They Killed Julius Caesar. Then Put It on a Coin.

Julius Caesar's assassins claimed they had freed Rome. The dictator was dead. Why wasn't the Roman Republic restored? Beginning with Brutus' EID MAR coin, this documentary investigates what survived the Ides of March: Caesar's laws, his veterans, his political name, and the interests tied to his rule. Follow the Senate's compromise, Cicero's troubled letters, Caesar's funeral and will, and Octavian's rise. The story continues through the Second Triumvirate and Philippi to Augustus, tracing why the assassination of March 15, 44 BCE could not repair a Republic already weakened by decades of conflict. HISTORICAL APPROACH The coin presents a political claim. Cicero offers a contemporary but partisan perspective. Suetonius and Appian wrote much later. This episode weighs those differences when examining motives, famous last words, and accounts of Caesar's funeral. Visuals: comic-book reconstructions and editorial illustrations. Subscribe to The Big Pangea for history explored through evidence, human choices, and their consequences. SOURCES & FURTHER READING • [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — EID MAR coin](https://www.mfa.org/entry/2016/eid-ma... the daggers, liberty cap, and political message of Brutus' coin. • [Cicero — Letters to Atticus, Book XIV](https://www.attalus.org/cicero/atticu..., especially 4 and 9–12: letters from April 44 BCE documenting his reaction to the aftermath. • [Suetonius — Life of Julius Caesar, 82–85](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/... the assassination, Caesar's will, and the funeral in a later ancient account. • [Appian — Civil Wars, Book II, 126–148](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/... political negotiations and public reaction after Caesar's death. • [Appian — Civil Wars, Book IV, 2–11](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/... the Second Triumvirate and the proscriptions. • [Augustus — Res Gestae, 34](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/... Augustus' own presentation of his settlement and authority. #JuliusCaesar #AncientRome #RomanRepublic