#divus julius

[didoofcarthage]

Denarius with head of Augustus wearing oak wreath (obverse) and comet with eight rays and inscription Divus Julius (reverse)

Roman (possibly minted at Caesaraugusta, modern Zaragoza in Spain), Imperial Period, 19-18 B.C.

silver

British Museum

[restitutor-orbis]

I only bought The Twelve Caesars just so I can stan over the Julio-Claudians. Specifically Augustus, because, you know, that man was pretty. 

[labormyego]

“Sometimes they who become great in their maturer years are thoughtful, grave, and sedate when young. It was not so, however, with Caesar. He was of a very gay and lively disposition. He was tall and handsome in his person, fascinating in his manners, and fond of society, as people always are who know or who suppose that they shine in it. He had seemed, in a word, during his residence at Rome, wholly intent upon the pleasures of a gay and joyous life, and upon the personal observation which his rank, his wealth, his agreeable manners and his position in society secured for him. In fact, they who observed and studied his character in these early years, thought that, although his situation was very favorable for acquiring power and renown, he would never feel any strong degree of ambition to avail himself of its advantages. He was too much interested, they thought, in personal pleasures ever to become great, either as a military commander or a statesman.

Sulla, however, thought differently. He had penetration enough to perceive, beneath all the gayety and love of pleasure which characterized Caesar's youthful life, the germs of a sterner and more aspiring spirit, which, he was very sorry to see, was likely to expend its future energies in hostility to him. By refusing to submit to Sulla's commands, Caesar had, in effect, thrown himself entirely upon the other party, and would be, of course, in future identified with them. Sulla consequently looked upon him now as a confirmed and settled enemy. Some friends of Caesar among the patrician families interceded in his behalf with Sulla again, after he had fled from Rome. They wished Sulla to pardon him, saying that he was a mere boy and could do him no harm. Sulla shook his head, saying that, young as he was, he saw in him indications of a future power which he thought was more to be dreaded than that of many Mariuses ...

... The Roman people erected a column to the memory of Caesar, on which they placed the inscription, ‘To THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY.’ They fixed the figure of a star upon the summit of it, and some time afterward, while the people were celebrating some games in honor of his memory, a great comet blazed for seven nights in the sky, which they recognized as the mighty hero's soul reposing in heaven.”

- Jacob Abbott, History of Julius Caesar

[tutelele]

on page 4 of suetonius’ the twelve caesars and i can already tell i’ll want to liveblog the whole thing. perez hilton who.

“Winter had already set in when he sailed for Rhodes and was captured by pirates off the island of Pharmacussa. They kept him prisoner for nearly forty days, to his intense annoyance (...) He had often smilingly sworn, while still in their power, that he would soon capture and crucify them, and this is exactly what he did.”