Junia, this celebrated Roman family was patrician under the kings, but, as it apears from coins, was regarded as plebcian under the consular government. The surnames are Brutus, Silanus, and perhaps Libo. It took its name from Junius, the companion of Aeneas, from whom, as Dion Halic. write, this family derived its origin. It took the cognomen of Brutus on account of the idiotic folly which, through fear of Tarquin, was feigned by Lucius Junius, previous to the overthrow of the monarcy, as Plutarch informs us. Of this renowned avenger of his country 's liberty upon a pround tyrant and his licentious sons, there are no coins extant of contemporaneous date; but in honour of the man who was the first consul, with his colleague Collatinus, after the expulsion of the Tarquins, the head of Lucius Junius with the inscription BRVTVS, has been placed on the obverse of a denarius belonging to the Servilia family, which bears on its obverse the naked head of Servilius AHALA.
Of the name Brutus there are also two individuals recorded on the coins of the Junia family, viz., M. Junius Brutus, likewise called Caepio, the assassin of Caesar the Dictator, and Decimus Junius Brutus, an orator ans lawyer, who each of them gained a very conspicous place in the history of their age. The coins of M. Brutus Caepio are ranged with the Imperial series. See BRVTVS
The coinage of this family, which Morell sates to consist of more than 70 varieties, exhibits an interesting type on a denarius, of which the following is a description:
LIBERTAS, head of Liberty / BRVTVS, the march of the consul (Consulis Processus) between two lictors, carrying the fasces, and preceded by a verger of usher (accensus).
Some of the silver pieces are restored by Trajan, and are rarer than the original coins.
The brass of this family are the As, or parts of the As.