page_title: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus / Biography / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. Albinus Bruti f. 48 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 3.92 g, 6h). Rome mint. Bare head of the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus right / ALBINV BRVTI • F in two lines within wreath of grain ears. Crawford 450/3b; CRI 27; Sydenham 943a; Postumia 14. Good VF, bluish toning, die break on ear, banker’s mark below nose. From the Goldman Roman Imperatorial Collection.
context_page_description: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was a Roman general and politician of the late republican period and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination. He had previously been an important supporter of Caesar in the Gallic Wars and in the civil war against Pompey. Decimus Brutus is not to be confused with his distant cousin and fellow conspirator Marcus Junius Brutus, though he often is.
context_section_description: Decimus was the natural son of Decimus Junius Brutus, who was consul in 77 BC. His mother was in the past assumed to have been Sempronia, who was the wife of Decimus' father in all surviving records, but historian Ronald Syme has proposed that Decimus' father may have been married to another woman before Sempronia, a Postumia who could have been a sister of the wife of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, since Decimus and Rufus' son were described as cousins.
  Decimus was perhaps adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus, who is only known as triumvir monetalis in 81 BC. The reason for adoption was the early death of Aulus' son. The Postumii Albini were a distinguished patrician family, prominent from the beginning of the Republic (its first member was Aulus Postumius Albus who won the legendary Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC), but would have become extinct without this adoption. 
  Despite his adoption into the Postumii, Decimus kept his own family name, only adding his adoptive father's cognomen Albinus. Syme felt this supports his assertion that Decimus' mother was a previous wife of his father and not Sempronia, as having kinship with the Postumia gens would have made it logical for Aulus Postumius Albinus to adopt him.
  On several occasions Julius Caesar expressed how he loved Decimus Brutus like a son. Syme argued that if a Brutus was the natural son of Caesar, Decimus was more likely than Marcus Brutus. Decimus was named an heir in the second degree in Caesar's will and was designated to become guardian of any child Caesar would have. Roman historian Appian interpreted this as being an adoption of Decimus by Caesar.
  Decimus Brutus spent his youth mainly in the company of Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Marcus Antonius.
caption: Denarius of Decimus Brutus minted in 48 BC. The obverse legend reads "Aulus Postumius consul", but it is unknown which one is depicted here (there were six consuls of that name). The reverse with the wreath of wheat-ears might refer to a supply of wheat ordered by this man.[3]
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1145", "Image ImageLength": "583", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:12:12 16:13:22", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6937", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "407"}