M. Junius Brutus, 54 BC. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.67 g, 5 h), Rome. BRVTVS Bearded head of L. Junius Brutus to right. Rev. AHALA Bearded head of C. Servilius Ahala to right. Babelon (Junia) 31. Crawford 433/2. RBW 1543. Sydenham 907. Nicely toned and unusually well centered, with two portraits of fine style. The reverse a bit weak, otherwise, about extremely fine.


Struck during M. Junius Brutus' tenure as moneyer in 54 BC, this issue shows two of his most illustrious ancestors. On the obverse, we find the image of M. Junius Brutus, Rome's legendary first consul, who supposedly expelled his uncle, Tarquinius Superbus, the last Roman king, in 509 BC, whereas the reverse portrays C. Servilius Ahala, another legendary figure from the early Roman Republic, whose fame derived from killing the would-be tyrant, Spurius Maelius, in 439 BC. With our hindsight knowledge of Brutus' role in the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44 BC, the motives shown on this coin appear almost prophetic. On the other hand, it was common practice for Rome's moneyers to portray famous ancestors on their denarii as a means of aggrandizing their family's glory in a time when social norms still rigidly prohibited the use of their own portraits.