The Ides of March, 44 BC

[strange_complex]

2050 years ago today, folks.


(If you're confused about how the maths add up, there, remember that there is no Year 0).

To mark this momentous occasion, let's see if you know more about Julius Caesar than the average first-year Ancient History student:

[Poll #947018]
Answers and explanations will be posted later today.

Comments

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

So much for my powers of observation - I've only just realized that's a Brutus coin, not a Caesar one. (And raises all sorts of interesting questions about Brutus' use of his own portrait, which was of course Caesar's innovation, and thus this coin shows Brutus buying into the idea of the personality cult that, in theory, he and the other assassins rejected when they stuck the knives in ...)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Dude, put your glasses on! It's only one of the most famous coins ever to come out of the Roman world. As this article relates (http://coins.about.com/od/famousrarecoinprofiles/p/eidmarprofile.htm), good copies can sell for over $100,000.

You're right about the portrait issue, of course. Interestingly, if you look closely, Brutus is also sporting a beard - which at this time = mourning. I'm not sure if it's meant to indicate that he mourns for the death of Caesar, but nonetheless had to do it to bring about the liberty referenced on the other side, or he's mourning generally for the condition of the state and what's happened to him and his fellow-conspirators since the assassination. Probably the former, I think, but could be either.