On Caesar's coinage in 48BC
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Date
2010-01
Authors
Woods, David
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Editions Latomus
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Abstract
Julius Caesar's second issue of coinage in 48BC during his civil-war with Pompey consisted of an aureus, three slightly different varieties of denarius, and a quinarius, all displaying the same basic reverse-type, the legend CAESAR across a trophy. As for the obverse, the aureus and the denarii display the same female head, while the quinarius displays a different female head. In each case, however, the only obverse-legend consists of three letters or numerals at the back of the neck, usually read LII, the number 52 in Roman numerals, where what looks like a reversed letter T is read as the older form of the numeral L. This has traditionally been interpreted in reference to the age of Caesar at the date of issue. This paper argues that this obverse-legend is to be read as IIT, the 3rd person singular of the perfect tense of the verb ire 'to go/advance'. The reverse- and obverse- legends are intended to be read together here as a pure perfect, CAESAR IIT, meaning 'Caesar advances'.
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Woods, D., 2010. On Caesar's coinage in 48BC. Latomus, 69(1), pp.38-42.