Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"  (Read 841 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline cicerokid

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 1051
Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« on: September 24, 2021, 03:32:28 pm »
A large collection of rare civil war coins is coming up for sale.

For me the outstanding item is this copy of the Eid Mar type of Brutus but probably by Galba.

This plainly shows that the coin itself was famous 100 years later.

John
Timeo Danaos afferentem coronas

Offline wolfgang336

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 946
  • Aut Caesar Aut Nullus
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2021, 05:55:57 pm »
I'm curious. Why would a Caesar such as Galba use a reverse type celebrating the assassination of one of his predecessors?

Offline Thilo

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 245
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2021, 04:41:04 pm »
Maybe because his great-grandfather was one of the murderers.

Offline cicerokid

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 1051
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2021, 12:54:08 pm »
Well that maybe true...I don't know.

Hands up...I wonder how many Forum AC Roman people evr knew that the famous and much talked about Brutus Eid Mar had this apparent copy by Galba. I didn't and no one has, to me, commented in the Eid Mar Chronicles on this and any other coin sites. How rare are they compared to the common Brutus? What does the experts on Roman Imperial coinage say?  C'mon have some interest!

I was astounded when I saw it but it doesn't seem to shake barely any comment or speculation in the forums.

I know I collect the most hated type of Greek coins, but I thought that this might get a good response
Timeo Danaos afferentem coronas

Offline jskirwin

  • Praetorian
  • **
  • Posts: 55
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2021, 01:51:31 pm »
I had no clue such a coin existed. Now that I do, I'll have to add it to my must-have list.

I agree with you: this coin speaks volumes. Minted about a century after the Eid Mar and Caesar's murder, it allows us to step into the mind of the person who authorized its minting. He clearly felt affinity for the assassins, and minting a coin connects him to the leader. There must have been significant Republican sentiment at the time, because why else would he use a coin for such propaganda? I find this rather surprising given Augustus's apparent popularity.

So maybe, just maybe, Rome wasn't as pro-Julio-Claudian as the historians led us to believe.



Collecting Deification Issues in all forms.

Offline Jay GT4

  • Tribunus Plebis 2021
  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 6987
  • Leave the gun, take the Canoli!
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2021, 06:30:36 pm »
Perhaps because Nero was condemned as an enemy of the state by the Senate.  The conspirators felt the same way towards Julius Caesar.

Fascinating coin.

Offline Steve Minnoch

  • Tribunus Plebis 2007
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 2307
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2021, 02:32:44 pm »
If the legend is also read across both sides (and it appears all on one side of another related coin with shield reverse) you have a type apparently seeking the restoration of liberty by anticipating the removal of a tyrant, that tyrant obviously being Nero, at a stage where nobody seeing the coin needs to be thinking that Galba is a successor to the dictator Caesar.

It's kind of interesting that both daggers and pilei feature in Suetonius' account of the period:
Nero 57
"He met his death in the thirty-second year of his age, on the anniversary of the murder of Octavia, and such was the public rejoicing that the people put on liberty-caps and ran about all at city."

Galba 11
"To these sudden dangers was added news of Vindex’s death, which caused Galba the greatest alarm, and being now apparently bereft of support, almost precipitated his suicide. But when word from the City arrived that Nero was dead and that the people had sworn allegiance to him, he set aside the title of governor and assumed that of Caesar.

He then began his march to Rome in a general’s cloak, with a dagger, hanging from his neck, at his chest, and did not resume the toga until his main rivals had been eliminated, namely the commander of the Praetorian Guard in Rome, Nymphidius Sabinus, and the commanders in Germany and Africa, Fonteius Capito and Clodius Macer."

There's a couple of free articles covering these coins in part of the wider picture of their types, in German and French.
https://www.academia.edu/27909725/
https://www.academia.edu/45378620/

Offline cicerokid

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 1051
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2021, 05:44:16 am »


Thanks Steve!

Regards

John
Timeo Danaos afferentem coronas

Offline David Atherton

  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 4704
  • The meaning of life can be found in a coin.
    • Flavian Fanatic Blog
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2021, 05:50:44 am »
This is such a fantastic coin on many levels! Thank you so much for sharing it here.

Offline Ron C2

  • Procurator Caesaris
  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 1055
  • Qvod perierat adhvc exstat nvmmorvm
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2021, 08:08:11 am »
My suspicion is that the Romans were likely less aware (the mob. Not the educated elite) of the nuances of 100 year old history than the Senate and emperor.  I don't think Roman citizenry of the time would have equated Augustus with Julius Caesar as closely as we do today.

In my mind, the later Emperors and people likely saw Caesar as a tyrant or symbol of possible tyranny, around the time of Galba.  He was imperator and dictator, he was never a lawful emperor in the sense of Augustus and his successors.

Galba was likely pandering to popular sentiment of the moment, perhaps disavowing tyranny with this issue, a raprochement with the people and Senate when he was still cementing his claim.

I'm not sure I put any faith into Suetonius' account. It is pretty much accepted fact that Caesar was so popular and so mourned after Mark Antony's eulogy that the mob literally broke apart the funerary procession and cremated the dead dictator on their own terms in the forum by sacking the surrounding buildings for wood. Hardly the action of people wearing liberty caps and throwing a party. That sounds much more like brutonian propaganda from the ensuing civil war.
My Ancient Coin Gallery: Click here

R. Cormier, Ottawa

Offline TenthGen

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 222
  • Ferrata Fidelis Constans
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2021, 04:12:51 pm »
Quote
My suspicion is that the Romans were likely less aware (the mob. Not the educated elite) of the nuances of 100 year old history than the Senate and emperor. 

Lucius Vorenus: "Do you think Cincinnatus or Marius or even the Gracchi would demean themselves so?"
Titus Pullo: "Who??"  ???


----

I also had no idea Galba issued an Eid Mar type. I was surprised enough that I looked it up in Sear to make sure he also thought it was actually a "thing". Turns out, he did.  ;D  This would probably be up there with some of the great restoration issues of the imperial period right? Along with Marcus Aurelius reissuing the Antony Legionary Denarius type.

Offline Joe Sermarini

  • Owner, President
  • FORVM STAFF
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 12103
  • All Coins Guaranteed for Eternity.
    • FORVM ANCIENT COINS
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2021, 04:23:58 pm »
....I'm not sure I put any faith into Suetonius' account. It is pretty much accepted fact that Caesar was so popular and so mourned after Mark Antony's eulogy that the mob literally broke apart the funerary procession and cremated the dead dictator on their own terms in the forum by sacking the surrounding buildings for wood. Hardly the action of people wearing liberty caps and throwing a party. That sounds much more like brutonian propaganda from the ensuing civil war.

The account is of the death of Nero, not Julius Caesar. Nero was actually quite popular with the masses too, but perhaps the only masses outside of Rome rather than within the city. Familiarity breeds contempt, especially when deserved. 
Joseph Sermarini
Owner, President
FORVM ANCIENT COINS

Offline PMah

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 598
  • Qui risus classe devicta multas ipsi lacrimas...
Re: Civil War 68/69 CE "Eid Mar"
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2021, 07:18:47 pm »
Nero seems to have been popular due to his youth and boundary-stretching behavior.  Only the Senatorial class seem to have viewed him as vulnerable, but, of course, only they really counted.  We could take the "I, Claudius"/Suetonius view that his adoption was contrived through murder, but it may not matter. Of the Julio-Claudian emperors, only Augustus and Tiberius had personally acquired credibility -- auctoritas.  Caligula had none,  Claudius had none, but he was at least old enough to seem credible as Princeps for a few years.  Nero had none.  The Republic was dead, but Republican credential checklists were not. 
Be Well, Stay Healthy, Support your Local Numismatic Club

Paul 

My Gallery: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity