id Mar Denarius: Brutus’ Fatal Betrayal Coin

by Patrick
Ancient Roman Eid Mar denarius of Brutus featuring daggers and pileus cap symbolizing Caesar's assassination

3D Model available here

The Eid Mar denarius stands as one of history’s most audacious and politically charged coins, a gold testament to treachery and the violent pursuit of freedom. Struck by Marcus Junius Brutus between 43-42 BC, this legendary coin brazenly commemorates the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC).

On the obverse, Brutus boldly placed his own portrait—an ironic defiance, as Caesar’s act of featuring himself on Roman coinage had been one of the very transgressions that drove the conspirators to murder him.

The reverse bears the haunting symbols of Caesar’s brutal end: two daggers flanking a pileus cap, the ancient Roman emblem of liberty given to freed slaves. Below these symbols, the chilling inscription “EID MAR” (Eidibus Martiis) marks the exact date when Brutus and his fellow senators plunged their blades into Caesar twenty-three times, leaving the dictator dead on the Senate floor.

This denarius was more than currency—it was propaganda, a declaration that Rome had been liberated from tyranny through bloodshed. Yet history would exact its vengeance: within months of minting these coins to pay his army, Brutus met defeat at the Battle of Philippi and fell upon his own sword—reportedly the very dagger he had used to kill his former friend. The victorious Octavian and Marc Antony subsequently ordered these coins recalled and melted down, making surviving examples extraordinarily rare. making it one of Actually the Eid Mar coin is the world more expansive ancient coin​ the world more expansive ancient coin​s.

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