450/2. Junia (48 BC)

AR Denarius (Rome, 48 BC)

O/ Head of Pietas right; PIETAS downwards behind.

R/ Two hands clasped round caduceus; ALBINVS BRVTI F below.

Crawford 450/2 (171 obverse dies/190 reverse dies)

3.89g; 19mm

- "From a Swiss collection in Ticino, formed over the past 25 years".

- Leu Numismatik, web auktion 26 (08/07/2023), lot 3809.

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (c.85-43 BC):

Brutus Albinus belonged to the illustrious plebeian gens Junia, of the Brutii branch; the more famous Marcus Junius Brutus was therefore his cousin. He was adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus -- Consul in 99 BC alongside Marcus Antonius, grandfather of the Triumvir. His natural parents were Decimus Junius Brutus, Consul in 77 BC, and Sempronia Tuditani, who was involved in the Conspiracy of Catilina. Ronald Syme however suggested that Brutus Albinus was a natural son of Julius Caesar*, because of the affection displayed by the dictator towards him.

Indeed, Brutus Albinus closely followed Caesar in his military campaigns. He served under him in Gaul, possibly from the beginning of the war in 58 BC, notably by commanding the fleet that fought the Veneti in 55 BC, and also against Massilia in 49 BC (because the city had supported Pompey). He then became Legate Propraetor of Transalpin Gaul, where he crushed a revolt of the Bellovaci (Livy, Periochae, 114). He returned to Rome in 45 BC to receive the praetorship from his almighty protector, who also appointed him Propraetor to Cisalpin Gaul for the following year and promised him the consulship for 42.

Despite all this attention from Caesar, who had also made him one of his heirs in his will, Brutus Albinus conspired against the Dictator with his cousin Marcus. After the assassination, he went to his province in order to raise an army but was encircled by Mark Antony in Mutina. He was relieved by the intervention of Octavian and the two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, who nonetheless died in two separate battles in April 43 (Forum Gallorum and Mutina). 

After the battles, Octavian refused to give him the command of the consular legions as the Senate had ordered, because he was one of Caesar's murderers. Moreover, Brutus Albinus own troops defected to Mark Antony when he attempted to pursue him. He therefore tried to escape to Macedonia to reunite with his cousin and Cassius, but he was rapidly caught and killed by a Gallic chief allied to Mark Antony.

*"Bastards in the Roman Aristocracy", in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 104, No. 3 (Jun. 15, 1960), pp. 323-327.

Colección : Roman Republic