Living Romans Were Forbidden From Having Their Image On A Coin. Caesar Changed That.
Julius Caesar did many unprecedented things in his life due to his thrirst for power. One of the lesser known things was that he was the first living Roman consul to ever have his likeness on a coin. This was reserved only for gods or Romans who were already dead.
Caesar used propaganda like this to exert his influence and conflate his own August(great) status.
After Caesar’s death it became commonplace for living Roman emperors to have thier faces on coins.
Image is from wildwinds.com
Somehow, I see that tale as an augur for the United States....
...I guess that means we should panic if the sitting president puts his face on money.
Yep.