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Julius Caesar

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Julius Caesar

Uploaded by

mcdonaldtawoneyi2
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Gaius Julius Caesar

- Gaius Julius Caesar was born on or around July 13, 100 B.C., to
his father, also named Gaius Julius Caesar, and his mother
Aurelia Cotta.
- Caesar traced his bloodline to the origins of Rome and
claimed to be a descendant of the goddess Venus through
the Trojan prince Aeneas and his son Iulus.
- Despite his allegedly noble heritage, however, Caesar’s family
was not wealthy or particularly influential in Roman politics.

Did you know? Unlike in the Shakespeare play, Caesar's last


words were not "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?"). Instead they
were reported as "You, too, my child?"

- After his father died suddenly in 85 B.C., Caesar became head


of his family at age 16—right in the middle of a civil
war between his uncle Marius and the Roman ruler Lucius
Cornelius Sulla.
- In 84 B.C., he married Cornelia, the daughter of an ally of
Marius.
- Caesar and Cornelia had one child, a daughter named Julia.
- In 82 B.C., Sulla won the civil war and ordered Caesar to
divorce Cornelia.
- Caesar refused and went into hiding.
- His family intervened and convinced Sulla to spare Caesar’s
life; however, Sulla stripped Caesar of his inheritance.
- Despite the reprieve, Caesar left Rome, joined the army and
earned the prestigious Civic Crown for his courage at the
Siege of Mytilene in 80 B.C.
- After Sulla’s death in 78 B.C., Caesar returned to Rome and
became a successful prosecutor widely known for his oratory
skills.

Pirates Capture Caesar


- In 75 B.C., as he crossed the Aegean Sea in route to Rhodes to
study philosophy and oratory, murderous pirates captured
Caesar.
- Reportedly, Caesar acted more like a domineering leader with
the pirates than their captive.
- After his ransom was paid, the pirates let him go.
- But Caesar hired a private fleet to hunt them down and had
the pirates crucified for their crimes.

Political Rise
- Caesar soon began his political career in earnest.
- He became military tribune and then quaestor of a Roman
province in 69 B.C., the same year his wife Cornelia died.
- In 67 B.C., he married Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla and
relative of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), with
whom he formed an important alliance.
- In 65 B.C., Caesar became aedile—an important Roman
magistrate—and produced lavish games in the Circus
Maximus which endeared him to the public but threw him
heavily into debt.
- Two years later, he was elected Pontifex Maximus.
- Caesar divorced Pompeia in 62 B.C. after a politician incited a
major scandal by disguising himself as a woman and making
his way into a sacred women’s festival hosted by Pompeia.

The First Triumvirate


- One year later, Caesar became governor of Spain.
- A series of successful military and political maneuvers, along
with the support of Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus
(known as the richest man in Rome), helped Caesar get
elected as senior Roman consul in 59 B.C.
- Caesar, Crassus and Pompey soon formed an informal alliance
(strengthened by the marriage of Caesar’s daughter Julia to
Pompey) known as the First Triumvirate.
- The union terrified the Roman Senate who knew that a
partnership between three such powerful men would prove
unstoppable.
- They were right, and the triumvirate soon controlled Rome.

Caesar in Gaul
- Caesar was appointed governor of the vast region of Gaul
(north-central Europe) in 58 B.C., where he commanded a
large army.
- During the subsequent Gallic Wars, Caesar conducted a series
of brilliant campaigns to conquer and stabilize the region,
earning a reputation as a formidable and ruthless military
leader.
- Caesar built a bridge across the Rhine River into Germanic
territories and crossed the English Channel into Britain.
- But his great successes in the region caused Pompey to resent
him and complicated the already-strained relationship
between Pompey and Crassus.
- As Caesar conquered Gaul, the political situation in Rome
became increasingly volatile, with Pompey its lone consul.
- As Caesar conquered Gaul, the political situation in Rome
became increasingly volatile, with Pompey its lone consul.
- Caesar refused and, in a bold and decisive maneuver, directed
his army to cross the Rubicon River into Italy, triggering a civil
war between his supporters and those of Pompey.
- Caesar and his armies pursued Pompey to Spain, Greece and,
finally, Egypt.
Julius Caesar and Cleopatra
- Hoping to prevent Caesar from invading Egypt, the child
pharaoh Ptolemy VIII had Pompey killed on September 28, 48
B.C.
- When Caesar entered Egypt, Ptolemy gifted him Pompey’s
severed head.
- Caesar soon found himself in the middle of a civil war between
Ptolemy and his Egyptian co-regent Cleopatra.
- Caesar became her lover and partnered with her to overthrow
Ptolemy and make her ruler of Egypt.
- The pair never married but their long-term affair produced a
son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, known as Caesarion.

Dictatorship
- Caesar spent the next few years wiping out his enemies and
what remained of Pompey’s supporters in the Middle East,
Africa and Spain.
- In 46 B.C. he was made dictator of Rome for ten years,
outraging his political opponents and setting the stage for the
eventual end of the Roman Republic.
- Caesar began making several drastic reforms to benefit
Rome’s lower- and middle class, including:

 regulating the distribution of subsidized grain


 increasing the size of the Senate to represent more people
 reducing government debt
 supporting military veterans
 granting Roman citizenship to people in Rome's far-flung territories
 reforming the Roman tax codes
 creating the Julian calendar
Julius Caesar Quotes
Many people still consider Caesar a great leader with keen insights
into human nature. Over the centuries, many of his words have
become famous quotes, such as:

 “I came, I saw, I conquered.”


 “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
 “The die has been cast.”
 “If I fail, it is only because I have too much pride and ambition.”
 “In the end, it is impossible to become what others believe you are.”
 “As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about
what they can.”
 “No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something
unexpected.”
 “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with
their bones.”
 “There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.”
 “Which death is preferable to every other? The unexpected.”

Assassination
- Caesar declared himself dictator for life in 44 B.C.
- Fearing he would become king, a group of senators conspired
to end his life.
- On the Ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.), the senators, led by
Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus
Albinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, stabbed Caesar 23 times,
ending both his reign and his life as he fell bleeding onto the
Senate floor at the feet of a statue of Pompey.
- Caesar’s assassination at age 55 made him a martyr and
incited a cycle of civil wars resulting in the downfall of the
Roman Republic and the rise to power of his grandnephew
and heir Gaius Octavius (Octavian)—later known as Augustus
Caesar—to emperor of the Roman Empire.

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