Ancient Roman Imperatorial - 42 BCE Julius Caesar AR Denarius NGC Choice F - L. Mussidius Longus moneyer

Divus Julius Caesar (died 44 BC). AR Denarius (3.68 gm). NGC Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5. Rome Mint, 42 BC. L. Mussidius Longus, moneyer. Obverse presents the laureate head of Julius Caesar facing right. Reverse has L MVSSIDIVS LONGVS around, cornucopiae resting on a globe between rudder on left and caduceus and apex on right. Crawford 494/39a. CRI 116. Sydenham 1096a. RSC 29.

The Senate, largely purged of the anti-Caesarians by the bloody proscriptions of the Second Triumvirate, formally deified Julius Caesar in 42 BC, thus allowing his adoptive son and heir Octavian to be considered the "son of a god." While the depiction of Caesar on this denarius of L. Mussidius Longus issued that year shows no attempt to idealize or deify him, the reverse alludes to his prowess of land and sea (rudder and globe), as well as his role as Pontifex Maximus (apex), and to the benefits he brought to the Roman people (caduceus).

Tusculum portrait, probably the one surviving sculpture of Caesar created during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy. Photo: wikipedia.

This piece was struck to honor the deification of Julius Caesar, and the later building of the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, which is located in the Roman Forum. The temple was started by Octavian in 42 BC, the date of this coin, after the Roman Senate posthumously deified Caesar. Octavian (later Augustus) dedicated the prostyle temple to Caesar, his adoptive father, on 18 August 29 BC, after conclusion of the Battle of Actium.

The temple is on the site of Caesar's cremation and where Mark Antony read aloud his testament to the fallen ruler. Caesar was the first Roman resident to be deified and thus honored with a temple. Mark Antony was the first to serve as priest of the cult of Caesar. The Temple of Caesar was the only temple to be totally dedicated to the cult of a comet. The comet was seen in the sky sometime after Caesar's murder (44 BC) and was seen to be the soul of Caesar and an omen of the "new birth" of Augustus as a unique Roman leader and emperor. In Greek and Roman culture, comet is an adjective describing distinctive attributes of a special star.