Liberalia: Julius Caesar’s funeral and Resurrection
by DIVVS·IVLIVS
The Resurrection of Julius Caesar
on the day of the Liberalia
On Friday, 17 March 44 BCE, the day of the
Liberalia, the festival of Liber Pater (Bacchus/Dionysus), Julius Caesar received his state funeral and resurrected as god by the will of the people. A wax effigy of his slain body was presented, raised above the bier, at the exact spot where a cruciform
tropaeum stood, and was then rotated for the attending crowd.
The image above shows a reconstruction of Caesar’s
simulacrum on the cross from the available archaeological sources. In the context of the Liberalia this cross was not (as usually) only a Roman victory cross, but especially needs to be seen as a liturgical prop commonly found in the rituals of Dionysian festivals. The tropaeum is taken from one of the many Caesarian coins that display Caesar’s
tropaea, while the effigy is from a
denarius by Caesar’s moneyer Buca, a coin that represented the imagery used at Caesar’s funeral, including his effigy as the legendary shepherd/king Endymion.
Liberalia: Julius Caesar’s funeral and Resurrection
