Gaius Cassius Longinus and Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. Aureus 43-42 BC, mint moving in Asia Minor. C·CASSI·IMP – LEIBERTAS Diademed head of Libertas right, wearing a necklace / Jug and lituus. In exergue, LENTVLVS - SPINT. 8,15g. Bahrfeldt 59; Biaggi 45; Calicó 65; Chastel 349; Crawford 500/2; Sear 220; Sydenham 1304. Small mark on edge on the reverse at 9 o’clock. Good extremely fine. Provenance: NAC 15 (18 May 1999), 220. Baron Lorne Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. One of the most influential senators in the Roman Senate, Cassius was, alongside Brutus, one of the leading figures in the conspiracy against Caesar. Yet Cassius, a loyal supporter of Pompey during the Civil War, had been spared by Caesar after his victory, just like Brutus, another former supporter of Pompey. Caesar’s clemency would ultimately contribute to his own downfall... Shortly after Caesar’s assassination, Cassius went to Greece, where he joined Brutus to prepare for war against Mark Antony and Octavian. To pay his army, Cassius issued coins struck in the pure Republican tradition: without his own portrait. No bust or statue survives that can tell us what Cassius looked like: Cassius seemed determined to avoid repeating the behavior of Caesar that had ultimately led to his downfall. To strike this gold, Cassius probably used either gold looted from Rhodes and Syria or contributions forcibly extracted from the wealthy cities of Asia Minor. The obverse depicts Libertas, the personification of Liberty. The assassins of Caesar called themselves the Liberatores, claiming that they had restored the freedom of the Roman people by killing the tyrant Caesar. The figure of Libertas therefore appears repeatedly on the coinage issued by the tyrannicides and served as a central symbol of their political cause. The reverse refers to Cassius’s lieutenant, who was responsible for issuing this aureus. He was a member of the college of augurs, as indicated by the lituus and the jug. This may have been a way for the tyrannicides to claim religious legitimacy - something that Mark Antony and Octavian did not possess to the same extent. In these times of civil war, it was useful to remind the Roman people that the Gods were on their side.