Julius Caesar’s Parthian Campaign: Legitimizing Strategies in Numismatic Propaganda

This paper is a study of Roman propaganda and legitimizing strategies in the late Republic. To this end, I have imagined a scenario in which Julius Caesar was not assassinated, successfully carried out his plan to invade Parthia, and upon his return, minted a coin commemorating the event. The coin’s features are enumerated in detail, and questions regarding the specific content and reasoning are raised. Justifications based on historical precedent and analysis of sources are given in the analysis of the coin’s visual vocabulary. The purpose of this study is to consider a hypothetical timeline to gain insights into our timeline and Roman coinage as a method of propaganda.