January 20th, 2025, was the second inauguration of Donald Trump, and it was, of course, not without controversy. What was not controversial, but probably taken for granted, was that we could all watch it live. This isn't a revolutionary statement, but it is a relative novelty. Think about inauguration day before the advent of the internet. Before streaming, everyone had to watch on television. Before TV, people could listen on the radio. Before radio, you had to read about it in a local newspaper.
But what happened before newspaper? What happened during Bible times? What would you do if you were the newly installed Emperor of Rome and you needed everyone to know it? You minted new money, of course!
Coins are one of the most interesting artifacts that you can find in archaeology. They are enduring artifacts often made of metal. This means that they are much more likely to survive intact from antiquity. They are also artifacts that are directly tied to world events. Just as the United States minted bicentennial quarters in 1976, Roman emperors minted new coins to celebrate the important events in their reign. Consider the following examples:
The Denarius of Julius Caesar
The Denarius of Julius Caesar is a rare coin minted in roughly 44 B.C. The most significant thing about this particular coin is that it ushered in the practice of using money for the emperor's personal agenda. Julius Caesar himself appears on the front. Before this, no other coin in the Roman empire had ever featured a mortal.
Julius Caesar was beloved by the people but pushed a radical agenda concerning himself. Since previous coins featured gods and goddesses of the Roman pantheon, putting his image on the front would have been considered presumptuous at best. However, these bold acts of self-glorification only seemed to bother the Roman elites. The people, by and large, accepted Caesar, and he enjoyed a high ‘approval rating.’
The denarius also featured the crown of victory on Caesar's head and an udder, globe, cornucopia, caduceus, and apex (priest's cap) on the back. Of these, the priest's cap is most significant for bible believers. The rulers of Rome had an established function of being involved in religious affairs, and an association with a priestly object would not have been misplaced. Julius Caesar took this to a new level, attempting to take on more and more deific qualities.
His nephew Augustus, who ultimately assumed power, claimed to have witnessed a comet during festivities dedicated to his uncle and adopted father. He declared the comet was a sign of Julius Caesar's post-mortem deification, thus making Augustus himself the son of a god. These events were the beginnings of the emperor cult worship that ultimately took complete form in the second century A.D. as each successive emperor ordered the worship of himself as lord and deity.
The Denarius of Brutus
One of the rarest and most interesting coins from Roman times is the Denarius of Brutus. Brutus and his coconspirators are most famous for their assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15th, 44 B.C. Brutus commissioned this coin to commemorate the event. On the face, it pictures himself, and on the obverse, there are two daggers on either side of a pileus cap. The inscription Eid Mar is also found on the back.
Although exact reasons are debated as to why this coin was minted, the choice of symbols and inscriptions tells us much about what Brutus was trying to communicate.
First, there are the daggers. Although there is some debate, most scholars believe that the assassination of Julius Caesar was very unpopular with the people. The members of the senate thought that Julius Caesar had declared himself king when he claimed to be emperor for life (a symbol that was political suicide … literally!). Brutus is telling the world that he murdered Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (the Eid Mar).
Brutus's rationale for the assassination is found in the pileus cap. This cap was a symbol of freedom. It was traditionally given to slaves who received their freedom. Brutus is spinning the narrative. Although the people didn't like it, Brutus is trying to tell them that he freed them from slavery through force.
Although there are many more examples of coins, these two give us a window into the political climate at the time of the Emperors of Rome. They wanted to proclaim their agenda through inscriptions and minting new money.
The Priene Calendar Inscription
One more artifact is worth mentioning in this discussion; not a coin, but an inscription. It is known as the Priene Calendar Inscription. Found in Priene (imagine that), a town in western Turkey, this inscription is a decree by a proconsul announcing a change in the calendar. In part, the inscription reads:
"'Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him,' which Asia resolved in Smyrna."
This inscription is significant because of one word familiar to us in the New Testament. Another way to translate the last sentence is "the beginning of the gospel for the world." Gospel. It is a word that only had one meaning for over a millennium, but what was it before the apostles started writing?
If you will allow me to borrow our modern language, the Priene inscription is the inauguration of Augustus. He claims a gospel with three points. 1. That he was ordained by the god providence 2. That he is the savior of "us and for our descendants." 3. That he is a god himself.
He was not the only emperor to use this term, so think about what Jesus, recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, was doing with his language. There is another gospel. A gospel about a kingdom that is not earthly. This gospel was brought to us by the son of God. This gospel was of a savior. This gospel was about a man who was God himself.
What about today? Although not called by name, there is a gospel that the world is trying to sell. It is the gospel of self-fulfillment. The you-do-you movement. Who do you trust as your savior? Is it the Lord of heaven and earth, or is it the Lord of self-will?
Hebrews 1-2 talks about the "inauguration" of Jesus Christ, who ascended and is now on his throne. Quoting from Psalm 8, the writer says:
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” (Heb 2:6-8)
Jesus’s gospel and Lordship is the one true inauguration. Think then about what Peter and John say in Acts 4:11-12, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The same remains true for us regardless of what other men claim.
Works Referenced:
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/5588/denarius-coin-portraying-julius-caesar
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1860-0328-124
https://www.bibelhaus-frankfurt.de/en/bimumag/the-special-object/calendar-inscription-from-priene
Evans, Craig A. (2000). "Mark's Incipit and the Priene Calendar Inscription: From Jewish Gospel to Greco-Roman Gospel" (PDF). Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism. 1: 67–81. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
By Adolf Deissmann - Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59893630
