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Julius Caesar Biography


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Gaius Julius Caesar (IPA: [ˈgajjus ˈjuːlius ˈkaisar];), July 12 or July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, and he was also responsible for the first Roman invasion of Britannia in 55 BC. Caesar was widely considered to be one of the foremost military geniuses of his time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders. In 42 BC, two years after his assassination, the Roman Senate officially sanctified him as one of the Roman deities.

Leading his legions across the Rubicon, Caesar sparked a civil war in 49 BC that left him the undisputed master of the Roman world. After assuming control of the government he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and he heavily centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic. Ironically, this forced the hand of a friend of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, who then conspired with others to murder the great dictator and restore the Republic. This dramatic assassination occurred on the Ides of March (March 15th) in 44 BC and led to another Roman civil war.

Caesar's military campaigns are known in detail from his own written Commentaries (Commentarii), and many details of his life are recorded by later historians such as Appian, Suetonius, Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and Strabo. Other information can be gleaned from other contemporary sources, such as the letters and speeches of Caesar's political rival Cicero, the poetry of Catullus, and the writings of the historian Sallust.

Early life

19th century Italian marble bust of the young Julius Caesar.

Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, himself the son of the goddess Venus.[2] Legend has it that Caesar was born by Caesarean section and is its namesake,[3] though this seems unlikely because at the time the procedure was only performed on dead women, while Caesar's mother lived long after he was born. This legend is more likely a late invention, as the origin of the Caesarian section is in the Latin word for 'cut', caedo, -ere, caesus sum.

Although of impeccable aristocratic patrician stock, the Julii Caesares were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility. No member of his family had achieved any outstanding prominence in recent times, though in Caesar's father's generation there was a renaissance of their fortunes. His father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, reached the rank of praetor, perhaps because of the influence of Gaius Marius, the war hero and prominent politician who had married his sister Julia.[4] His mother, Aurelia Cottae, came from an influential family which had produced several consuls. They lived in a modest house in the Subura, a lower class neighhbourhood of Rome,[5] where Marcus Antonius Gnipho, an orator and grammarian who originally came from Gaul, was employed as Caesar's tutor.[6] Caesar had two sisters, both called Julia. Little else is recorded of Caesar's childhood. Suetonius and Plutarch's biographies of him both begin abruptly in Caesar's teens: the opening paragraphs of both appear to be lost.[7]

Caesar spent his formative years in a period of turmoil. The Social War was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of Roman citizenship, while Mithridates of Pontus threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between two factions, the optimates, who favoured aristocratic rule, and the populares, who preferred to appeal directly to the electorate. Caesar's uncle Marius was a popularis; his protegé and rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an optimas. Both distinguished themselves in the Social War, and both wanted command of the war against Mithridates, which was initially given to Sulla; but when Sulla left the city to take command of his army, a tribune passed a law transferring the appointment to Marius. A messenger sent to Sulla to tell him of the decision didn't leave his camp alive, and Sulla marched on Rome. Marius was forced into exile, but when Sulla left on campaign he returned, and he and his ally Lucius Cornelius Cinna seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy. Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died early in 86 BC, but his faction remained in power.

In 84 BC Caesar's father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one morning,[8] and at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was nominated for the position of Flamen Dialis (high priest of Jupiter - Lucius Cornelius Merula, the previous holder of the position, had died in Marius's purges),[9] and since the holder of that position not only had to be a patrician but also be married to a patrician, he broke off his engagement to Cossutia, a girl of wealthy equestrian family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married Cinna's daughter Cornelia.[10]

Then, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil war against the Marian party. After a campaign throughout Italy he finally crushed the Marians at the Battle of the Colline Gate in November 82 BC. As both consuls were dead, he suggested to the Senate that they appoint an Interrex, and that the Interrex should revive the office of dictator. He hinted that he would be willing to serve in the position. The Senate readily complied and this was followed by a popular vote in the assembly of the people ratifying his appointment. Sulla began a series of bloody proscriptions against his political enemies. Statues of Marius were removed from view. Cinna was already dead, killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny. Caesar, as the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry and his priesthood, but refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against him was lifted by the intervention of his mother's family, the Cottae (supporters of Sulla) and the Vestal Virgins. Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw many Mariuses in Caesar.[11]

Early career

Caesar did not return to Rome, but instead joined the army, serving under Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia. Ironically, it had been the loss of his priesthood that allowed him to pursue a military career: the Flamen Dialis was not permitted to ride or even touch a horse, sleep three nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army.[12] On a mission to Bithynia to secure the assistance of King Nicomedes's fleet, he spent so long at his court that rumours of an affair with the king arose, which would persist for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, he served with distinction, winning the Civic Crown for his part in the siege of Mytilene. This award was the second highest Roman military honour, awarded for saving the life of another soldier, and when worn in public, even in the presence of the Roman Senate, all were forced to stand and applaud his presence.[13] He also served briefly under Servilius Isauricus in Cilicia.[14]

After two years of unchallenged power, Sulla acted as no other dictator has since. He disbanded his legions, re-established consular government (in accordance to his own rules, he stood for and was elected consul in 80 BC), and resigned the dictatorship. He dismissed his lictors and walked unguarded in the forum, offering to give account of his actions to any citizen.[15] This lesson in supreme confidence, Caesar later ridiculed - "Sulla did not know his political ABC's".[16] In retrospect, of the two, Sulla was to have the last laugh, as it was he, "lucky" to the end,[17] who died in his own bed. After his second Consulship, he retreated to his coastal villa to write his memoirs and indulge in the pleasures of private life. He died two years later of liver failure brought on by a life of hard living. His funeral was stupendous, unmatched until that of Augustus in 14 AD.[18]


Kidnapping by pirates

On the way across the Aegean Sea, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates, above whom he managed to maintain superiority even during his captivity. According to Plutarch's retelling of this incident, when the pirates told Caesar they would ransom him for 20 talents of gold, Caesar laughed and told them he was worth at least 50 (12,000 gold pieces). This event is explained to be an act to decrease the danger of being killed, still many historians have interpreted it as a humorous incident that anticipates his self-confidence also shown in his future acts as a consul. Caesar also increased the protection by joining with the crews and acting like one of them, and even expressed his reckless character by scolding a few when they showed a small sign of ignoring him. After the ransom was paid, Caesar gathered a fleet, and captured the pirates. When the governor of Asia Minor province did not mete out justice to his satisfaction, Plutarch reports, "Caesar left him to his own devices, went to Pergamum, took the robbers out of prison, and crucified them all, just as he had often warned them on the island that he would do, when they thought he was joking."

Kidnapping by pirates


Pontifex Maximus and Governorship in Hispania



First Consulship and First Triumvirate



Gallic wars
Main article: Gallic Wars




Fall of the First Triumvirate



The civil war
Main article: Caesar's civil war

An engraving depicting Gaius Julius Caesar.




Caesar and Cleopatra never married. In fact they could not marry. As Roman law stood, the institution of marriage was only recognized between two Roman Citizens and as Cleopatra was Queen of Egypt, she was not a Roman citizen. In Roman eyes this did not even constitute adultery. Adultery could only occur between two Roman citizens. Caesar is believed to have committed this crime numerous times during his last marriage which lasted 14 years but produced no children.


Aftermath of the civil war

Caesar returned to Italy in September 45 BC. Among his first tasks he filed his will, naming his grand-nephew Gaius Octavius (Octavian) as the heir to everything, including his title. Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did, Marcus Junius Brutus would inherit everything. That also applied to a situation where, if Octavian died after inheriting everything, Brutus would inherit it from Octavian. The Senate had already begun bestowing honours on Caesar in absentia. Even though Caesar had not proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning nearly every one of them, there seemed to be little open resistance to him.



Another statue of Caesar was placed in the temple of Quirinus with the inscription "To the Invincible God". Since Quirinus was the deified likeness of the city and its founder and first king, Romulus, this act identified Caesar not only on equal terms with the gods, but with the ancient kings as well. A third statue was erected on the capitol alongside those of the seven Roman Kings and with that of Lucius Junius Brutus, the man who led the revolt to expel the Kings originally. In yet more scandalous behaviour, Caesar had coins minted bearing his likeness. This was the first time in Roman history that a living Roman was featured on a coin.


More honours continued, including the right to appoint half of all magistrates, which were supposed to be elected positions. He also appointed magistrates to all provincial duties, a process previously done by draw of lots or through the approval of the Senate. The month of his birth, Quintilis, was renamed Julius (hence the English July) in his honour and his birthday, July 12, was recognized as a national holiday. Even a tribe of the people’s assembly was to be named for him. A temple and priesthood, the Flamen maior, was established and dedicated in honour of his family.

Caesar, however, did have a reform agenda and took on various social ills. He passed a law that prohibited citizens between the ages of 20 and 40 from leaving Italy for more than three years unless on military assignment. This theoretically would help preserve the continued operation of local farms and businesses and prevent corruption abroad. If a member of the social elite did harm or killed a member of the lower class, then all the wealth of the perpetrator was to be confiscated. Caesar demonstrated that he still had the best interest of the state at heart, even if he believed that he was the only person capable of running it. A general cancellation of one-fourth of all debt also greatly relieved the public and helped to endear him even further to the common population.

Caesar tightly regulated the purchase of state-subsidized grain, and forbade those who could afford privately supplied grain from purchasing from the grain dole. He made plans for the distribution of land to his veterans and for the establishment of veteran colonies throughout the Roman world. One of his most long lasting and influential reforms was the complete overhaul of the Roman calendar. Caesar had been elected Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC. One of the roles of Pontifex Maximus was the setting of the calendar. In 46 BC, Caesar established a 365-day year with a leap year every fourth year (this Julian Calendar was subsequently modified by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 into the modern calendar). As a result of this reform, the year 46 BC was 445 days long to bring the calendar into line.

Additionally great public works were undertaken. Rome was a city of great urban sprawl and unimpressive brick architecture and Rome desperately needed a renewal. A new Rostra of marble, along with court houses and marketplaces were built. A public library under the great scholar Marcus Terentius Varro was also under construction. The Senate house, the Curia Hostilia, which had been recently repaired, was abandoned for a new marble project to be called the Curia Julia. The Forum of Caesar, with its Temple of Venus Genetrix, was built. The city Pomerium (sacred boundary) was extended allowing for additional growth.


The assassination plot



Brutus began to conspire against Caesar with his friend and brother-in-law Cassius and other men, calling themselves the Liberatores ("Liberators"). Two days before the assassination of Caesar, Cassius met with the conspirators and told them that, if anyone found out about the plan, they were going to turn their knives on themselves.



The dictator's last words are, unfortunately, not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Caesar's last words are given as "Et tu, Brute" ("And [even] you, Brutus?"). His actual last words are most widely believed to be "Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi" ("You also, brutus, my son?"), or "Tu quoque, mi fili?" ("you also, my son?"). It is possible, however, that these phrases are translations or adaptations of his last words, which he spoke in Greek, into Latin; Suetonius stated (Jul. 82.2) that Caesar said, in Greek, "καί σύ τέκνον;" (transliterated as "kai su, teknon", or "you too my child?").


Aftermath of assassination

Deification of Julius Caesar.

Caesar's death also marked, ironically, the end of the Roman Republic, for which the assassins had struck him down. The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular, and had been since Gaul and before, were enraged that a small group of high-browed aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony did not give the speech Shakespeare penned for him ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...") but he did give a dramatic eulogy which appealed to the common people, a perfect example of what public thinking was following Caesar's murder. Antony, who had been as of late drifting from Caesar, capitalized on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. But Caesar named his grand nephew Gaius Octavian sole heir of his vast fortune, giving Octavius both the immensely powerful Caesar name and control of one of the largest amounts of money in the Republic. In addition, Gaius Octavius was also, for all intents and purposes, the son of the great Caesar, and consequently the loyalty of the Roman populace shifted from dead Caesar to living Octavius. Octavius, only aged 19 at the time of Caesar's death, proved to be dangerous, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavius consolidated his position.


Caesar's literary works




These narratives, apparently simple and direct in style—to the point that Caesar's Commentarii are commonly studied by first and second year Latin students—are in fact highly sophisticated advertisements for his political agenda, most particularly for the middle-brow readership of minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.



Military career
Main article: Military career of Julius Caesar

Historians place the generalship of Caesar on the level of such geniuses as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Although he suffered occasional tactical defeats such as Battle of Gergovia during the Gallic War and The Battle of Dyrrhachium during the Civil War, Caesar's tactical brilliance was highlighted by such feats as his circumvallation of Alesia during the Gallic War, the rout of Pompey's numerically superior forces at Pharsalus during the Civil War, and the complete destruction of Pharnaces' army at Battle of Zela.


^ Suda kappa 1199.
^ Suetonius, Julius 46
^ Suetonius, Lives of Eminent Grammarians 7
^ Suetonius, Julius 1; Plutarch, Caesar 1
^ Florus, Epitome of Roman History 2.9
^ Suetonius, Julius 1; Plutarch, Caesar 1; Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.41
^ Suetonius, Julius 1; Plutarch, Caesar 1
^ Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities: Corona
^ Suetonius, Julius 2-3; Plutarch, Caesar 2-3; Dio Cassius, Roman History 43.20
^ Appian. Civil Wars 1.103
^ Suetonius, Julius 77.
^ Sulla had adopted the cognomen Felix: "lucky".
^ Plutarch, Sulla 36-38
^ Suetonius, Julius 3; Appian, Civil Wars 1.107
^ Suetonius, Julius 4. Plutarch (Caesar 3-4) reports the same events but follows a different chonology.
^ Suetonius, Julius 49; Dio Cassius, Roman History 43.20
^ Suetonius, Augustus 68, 71

Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org

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