cisterns (see Basilica Cistern). To prevent floods from damaging the strategically important border town Dara, an advanced arch dam was built. During his reign the large Sangarius Bridge was built in Bithynia, securing a major military supply route to the east. Furthermore, Justinian restored cities damaged by earthquake or war and built a new city near his place of birth called Justiniana Prima, which was intended to replace Thessalonica as the political and religious centre of Illyricum. In Justinian’s era, and partly under his patronage, Byzantine culture produced noteworthy historians, including Procopius and Agathias, and poets such as Paul the Silentiary and Romanus the Melodist flourished during his reign. On the other hand, centres of learning as the Platonic Academy in Athens and the famous Law School of Beirut lost their importance during his reign. Despite Justinian’s passion for the glorious Roman past, the practice of choosing Roman consul was allowed to lapse after 541. Further information: Byzantine silk. As was the case under Justinian’s predecessors, the Empire’s economic health rested primarily on agriculture. In addition, long-distance trade flourished, reaching as far north as Cornwall where tin was exchanged for Roman wheat. Within the Empire, convoys sailing from Alexandria provided Constantinople with wheat and grains. Justinian made the traffic more efficient by building a large granary on the island of Tenedos for storage and further transport to Constantinople. Justinian also tried to find new routes for the eastern trade, which was suffering badly from the wars with the Persians. One important luxury product was silk, which was imported and then processed in the Empire. In order to protect the manufacture of silk products, Justinian granted a monopoly to the imperial factories in 541. In order to bypass the Persian landroute, Justinian established friendly relations with the Abyssinians, whom he wanted to act as trade mediators by transporting Indian silk to the Empire; the Abyssinians, however, were unable to compete with the Persian merchants in India. Then, in the early 550s, two monks succeeded in smuggling eggs of silk worms from Central Asia back to Constantinople, and silk became an indigenous product. Gold and silver were mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt and Nubia. At the start of Justinian I’s reign he had inherited a surplus 28,800,000 solidi (400,000 pounds of gold) in the imperial treasury from Anastasius I and Justin I. Greater administrative power was given to both the leaders of the prefectures and of the provinces, while power was taken away from the vicariates of the dioceses, of which a number were abolished. The overall trend was towards a simplification of administrative infrastructure. It has been estimated that before Justinian I’s reconquests the state had an annual revenue of 5,000,000 solidi in AD 530, but after his reconquests, the annual revenue was increased to 6,000,000 solidi in AD 550. Throughout Justinian’s reign, the cities and villages of the East prospered, although Antioch was struck by two earthquakes (526, 528) and sacked and evacuated by the Persians (540). Justinian had the city rebuilt, but on a slightly smaller scale. Despite all these measures, the Empire suffered several major setbacks in the course of the 6th century. The first one was the plague, which lasted from 541 to 543 and, by decimating the Empire’s population, probably created a scarcity of labor and a rising of wages. The lack of manpower also led to a significant increase in the number of “barbarians” in the Byzantine armies after the early 540s. The protracted war in Italy and the wars with the Persians themselves laid a heavy burden on the Empire’s resources, and Justinian was criticized for curtailing the government-run post service, which he limited to only one eastern route of military importance. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183″ is in sale since Wednesday, December 13, 2017. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Byzantine (300-1400 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Certification: NGC
  • Certification Number: 4244058-001
  • Grade: MS
  • Composition: Gold
  • Culture: Byzantine
  • Era: Byzantine

JUSTINIAN I the GREAT 527AD Ancient Byzantine Gold Solidus Coin NGC MS i66183
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF

JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
[6560] JULIAN II’the Apostate’ or Philosopher, 361-363 A. Gold Solidus 22mm, 4.29gm. Fine style and Very Rare. RIC 195, Depeyrot 15/2 Certification: NGC Ancients VF Strike: 5/5 Surface: 2/5 4371775-006 FL CL IVULIA- NVS PF AVG, Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. VIRTVS EXERCI -TVS ROMANORVM, Helmeted soldier standing right, head left, holding trophy and placing other hand on crouching captive. Flavius Claudius Julianus , known also as Julian , Julian the Apostate or Julian the Philosopher (331/332 – 26 June 363, Greek:), was Roman Emperor (Caesar, November 355 to February 360; Augustus, February 360 to June 363), last of the Constantinian dynasty. Julian was a man of “unusually complex character”: he was “the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters”. Julian was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire and it was his desire to bring the empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from “dissolution”. He purged the top-heavy state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the cost of Christianity. His rejection of Christianity in favour of Neo-Platonic paganism caused him to be called Julian the Apostate by the church, as Edward Gibbon wrote. In 363, after a reign of only 19 months as absolute ruler of the Roman Empire, Julian died in Persia during a campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Flavius Claudius Julianus, born in May or June 332 or 331 in Constantinople, was the son of Julius Constantius (consul in 335), half brother of Emperor Constantine I, and his second wife, Basilina, both Christians. His paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor Licinius from 315 to 324 and consul after 325. The name of Julian’s maternal grandmother is unknown. In the turmoil after the death of Constantine in 337, in order to establish himself as sole emperor, Julian’s zealous Arian Christian cousin Constantius II led a massacre of Julian’s family. Constantius II ordered the murders of many descendants from the second marriage of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora, leaving only Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans I, and their cousins, Julian and Gallus (Julian’s half-brother), as the surviving males related to Emperor Constantine. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, each ruling a portion of Roman territory. Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life and given a strictly Arian Christian education. Initially growing up in Bithynia, raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven he was under the guardianship of Eusebius of Nicomedia, the semi-Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, whom Julian wrote warmly of later. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the imperial estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition. At the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia. He became a lector, a minor office in the Christian church, and his later writings show a detailed knowledge of the Bible, likely acquired in his early life. Looking back on his life in 362, Julian wrote, in his thirty-first year, that he had spent twenty years in the way of Christianity and twelve in the true way (ie the way of Helios). Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher, and then Neoplatonic theurgy from Aedesius’ student, Maximus of Ephesus. He was summoned to Constantius’ court in Milan in 354 and kept there for a year; in the summer and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens. While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who later became both bishops and saints: Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great; in the same period, Julian was also initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he would later try to restore. Constantine II died in 340 when he attacked his brother Constans. Constans in turn fell in 350 in the war against the usurper Magnentius. This left Constantius II as the sole remaining emperor. In need of support, in 351 he made Julian’s half-brother, Gallus, Caesar of the East, while Constantius II himself turned his attention westward to Magnentius, whom he defeated decisively that year. In 354 Gallus, who had imposed a rule of terror over the territories under his command, was executed. Julian was summoned to court, and held for a year, under suspicion of treasonable intrigue, first with his brother and then with Claudius Silvanus; he was cleared, in part because the Empress Eusebia intervened on his behalf, and he was sent to Athens. Julian expresses his gratitude to the empress Eusebia in his third oration. The item “JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF” is in sale since Tuesday, August 8, 2017. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Roman\ Imperial (27 BC-476 AD)”. The seller is “victoram” and is located in Forest Hills, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Material: Gold
  • Ancient Coins: Roman Coins
  • Coin Type: Ancient Roman
  • Certification Number: 4371775-006
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: VF
  • Composition: Gold
  • Ruler: Julian II
  • Denomination: Solidus

JULIAN II the Apostate Philosopher 361AD Ancient Roman Gold Solidus Coin NGC VF
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
Authentic Ancient Coin of. Assassin of Julius Caesar. Gold Propaganda Coin with Obverse of his silver Coin from 54 B. With his famous ancestor L. Brutus Struck under: Dynast of Thrace: Koson Gold Stater 17mm (8.48 grams) Struck After 44 B. Reference: RPC 1701; BMC Thrace pg. 208, 2; BMCRR II pg. 474, 48 Certification: NGC Ancients. MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 5/5 2077743-003 KO , Roman consul accompanied by two lictors; BR monogram to left Eagle standing left on sceptre, holding wreath. Koson: Golden Ally of Brutus. Marcus Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus left for Greece in August of 44 BC, having failed to win popular support at Rome following the assassination of Caesar. In the next two years the tyrannicides collected an immense war chest as they assembled their forces for the contest against Antony and Octavian. The historian Appian Bell. 75 tells us that L. Brutus struck from the treasures consigned to him by Polemocratia, the widow of the Thracian dynast Sadalas. Although the identity of the “Koson” named on the coins remains uncertain, the coinage in his name must be the coinage of L. Brutus described by Appian. The obverse depicts the great consul L. Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins from Rome in 509 BC, accompanied by two lictors bearing axes. The design is copied from the denarius issued by M. Junius Brutus when he was a moneyer in 54 BC (Crawford 433/1). The reverse, an eagle standing on a sceptre and holding a victory wreath, was evidently a standard type at Rome and occurs on the coinage of Q. Pomponius Rufus (Crawford 398/1). The monogram is to be read as BR or LBR Brutus or L. The designs express Brutus’ propaganda in the civil war perfectly: the obverse represents the historic fight against tyranny, and the reverse represents the victorious Roman eagle. Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar’s assassins. Prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome had been ruled by kings. Brutus led the revolt that overthrew the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin’s son Sextus Tarquinius. The account is from Livy’s Ab urbe condita and deals with a point in the history of Rome prior to reliable historical records (virtually all prior records were destroyed by the Gauls when they sacked Rome under Brennus in 390 BC or 387 BC). Overthrow of the Monarchy. Lucius Iunius Brutus, on right. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy. Brutus was the son of Tarquinia, daughter of Rome’s fifth king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and sister to Rome’s seventh king Tarquinius Superbus. According to Livy, Brutus had a number of grievances against his uncle the king, amongst them was the fact that Tarquin had put to death a number of the chief men of Rome, including Brutus’ brother. Brutus avoided the distrust of Tarquin’s family by feigning slow-wittedness (in Latin brutus translates to dullard). He accompanied Tarquin’s sons on a trip to the Oracle of Delphi. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The Oracle responded the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted “mother” to mean the Earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the ground. Brutus, along with Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Publius Valerius Publicola, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus were summoned by Lucretia to Collatia after she had been raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king Tarquinius Superbus. Lucretia, believing that the rape dishonored her and her family, committed suicide by stabbing herself with a dagger after telling of what had befallen her. According to legend, Brutus grabbed the dagger from Lucretia’s breast after her death and immediately shouted for the overthrow of the Tarquins. The four men gathered the youth of Collatia, then went to Rome where Brutus, being at that time Tribunus Celerum , summoned the people to the forum and exhorted them to rise up against the king. The people voted for the deposition of the king, and the banishment of the royal family. Brutus, leaving Lucretius in command of the city, proceeded with armed men to the Roman army then camped at Ardea. The king, who had been with the army, heard of developments at Rome, and left the camp for the city before Brutus’ arrival. The army received Brutus as a hero, and the king’s sons were expelled from the camp. Tarquinius Superbus, meanwhile, was refused entry at Rome, and fled with his family into exile. The Oath of Brutus. According to Livy, Brutus’ first act after the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was to bring the people to swear an oath never to allow any man again to be king in Rome. Omnium primum avidum novae libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis regiis posset, iure iurando adegit neminem Romae passuros regnare. First of all, by swearing an oath that they would suffer no man to rule Rome, it forced the people, desirous of a new liberty, not to be thereafter swayed by the entreaties or bribes of kings. This is, fundamentally, a restatement of the’private oath’ sworn by the conspirators to overthrow the monarchy. Castissimum ante regiam iniuriam sanguinem iuro, vosque, di, testes facio me L. Tarquinium Superbum cum scelerata coniuge et omni liberorum stirpe ferro igni quacumque dehinc vi possim exsecuturum, nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum. There is no scholarly agreement that the oath took place; it is reported, although differently, by Plutarch (Poplicola , 2) and Appian B. Brutus and Lucretia’s bereaved husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, were elected as the first consuls of Rome (509 BC). However, Tarquinius was soon replaced by Publius Valerius Publicola. Brutus’ first acts during his consulship, according to Livy, included administering an oath to the people of Rome to never again accept a king in Rome (see above) and replenishing the number of senators to 300 from the principal men of the equites. During his consulship the royal family made an attempt to regain the throne, firstly by their ambassadors seeking to subvert a number of the leading Roman citizens in the Tarquinian conspiracy. Amongst the conspirators were two brothers of Brutus’ wife Vitellia, and Brutus’ two sons, Titus Junius Brutus and Tiberius Junius Brutus. The conspiracy was discovered and the consuls determined to punish the conspirators with death. Brutus gained respect for his stoicism in watching the execution of his own sons, even though he showed emotion during the punishment. Tarquin again sought to retake the throne soon after at the Battle of Silva Arsia, leading the forces of Tarquinii and Veii against the Roman army. Valerius led the infantry, and Brutus led the cavalry. Aruns, the king’s son, led the Etruscan cavalry. The cavalry first joined battle and Aruns, having spied from afar the lictors, and thereby recognizing the presence of a consul, soon saw that Brutus was in command of the cavalry. The two men, who were cousins, charged each other, and speared each other to death. The infantry also soon joined the battle, the result being in doubt for some time. The right wing of each army was victorious, the army of Tarquinii forcing back the Romans, and the Veientes being routed. However the Etruscan forces eventually fled the field, the Romans claiming the victory. The surviving consul, Valerius, after celebrating a triumph for the victory, held a funeral for Brutus with much magnificence. The Roman noblewomen mourned him for one year, for his vengeance of Lucretia’s violation. Brutus in literature and art. The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by David, 1789. Lucius Junius Brutus is quite prominent in English literature, and he was quite popular among British and American Whigs. A reference to L. Brutus is in the following lines from Shakespeare’s play The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar , (Cassius to Marcus Brutus, Act 1, Scene 2). O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooktTh’eternal devil to keep his state in RomeAs easily as a king. One of the main charges of the senatorial faction that plotted against Julius Caesar after he had the Roman Senate declare him dictator for life, was that he was attempting to make himself a king, and a co-conspirator Cassius, enticed Brutus’ direct descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, to join the conspiracy by referring to his ancestor. Brutus is a leading character in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece and in Nathaniel Lee’s Restoration tragedy (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country. In The Mikado , Nanki-poo refers to his father as “the Lucius Junius Brutus of his race”. The memory of L. Brutus also had a profound impact on Italian patriots, including those who established the ill-fated Roman Republic in February 1849. Brutus was a hero of republicanism during the Enlightenment and Neoclassical periods. In 1789, at the dawn of the French Revolution, master painter Jacques-Louis David publicly exhibited his politically charged masterwork, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons , to great controversy. Marcus Junius Brutus (early June, 85 BC – late October, 42 BC), often referred to as Brutus , was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later Julius Caesar’s mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father, despite Caesar’s being only 15 years old when Brutus was born. Brutus’ uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him in about 59 BC, and Brutus was known officially for a time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before he reverted to using his birth-name. Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, Brutus revived his adoptive name in order to illustrate his links to another famous tyrannicide, Gaius Servilius Ahala, from whom he was descended. Brutus held his uncle in high regard and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus. From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. When civil war broke out in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his old enemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. When the Battle of Pharsalus began, Caesar ordered his officers to take Brutus prisoner if he gave himself up voluntarily, and if he persisted in fighting against capture, to let him alone and do him no violence. After the disaster of the Battle of Pharsalus, Brutus wrote to Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him. Caesar then accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated Brutus to serve as urban praetor for the following year. Also, in June 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato’s daughter. According to Cicero the marriage caused a semi-scandal as Brutus failed to state a valid reason for his divorce from Claudia other than he wished to marry Porcia. The marriage also caused a rift between Brutus and his mother, who resented the affection Brutus had for Porcia. Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC). Main article: Assassination of Julius Caesar. Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. Around this time, many senators began to fear Caesar’s growing power following his appointment as dictator for life. Brutus was persuaded into joining the conspiracy against Caesar by the other senators. Eventually, Brutus decided to move against Caesar after Caesar’s king-like behavior prompted him to take action. His wife was the only woman privy to the plot. The conspirators planned to carry out their plot on the Ides of March (March 15) that same year. On that day, Caesar was delayed going to the Senate because his wife, Calpurnia Pisonis, tried to convince him not to go. The conspirators feared the plot had been found out. Brutus persisted, however, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and allegedly still chose to remain even when a messenger brought him news that would otherwise have caused him to leave. When Caesar finally did come to the Senate, they attacked him. Publius Servilius Casca Longus was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked. However, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate. The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand and in the legs. After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the assassins. This amnesty was proposed by Caesar’s friend and co-consul Marcus Antonius. Nonetheless, uproar among the population caused Brutus and the conspirators to leave Rome. Brutus settled in Crete from 44 to 42 BC. In 43 BC, after Octavian received his consulship from the Roman Senate, one of his first actions was to have the people that had assassinated Julius Caesar declared murderers and enemies of the state. Marcus Tullius Cicero, angry at Octavian, wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that the forces of Octavian and Marcus Antonius were divided. Antonius had laid siege to the province of Gaul, where he wanted a governorship. In response to this siege, Octavian rallied his troops and fought a series of battles in which Antonius was defeated. Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Upon hearing that neither Antonius nor Octavian had an army big enough to defend Rome, Brutus rallied his troops, which totaled about 17 legions. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he made peace with Antonius. Their armies, which together totaled about 19 legions, marched to meet Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The two sides met in two engagements known as the Battle of Philippi. The first was fought on October 3, 42 BC, in which Brutus defeated Octavian’s forces, although Cassius was defeated by Antonius’ forces. The second engagement was fought on October 23, 42 BC and ended in Brutus’ defeat. After the defeat, he fled into the nearby hills with only about four legions. Knowing his army had been defeated and that he would be captured, Brutus committed suicide. Among his last words were, according to Plutarch, By all means must we fly; not with our feet, however, but with our hands. Brutus also uttered the well-known verse calling down a curse upon Antonius (Plutarch repeats this from the memoirs of Publius Volumnius): Forget not, Zeus, the author of these crimes (in the Dryden translation this passage is given as Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills). Plutarch wrote that, according to Volumnius, Brutus repeated two verses, but Volumnius was only able to recall the one quoted. Antonius, as a show of great respect, ordered Brutus’ body to be wrapped in Antonius’ most expensive purple mantle (this was later stolen and Antonius had the thief executed). Brutus was cremated, and his ashes were sent to his mother, Servilia Caepionis. His wife Porcia was reported to have committed suicide upon hearing of her husband’s death, although, according to Plutarch (Brutus 53 para 2), there is some dispute as to whether this is the case: Plutarch states that there is a letter in existence that was allegedly written by Brutus mourning the manner of her death. 85 BC: Brutus was born in Rome to Marcus Junius Brutus The Elder and Servilia Caepionis. 58 BC: He was made assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus which helped him start his political career. 53 BC: He was given the quaestorship in Cilicia. 49 BC: Brutus followed Pompey to Greece during the civil war against Caesar. 48 BC: Brutus was pardoned by Caesar. 46 BC: He was made governor of Gaul. 45 BC: He was made Praetor. 44 BC: Murdered Caesar with other liberatores; went to Athens and then to Crete. 42 BC: Battle with Marcus Antonius’s forces. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elements So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world This was a man! William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar , Act 5, Scene 5 (Mark Antony). The phrase Sic semper tyrannis! Thus, ever (or always), to tyrants! Is attributed to Brutus at Caesar’s assassination. The phrase is also the official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, claimed to be inspired by Brutus. Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, was named for Brutus, and Booth (as Marcus Antonius) and his brother (as Brutus) had performed in a production of Julius Caesar in New York just six months before the assassination. On the night of the assassination, Booth is alleged to have shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” while leaping to the stage of Ford’s Theater. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for… Booth was also known to be greatly attracted to Caesar himself, having played both Brutus and Caesar upon various stages. The well-known phrase Et tu, Brute? Is famous as Caesar’s utterance in the play Julius Caesar, although it is not his last words, and the sources describing Caesar’s death disagree about what his last words were. In Dante’s Inferno , Brutus is one of three people deemed sinful enough to be chewed in one of the three mouths of Satan, in the very center of Hell, for all eternity. The other two are Cassius, who was Brutus’s fellow conspirator and Judas Iscariot (Canto XXXIV). Dante condemned these three in the afterlife for being Treacherous Against Their Masters and enemies of the King/Emperor. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar depicts Caesar’s assassination by Brutus and his accomplices, and the murderers’ subsequent downfall. In the final scene, Marcus Antonius describes Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all”, for he was the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. In the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough, Brutus is portrayed as a timid intellectual who hates Caesar for personal reasons, foremost of them the fact that his marriage arrangement with Caesar’s daughter, Julia, whom Brutus deeply loved, was dissolved in Caesar’s political gamble to give his daughter’s hand to Pompey to cement with him an alliance. Cassius and Trebonius use him as a figurehead because of his family connections, and his descendence from the founder of the Republic. He appears in Fortune’s Favourites , Caesar’s Women , Caesar and The October Horse. Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the TV series Rome , Brutus, portrayed by Tobias Menzies, is depicted as a young man torn between what he believes is right, and his loyalty and love of a man who has been like a father to him. In the series, his personality and motives are accurate but Brutus’ relationship to Cassius and Cato is not mentioned, and his three sisters and wife Porcia are omitted from the series completely. Brutus is an occasional supporting character in Asterix comics, most notably Asterix and Son in which he is the main antagonist. The character appears in the live Asterix film adaptations – though briefly in the first two – Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (played by Didier Cauchy) and Asterix at the Olympic Games. In the latter film, he is portrayed as a comical villain by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde: he is a central character to the film, even though he was not depicted in the original Asterix at the Olympic Games comic book. Following sources cited in Plutarch, he is implied in that film to be Julius Caesar’s biological son. The Hives’ song “B is for Brutus” contains titular and lyrical references to Junius Brutus. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy (the patricians), and other talented Romans who were not from famous families, the plebeians. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the early history of the kingdom. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. During the first two centuries, the Republic saw its territory expand from central Italy to the entire Mediterranean world. In the next century, Rome grew to dominate North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and what is now southern France. During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, it grew to dominate the rest of modern France, as well as much of the east. At this point, the republican political machinery was replaced with imperialism. The precise event which signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the transition into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Towards the end of the period a selection of Roman leaders came to so dominate the political arena that they exceeded the limitations of the Republic as a matter of course. Historians have variously proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator in 44 BC, the defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman Senate’s grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian (Augustus) under the first settlement in 27 BC, as candidates for the defining pivotal event ending the Republic. Many of Rome’s legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and the rest of the world by modern nation state and international organizations. The Romans’ Latin language has influenced grammar and vocabulary across parts of Europe and the world. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143″ is in sale since Wednesday, September 5, 2018. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Coin Type: Ancient
  • Certification Number: 2077743-003
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: MS
  • Composition: Gold
  • Culture: Greek

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i68143
ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911

ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
Item: i66911 Authentic Ancient Coin of. Emperor: 15 November 1028 11 April 1034 A. Reference: Sear 1819; DOC 1 Certification: ICG. AU58 5086780109 +IhS XIS RX RGNANTINM, Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus crown, pallium and colobium, raising right hand in benediction and holding book of Gospels in left. C bOH RWMANW, the Virgin, nimbate on right, and Romanus, bearded to left, both standing facing; the Virgin wears pallium and maphorium, and with her right hand crowns the emperor, who wears saccos and loros, and holds globus cruciger in left hand; M between their heads. Jesus (7-2 BC to AD 30-33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God. Christians believe Jesus is the awaited Messiah (or Christ, the Anointed One) of the Old Testament. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically, and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi who preached his message orally, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. In the current mainstream view, Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher and the founder of a renewal movement within Judaism, although some prominent scholars argue that he was not apocalyptic. After Jesus’ death, his followers believed he was resurrected, and the community they formed eventually became the Christian church. The widely used calendar era, abbreviated as “AD” from the Latin “Anno Domini” (“in the year of our Lord”) or sometimes as “CE”, is based on the birth of Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus has a “unique significance” in the world. Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, whence he will return. Most Christians believe Jesus enables humans to be reconciled to God, and will judge the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology; though some believe Jesus’s role as savior has more existential or societal concerns than the afterlife, and a few notable theologians have suggested that Jesus will bring about a universal reconciliation. The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of a Divine Trinity. A few Christian groups reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural. In Islam, Jesus (commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God’s important prophets and the Messiah, second in importance only to Muhammad. To Muslims, Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin, but was not the Son of God. According to the Quran, Jesus was not crucified but was physically raised into Heaven by God. Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh. Mary (Hebrew: , Miriam ; Aramaic: Marym ; Arabic: , Maryam), variously called Saint Mary , Mother Mary , the Virgin Mary , the Theotokos , the Blessed Virgin Mary , Mary, Mother of God , and, in Islam, as Maryam, mother of Isa’ , was an Israelite Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee who lived in the late 1st century BC and early 1st century AD, and is considered by Christians to be the first proselyte to Christianity. She is identified in the New Testament. [Mt 1:16,18-25][Lk 1:26-56][2:1-7]. And in the Qur’an as the mother of Jesus through divine intervention. Christians hold her son Jesus to be Christ i. The messiah and God the Son Incarnate (see Trinitarian monotheism), whereas Muslims regard Jesus as the messiah and the most important prophet of God sent to the people of Israel (and the second-most-important prophet of all, lesser than Muhammad alone). The canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Mary as a virgin (Greek , parthénos). Traditionally, Christians believe that she conceived her son miraculously by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Muslims believe that she conceived by the command of God. This took place when she was already betrothed to Saint Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. In keeping with Jewish custom, the betrothal would have taken place when she was around 12, and the birth of Jesus about a year later. The New Testament begins its account of Mary’s life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. Church tradition and early non-biblical writings state that her parents were an elderly couple, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The Bible records Mary’s role in key events of the life of Jesus from his conception to his Ascension. Apocryphal writings tell of her subsequent death and bodily assumption into heaven. Christians of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God and the Theotokos, literally Bearer of God. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity. Throughout the ages she has been a favorite subject in Christian art, music, and literature. There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church has a number of Marian dogmas, such as the Immaculate Conception of Mary the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Catholics refer to her as Our Lady and venerate her as the Queen of Heaven and Mother of the Church; most Protestants do not share these beliefs. Many Protestants see a minimal role for Mary within Christianity, based on the brevity of biblical references. Romanos III Argyros , or Romanus III Argyrus (Greek: , Rmanos III Argyros ; 968 – 11 April 1034), was Byzantine emperor from 15 November 1028 until his death. Romanos Argyros was the son of an unnamed member of the Argyros family, who may be identifiable with the Pothos Argyros who defeated a Magyar raid in 958 (identified by some scholars with an older namesake) or with Eustathios Argyros, known only for commissioning a poem in honour of Romanos II in 950. Romanos’ father was the son of another Romanos Argyros, who had married Agatha, a daughter of Romanos I Lekapenos r. Romanos had several siblings: Basil Argyros, who served as general and governor under Basil II r. Romanos was born in 968. Romanos served as krites (judge) in Opsikion, with the rank of protospatharios. In this capacity he persecuted heretics at Akmoneia. He was then promoted to the post of quaestor , and became one of the judges of the Hippodrome. In this role he is mentioned in the Peira , a compendium of legal decisions compiled by the notable jurist Eustathios Rhomaios. He was promoted further to the rank of patrikios and the post of oikonomos (steward) of the Great Church, while continuing to preside over a tribunal. At the time of the death of Basil II’s successor, Emperor Constantine VIII, in 1028, he held the post of urban prefect of Constantinople. Romanos attracted the attention of Constantine VIII, who forced him to divorce his wife (sending her into a monastery) and to marry the emperor’s daughter Zoe Porphyrogenita. The marriage took place on 12 November 1028, and three days later Constantine VIII died, leaving Romanos III as emperor. The new emperor showed great eagerness to make his mark as a ruler, but was mostly unfortunate in his enterprises. He spent large sums upon new buildings and in endowing the monks. His endeavour to relieve the pressure of taxation disorganized the finances of the state. Idealizing Marcus Aurelius, Romanos aspired to be a new “philosopher king”, and similarly desired to imitate the military prowess of Trajan. Romanus Argyrus coat of arms. In 1030 he resolved to lead a large army in person against the Mirdasids of Aleppo. But by encamping his army in a waterless site and allowing his scouting party to be ambushed, he sustained a serious defeat at Azaz, near Antioch. Despite Romanos’ tragic defeat, the Emir of Aleppo opened negotiations and signed a treaty which made Aleppo an Imperial tributary and allowed for a Greek governor to preside over the city. In 1032, the capture and successful defence of Edessa by George Maniakes and the sound defeat of a Saracen fleet in the Adriatic did little to improve Romanos’ early popularity. The murder of Romanos III Argyros in a bath, from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes. In a vain attempt to reduce expenditure, Romanos limited his wife’s expenses, which merely exacerbated the alienation between the two. At home Romanos III faced several conspiracies, mostly centered on his sister-in-law Theodora, as in 1029 and 1030. Although he survived these attempts on the throne, his death on 11 April 1034 was supposed to have been due to poison administered by his wife, though there is also speculation that he was drowned in a bath on his wife’s orders. He was buried in the Church of St. Mary Peribleptos, which he built. By his first wife Helena, Romanos III Argyros had a daughter, who was engaged to Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. He had no children by his second wife Zoe. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. Additionally, the coin is inside it’s own protective coin flip (holder), with a 2×2 inch description of the coin matching the individual number on the COA. Whether your goal is to collect or give the item as a gift, coins presented like this could be more prized and valued higher than items that were not given such care and attention to. When should I leave feedback? Please don’t leave any negative feedbacks, as it happens sometimes that people rush to leave feedback before letting sufficient time for their order to arrive. The matter of fact is that any issues can be resolved, as reputation is most important to me. My goal is to provide superior products and quality of service. How and where do I learn more about collecting ancient coins? Visit the Guide on How to Use My Store. For on an overview about using my store, with additional information and links to all other parts of my store which may include educational information on topics you are looking for. The item “ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911″ is in sale since Sunday, January 28, 2018. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Byzantine (300-1400 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Certification Number: 5086780109
  • Certification: ICG
  • Grade: AU58
  • Culture: Byzantine
  • Era: Byzantine

ROMANUS III ARGYROS Ancient 1028AD GOLD Byzantine Coin w JESUS & MARY NGC i66911
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
Authentic Ancient Coin of. Assassin of Julius Caesar. Gold Propaganda Coin with Obverse of his silver Coin from 54 B. With his famous ancestor L. Brutus Struck under: Dynast of Thrace: Koson Gold Stater 21mm (8.26 grams) Struck After 44 B. Reference: RPC 1701; BMC Thrace pg. 208, 2; BMCRR II pg. 474, 48 Certification: NGC Ancients. MS Strike: 5/5 Surface: 4/5 4244496-010 KO , Roman consul accompanied by two lictors; BR monogram to left Eagle standing left on sceptre, holding wreath. Koson: Golden Ally of Brutus. Marcus Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus left for Greece in August of 44 BC, having failed to win popular support at Rome following the assassination of Caesar. In the next two years the tyrannicides collected an immense war chest as they assembled their forces for the contest against Antony and Octavian. The historian Appian Bell. 75 tells us that L. Brutus struck from the treasures consigned to him by Polemocratia, the widow of the Thracian dynast Sadalas. Although the identity of the “Koson” named on the coins remains uncertain, the coinage in his name must be the coinage of L. Brutus described by Appian. The obverse depicts the great consul L. Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins from Rome in 509 BC, accompanied by two lictors bearing axes. The design is copied from the denarius issued by M. Junius Brutus when he was a moneyer in 54 BC (Crawford 433/1). The reverse, an eagle standing on a sceptre and holding a victory wreath, was evidently a standard type at Rome and occurs on the coinage of Q. Pomponius Rufus (Crawford 398/1). The monogram is to be read as BR or LBR Brutus or L. The designs express Brutus’ propaganda in the civil war perfectly: the obverse represents the historic fight against tyranny, and the reverse represents the victorious Roman eagle. Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar’s assassins. Prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome had been ruled by kings. Brutus led the revolt that overthrew the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin’s son Sextus Tarquinius. The account is from Livy’s Ab urbe condita and deals with a point in the history of Rome prior to reliable historical records (virtually all prior records were destroyed by the Gauls when they sacked Rome under Brennus in 390 BC or 387 BC). Overthrow of the Monarchy. Lucius Iunius Brutus, on right. Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy. Brutus was the son of Tarquinia, daughter of Rome’s fifth king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and sister to Rome’s seventh king Tarquinius Superbus. According to Livy, Brutus had a number of grievances against his uncle the king, amongst them was the fact that Tarquin had put to death a number of the chief men of Rome, including Brutus’ brother. Brutus avoided the distrust of Tarquin’s family by feigning slow-wittedness (in Latin brutus translates to dullard). He accompanied Tarquin’s sons on a trip to the Oracle of Delphi. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The Oracle responded the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted “mother” to mean the Earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the ground. Brutus, along with Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, Publius Valerius Publicola, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus were summoned by Lucretia to Collatia after she had been raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king Tarquinius Superbus. Lucretia, believing that the rape dishonored her and her family, committed suicide by stabbing herself with a dagger after telling of what had befallen her. According to legend, Brutus grabbed the dagger from Lucretia’s breast after her death and immediately shouted for the overthrow of the Tarquins. The four men gathered the youth of Collatia, then went to Rome where Brutus, being at that time Tribunus Celerum , summoned the people to the forum and exhorted them to rise up against the king. The people voted for the deposition of the king, and the banishment of the royal family. Brutus, leaving Lucretius in command of the city, proceeded with armed men to the Roman army then camped at Ardea. The king, who had been with the army, heard of developments at Rome, and left the camp for the city before Brutus’ arrival. The army received Brutus as a hero, and the king’s sons were expelled from the camp. Tarquinius Superbus, meanwhile, was refused entry at Rome, and fled with his family into exile. The Oath of Brutus. According to Livy, Brutus’ first act after the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was to bring the people to swear an oath never to allow any man again to be king in Rome. Omnium primum avidum novae libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis regiis posset, iure iurando adegit neminem Romae passuros regnare. First of all, by swearing an oath that they would suffer no man to rule Rome, it forced the people, desirous of a new liberty, not to be thereafter swayed by the entreaties or bribes of kings. This is, fundamentally, a restatement of the’private oath’ sworn by the conspirators to overthrow the monarchy. Castissimum ante regiam iniuriam sanguinem iuro, vosque, di, testes facio me L. Tarquinium Superbum cum scelerata coniuge et omni liberorum stirpe ferro igni quacumque dehinc vi possim exsecuturum, nec illos nec alium quemquam regnare Romae passurum. There is no scholarly agreement that the oath took place; it is reported, although differently, by Plutarch (Poplicola , 2) and Appian B. Brutus and Lucretia’s bereaved husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, were elected as the first consuls of Rome (509 BC). However, Tarquinius was soon replaced by Publius Valerius Publicola. Brutus’ first acts during his consulship, according to Livy, included administering an oath to the people of Rome to never again accept a king in Rome (see above) and replenishing the number of senators to 300 from the principal men of the equites. During his consulship the royal family made an attempt to regain the throne, firstly by their ambassadors seeking to subvert a number of the leading Roman citizens in the Tarquinian conspiracy. Amongst the conspirators were two brothers of Brutus’ wife Vitellia, and Brutus’ two sons, Titus Junius Brutus and Tiberius Junius Brutus. The conspiracy was discovered and the consuls determined to punish the conspirators with death. Brutus gained respect for his stoicism in watching the execution of his own sons, even though he showed emotion during the punishment. Tarquin again sought to retake the throne soon after at the Battle of Silva Arsia, leading the forces of Tarquinii and Veii against the Roman army. Valerius led the infantry, and Brutus led the cavalry. Aruns, the king’s son, led the Etruscan cavalry. The cavalry first joined battle and Aruns, having spied from afar the lictors, and thereby recognizing the presence of a consul, soon saw that Brutus was in command of the cavalry. The two men, who were cousins, charged each other, and speared each other to death. The infantry also soon joined the battle, the result being in doubt for some time. The right wing of each army was victorious, the army of Tarquinii forcing back the Romans, and the Veientes being routed. However the Etruscan forces eventually fled the field, the Romans claiming the victory. The surviving consul, Valerius, after celebrating a triumph for the victory, held a funeral for Brutus with much magnificence. The Roman noblewomen mourned him for one year, for his vengeance of Lucretia’s violation. Brutus in literature and art. The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by David, 1789. Lucius Junius Brutus is quite prominent in English literature, and he was quite popular among British and American Whigs. A reference to L. Brutus is in the following lines from Shakespeare’s play The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar , (Cassius to Marcus Brutus, Act 1, Scene 2). O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooktTh’eternal devil to keep his state in RomeAs easily as a king. One of the main charges of the senatorial faction that plotted against Julius Caesar after he had the Roman Senate declare him dictator for life, was that he was attempting to make himself a king, and a co-conspirator Cassius, enticed Brutus’ direct descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, to join the conspiracy by referring to his ancestor. Brutus is a leading character in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece and in Nathaniel Lee’s Restoration tragedy (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country. In The Mikado , Nanki-poo refers to his father as “the Lucius Junius Brutus of his race”. The memory of L. Brutus also had a profound impact on Italian patriots, including those who established the ill-fated Roman Republic in February 1849. Brutus was a hero of republicanism during the Enlightenment and Neoclassical periods. In 1789, at the dawn of the French Revolution, master painter Jacques-Louis David publicly exhibited his politically charged masterwork, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons , to great controversy. Marcus Junius Brutus (early June, 85 BC – late October, 42 BC), often referred to as Brutus , was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later Julius Caesar’s mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father, despite Caesar’s being only 15 years old when Brutus was born. Brutus’ uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him in about 59 BC, and Brutus was known officially for a time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before he reverted to using his birth-name. Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, Brutus revived his adoptive name in order to illustrate his links to another famous tyrannicide, Gaius Servilius Ahala, from whom he was descended. Brutus held his uncle in high regard and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus. From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar. When civil war broke out in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his old enemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. When the Battle of Pharsalus began, Caesar ordered his officers to take Brutus prisoner if he gave himself up voluntarily, and if he persisted in fighting against capture, to let him alone and do him no violence. After the disaster of the Battle of Pharsalus, Brutus wrote to Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him. Caesar then accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated Brutus to serve as urban praetor for the following year. Also, in June 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato’s daughter. According to Cicero the marriage caused a semi-scandal as Brutus failed to state a valid reason for his divorce from Claudia other than he wished to marry Porcia. The marriage also caused a rift between Brutus and his mother, who resented the affection Brutus had for Porcia. Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC). Main article: Assassination of Julius Caesar. Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. Around this time, many senators began to fear Caesar’s growing power following his appointment as dictator for life. Brutus was persuaded into joining the conspiracy against Caesar by the other senators. Eventually, Brutus decided to move against Caesar after Caesar’s king-like behavior prompted him to take action. His wife was the only woman privy to the plot. The conspirators planned to carry out their plot on the Ides of March (March 15) that same year. On that day, Caesar was delayed going to the Senate because his wife, Calpurnia Pisonis, tried to convince him not to go. The conspirators feared the plot had been found out. Brutus persisted, however, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and allegedly still chose to remain even when a messenger brought him news that would otherwise have caused him to leave. When Caesar finally did come to the Senate, they attacked him. Publius Servilius Casca Longus was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked. However, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate. The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand and in the legs. After the assassination, the Senate passed an amnesty on the assassins. This amnesty was proposed by Caesar’s friend and co-consul Marcus Antonius. Nonetheless, uproar among the population caused Brutus and the conspirators to leave Rome. Brutus settled in Crete from 44 to 42 BC. In 43 BC, after Octavian received his consulship from the Roman Senate, one of his first actions was to have the people that had assassinated Julius Caesar declared murderers and enemies of the state. Marcus Tullius Cicero, angry at Octavian, wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that the forces of Octavian and Marcus Antonius were divided. Antonius had laid siege to the province of Gaul, where he wanted a governorship. In response to this siege, Octavian rallied his troops and fought a series of battles in which Antonius was defeated. Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Upon hearing that neither Antonius nor Octavian had an army big enough to defend Rome, Brutus rallied his troops, which totaled about 17 legions. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he made peace with Antonius. Their armies, which together totaled about 19 legions, marched to meet Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The two sides met in two engagements known as the Battle of Philippi. The first was fought on October 3, 42 BC, in which Brutus defeated Octavian’s forces, although Cassius was defeated by Antonius’ forces. The second engagement was fought on October 23, 42 BC and ended in Brutus’ defeat. After the defeat, he fled into the nearby hills with only about four legions. Knowing his army had been defeated and that he would be captured, Brutus committed suicide. Among his last words were, according to Plutarch, By all means must we fly; not with our feet, however, but with our hands. Brutus also uttered the well-known verse calling down a curse upon Antonius (Plutarch repeats this from the memoirs of Publius Volumnius): Forget not, Zeus, the author of these crimes (in the Dryden translation this passage is given as Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills). Plutarch wrote that, according to Volumnius, Brutus repeated two verses, but Volumnius was only able to recall the one quoted. Antonius, as a show of great respect, ordered Brutus’ body to be wrapped in Antonius’ most expensive purple mantle (this was later stolen and Antonius had the thief executed). Brutus was cremated, and his ashes were sent to his mother, Servilia Caepionis. His wife Porcia was reported to have committed suicide upon hearing of her husband’s death, although, according to Plutarch (Brutus 53 para 2), there is some dispute as to whether this is the case: Plutarch states that there is a letter in existence that was allegedly written by Brutus mourning the manner of her death. 85 BC: Brutus was born in Rome to Marcus Junius Brutus The Elder and Servilia Caepionis. 58 BC: He was made assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus which helped him start his political career. 53 BC: He was given the quaestorship in Cilicia. 49 BC: Brutus followed Pompey to Greece during the civil war against Caesar. 48 BC: Brutus was pardoned by Caesar. 46 BC: He was made governor of Gaul. 45 BC: He was made Praetor. 44 BC: Murdered Caesar with other liberatores; went to Athens and then to Crete. 42 BC: Battle with Marcus Antonius’s forces. This was the noblest Roman of them all: All the conspirators save only he Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; He only, in a general honest thought And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle, and the elements So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world This was a man! William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar , Act 5, Scene 5 (Mark Antony). The phrase Sic semper tyrannis! Thus, ever (or always), to tyrants! Is attributed to Brutus at Caesar’s assassination. The phrase is also the official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, claimed to be inspired by Brutus. Booth’s father, Junius Brutus Booth, was named for Brutus, and Booth (as Marcus Antonius) and his brother (as Brutus) had performed in a production of Julius Caesar in New York just six months before the assassination. On the night of the assassination, Booth is alleged to have shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” while leaping to the stage of Ford’s Theater. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for… Booth was also known to be greatly attracted to Caesar himself, having played both Brutus and Caesar upon various stages. The well-known phrase Et tu, Brute? Is famous as Caesar’s utterance in the play Julius Caesar, although it is not his last words, and the sources describing Caesar’s death disagree about what his last words were. In Dante’s Inferno , Brutus is one of three people deemed sinful enough to be chewed in one of the three mouths of Satan, in the very center of Hell, for all eternity. The other two are Cassius, who was Brutus’s fellow conspirator and Judas Iscariot (Canto XXXIV). Dante condemned these three in the afterlife for being Treacherous Against Their Masters and enemies of the King/Emperor. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar depicts Caesar’s assassination by Brutus and his accomplices, and the murderers’ subsequent downfall. In the final scene, Marcus Antonius describes Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all”, for he was the only conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. In the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough, Brutus is portrayed as a timid intellectual who hates Caesar for personal reasons, foremost of them the fact that his marriage arrangement with Caesar’s daughter, Julia, whom Brutus deeply loved, was dissolved in Caesar’s political gamble to give his daughter’s hand to Pompey to cement with him an alliance. Cassius and Trebonius use him as a figurehead because of his family connections, and his descendence from the founder of the Republic. He appears in Fortune’s Favourites , Caesar’s Women , Caesar and The October Horse. Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar. In the TV series Rome , Brutus, portrayed by Tobias Menzies, is depicted as a young man torn between what he believes is right, and his loyalty and love of a man who has been like a father to him. In the series, his personality and motives are accurate but Brutus’ relationship to Cassius and Cato is not mentioned, and his three sisters and wife Porcia are omitted from the series completely. Brutus is an occasional supporting character in Asterix comics, most notably Asterix and Son in which he is the main antagonist. The character appears in the live Asterix film adaptations – though briefly in the first two – Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (played by Didier Cauchy) and Asterix at the Olympic Games. In the latter film, he is portrayed as a comical villain by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde: he is a central character to the film, even though he was not depicted in the original Asterix at the Olympic Games comic book. Following sources cited in Plutarch, he is implied in that film to be Julius Caesar’s biological son. The Hives’ song “B is for Brutus” contains titular and lyrical references to Junius Brutus. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c. 509 BC, and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period. The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy (the patricians), and other talented Romans who were not from famous families, the plebeians. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the early history of the kingdom. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. During the first two centuries, the Republic saw its territory expand from central Italy to the entire Mediterranean world. In the next century, Rome grew to dominate North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, and what is now southern France. During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, it grew to dominate the rest of modern France, as well as much of the east. At this point, the republican political machinery was replaced with imperialism. The precise event which signaled the end of the Roman Republic and the transition into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Towards the end of the period a selection of Roman leaders came to so dominate the political arena that they exceeded the limitations of the Republic as a matter of course. Historians have variously proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator in 44 BC, the defeat of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the Roman Senate’s grant of extraordinary powers to Octavian (Augustus) under the first settlement in 27 BC, as candidates for the defining pivotal event ending the Republic. Many of Rome’s legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and the rest of the world by modern nation state and international organizations. The Romans’ Latin language has influenced grammar and vocabulary across parts of Europe and the world. World-renowned expert numismatist, enthusiast, author and dealer in authentic ancient Greek, ancient Roman, ancient Byzantine, world coins & more. Ilya Zlobin is an independent individual who has a passion for coin collecting, research and understanding the importance of the historical context and significance all coins and objects represent. Send me a message about this and I can update your invoice should you want this method. Getting your order to you, quickly and securely is a top priority and is taken seriously here. Great care is taken in packaging and mailing every item securely and quickly. What is a certificate of authenticity and what guarantees do you give that the item is authentic? You will be very happy with what you get with the COA; a professional presentation of the coin, with all of the relevant information and a picture of the coin you saw in the listing. 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The item “Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697″ is in sale since Sunday, August 19, 2018. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ Ancient\Greek (450 BC-100 AD)”. The seller is “highrating_lowprice” and is located in Rego Park, New York. This item can be shipped worldwide.
  • Coin Type: Ancient
  • Certification Number: 4244496-010
  • Certification: NGC
  • Grade: MS
  • Composition: Gold
  • Culture: Greek

Brutus Julius Caesar Roman Assassin 44BC Ancient Greek GOLD Coin NGC MS i71697
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