Cassius, Assassin of Caesar

CNG 108, Lot: 461. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Gaius Cassius Longinus. Proconsul, 53-51 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 15.21 g, 12h). In the name and types of Philip I Philadelphos. Diademed head of Philip I right / Zeus Nicephorus seated left; monogram of Cassius to inner left; all within wreath. McAlee 3; Prieur 3 (citing 12); RPC I 4126. EF, a few light scratches. An excellent example of this rare issue. Only three examples in CoinArchives.

Gaius Cassius Longinus took part in the campaign against Parthia that culminated in the Battle of Carrhae, one of Rome’s most humiliating military losses, where he served as quaestor to the general Marcus Licinius Crassus. When Crassus was killed in the battle, Cassius retreated to Syria with the remaining Roman army and assumed the governorship from 53-51, at which time this rare series of tetradrachms was struck. He returned to Rome in 50 BC amidst the growing conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey, choosing to serve as naval commander for the latter. Caesar eventually pardoned Cassius and even appointed him legate. This proved a fateful move, for despite Caesar’s clemency, Cassius became one of the chief architects in the plot to assassinate the dictator perpetuo in March of 44 BC. Two years later, following his defeat at Philippi, Cassius took his own life with the same dagger that he used to stab Caesar.