BRUTUS IDES OF MARCH DENARIUS
INSCRIPTION 
BRUT IMP L PLAET CEST
BRUT IMP L PLAET CESTON REVERSE EID MARCH. LIBERTY CAP AND TWO DAGGERS
EID MARCH. LIBERTY CAP AND TWO DAGGERSThe most famous coin in all of ancient Antiquity!
The date was March 15 44 BC and Julius Caesar was making his way through the grounds of the Forum on his way to address the Roman Senate--A speech he never made. Instead, he was attacked by a group of Senators led by Brutus. Caesar was brutally stabbed to death and his murder represents the most important single day event in ancient history.
The coin above represents that colossal event. The Ides of March coin was minted by Brutus to celebrate his claim of securing the liberty and freedom of the Roman people (the liberty cap). On the reverse of the coin it shows the murder instruments (two daggers) and the date of the assassination(eid march---March 15th). However, most historians reject the claim by Brutus that he was acting only in the interest of saving the Republic from rule by a single dictator.
The proof of that is on the very coin Brutus minted---On the front of the coin Brutus gives himself the title IMP(Imperator) which means emperor. The very same title Caesar had taken and that Brutus had supposedly murdered him for in order to save the Republic. Also Brutus had his portrait placed on the coin which was considered a sacrilege. Until Caesar had placed his own portrait on a coin a few years earlier, no living Roman was ever depicted on a coin because it was understood that no single individual was greater than the Republic.
There is barely a person living in the Western world who doesn't know the words written by William Shakespeare, "Et Tu, Brute" (And You, Brutus)or the words Eid Mar(Beware the Ides of March) inscribed on the reverse of the coin. On this coin, Brutus not only commemorates the act and the day that he saved the Republic, but he also contradicts the meaning and spirit of his actions by placing his portrait on the obverse and saluting himself as emperor.
Less than two years after the assassination of Caesar, Brutus was defeated at the battle of Philippi by Marc Anthony ending his conflicting dreams of both saving the Republic and becoming emperor. After his defeat Brutus committed suicide with the same dagger he had used to kill Caesar with.
