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Julius Caesar

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

                Gaius Julius Caesar
           Dictator of the Roman Republic
              Bust of Julius Caesar.
   Reign       October, 49 BC– March 15, 44 BC
   Born        July 12 or July 13, 100 BC
               Rome
   Died        March 15, 44 BC
               Rome
   Successor   Augustus (as Roman Emperor)
   Consort     1) Cornelia Cinna minor 84 BC– 68 BC
               2) Pompeia Sulla 68 BC– 63 BC
               3) Calpurnia Pisonis 59 BC– 44 BC
   Issue       Julia Caesaris
   Royal House Julio-Claudian
   Father      Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder
   Mother      Aurelia Cotta

   Gaius Julius Caesar ( IPA: [ˈgaːius 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 Britain 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.

   Leading his legions across the Rubicon, Caesar sparked 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. This forced the
   hand of a friend of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, who then conspired
   with others to murder the 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. In 42 BC, two years after his
   assassination, the Roman Senate officially sanctified him as one of the
   Roman deities.

   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.

Life

Early life

   19th century Italian marble bust of the young Julius Caesar.
   Enlarge
   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. The branch of the gens Julia which bore the cognomen
   "Caesar" was descended, according to Pliny the Elder, from a man who
   was born by caesarian section (from the Latin verb to cut, caedo, -ere,
   caesus sum). The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative
   explanations of the name: that the first Caesar killed an elephant
   (caesai in Moorish) in battle; that he had a thick head of hair (Latin
   caesaries); or that he had bright grey eyes (Latin oculis caesiis).

   Although of impeccable aristocratic patrician stock, the Julii Caesares
   were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility. No member of the
   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 through the influence of Gaius Marius, the war hero
   and prominent politician who had married his sister Julia. 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 neighbourhood of Rome, where Marcus Antonius Gnipho, an orator
   and grammarian who originally came from Gaul, was employed as Caesar's
   tutor. 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.

   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. Sulla responded by marching on Rome. Marius was
   forced into exile and command was returned to Sulla, but when Sulla
   left on campaign Marius 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, 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 incumbent, had
   died in Marius's purges), 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.

   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. With both consuls dead, he had himself appointed to the
   revived office of dictator: but whereas a dictator was traditionally
   appointed for six months at a time, Sulla's appointment had no fixed
   term limit. There followed a series of bloody proscriptions against his
   political enemies, which dwarfed even Marius's purges. Statues of
   Marius were destroyed and Marius' body was exhumed and thrown in the
   Tiber. 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 targeted.
   He 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, who were supporters of Sulla, and the Vestal Virgins.
   Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw
   many Mariuses in Caesar.

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. 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. He also served briefly under
   Servilius Isauricus in Cilicia.

   After two years of unchallenged power, having reformed the Roman
   constitution to his satisfaction, Sulla resigned his dictatorship and
   re-established consular government. He dismissed his lictors and walked
   unguarded in the forum, offering to give account of his actions to any
   citizen. This lesson in supreme confidence, Caesar later
   ridiculed—"Sulla did not know his political ABC's". Sulla was elected
   to a second consulship before retiring to private life. He died two
   years later of liver failure and was accorded a magnificent state
   funeral.

   In 78 BC, on hearing of Sulla's death, Caesar felt it would now be safe
   for him to return to Rome. His return coincided with an attempted
   anti-Sullan coup by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, but Caesar, lacking
   confidence in Lepidus's leadership, did not participate. Instead he
   turned to advocacy, bringing a failed prosecution against Cornelius
   Dolabella. He became known for his exceptional oratory, accompanied by
   impassioned gestures and a high-pitched voice, and ruthless prosecution
   of former governors notorious for extortion and corruption. The great
   orator Cicero even commented, "Does anyone have the ability to speak
   better than Caesar?" Aiming at rhetorical perfection, Caesar travelled
   to Rhodes in 75 BC for philosophical and oratorical studies with the
   famous teacher Apollonius Molon, who was earlier the instructor of
   Cicero himself.

   On the way across the Aegean Sea, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician
   pirates. He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his
   captivity. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty
   talents of gold, he insisted they ask for fifty. After the ransom was
   paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and
   imprisoned them in Pergamon. The governor of Asia refused to execute
   them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves, but Caesar
   returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as
   he had promised to when in captivity – a promise the pirates had taken
   as a joke. He then proceeded to Rhodes, but was soon called back into
   military action in Asia, raising a band of auxiliaries to repel an
   incursion from Pontus.

   On his return to Rome he was elected military tribune, a first step on
   the cursus honorum of Roman politics. He was elected quaestor for 69
   BC, and during that year he delivered the funeral oration for his aunt
   Julia, widow of Marius, and included images of Marius, unseen since the
   days of Sulla, in the funeral procession. His own wife Cornelia also
   died that year. After her funeral Caesar went to serve his quaestorship
   in Hispania under Antistius Vetus. While there he is said to have
   encountered a statue of Alexander the Great, and realised with
   dissatisfaction he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at
   his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little. He requested, and
   was granted, an early discharge from his duties, and returned to Roman
   politics. On his return he married Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla.
   He was elected aedile, restored the trophies of Marius's victories,
   brought prosecutions against men who had benefited from Sulla's
   proscriptions, spent a great deal of money on public works and games,
   and outshone his colleague Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. He was also
   suspected of involvement in two abortive coup attempts.

Pontifex Maximus and Governorship in Hispania

   In 63 BC, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been appointed to
   the post of Pontifex Maximus by Sulla, died. In a bold move, Caesar put
   his name up for election to the post. He ran against two of the most
   powerful members of the boni, the consulares Quintus Lutatius Catulus
   and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. There were accusations of
   bribery by all sides in the contest but Caesar emerged as the victor.
   The election to the post of Pontifex Maximus was very important to
   Caesar's career. The post held vast political and religious authority
   and firmly placed Caesar in the public eye for the remainder of his
   career.

   Caesar was elected to the post of praetor in 62 BC. After his
   praetorship, Caesar was allotted Hispania Ulterior (Outer Iberia) as
   his province. Caesar's governorship was a military and civil success
   and he was able to expand Roman rule. As a result, he was hailed as
   imperator by his soldiers, and gained support in the Senate to grant
   him a triumph. However, upon his return to Rome, Marcus Porcius Cato
   blocked Caesar’s request to stand for the consulship of 60 (or 59) in
   absentia. Faced with the choice between a triumph and consulship,
   Caesar chose the consulship.

First Consulship and First Triumvirate

   In 60 BC (or 59 BC), the Centuriate Assembly elected Caesar senior
   Consul of the Roman Republic. His junior partner was his political
   enemy Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, an optimas and son-in-law of Cato the
   Younger. Bibulus' first act as Consul was to retire from all political
   activity in order to search the skies for omens. This apparently pious
   decision was designed to make Caesar's life difficult during his
   Consulship. Roman satirists ever after referred to the year as "the
   consulship of Julius and Caesar", as Romans expressed the time period
   by the names of the two consuls that were elected.

   Caesar needed allies and he found them where none of his enemies
   expected. The leading general of the day, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
   (Pompey the Great), was unsuccessfully fighting the Senate for
   farmlands for his veterans. A former Consul, Marcus Licinius Crassus,
   allegedly the richest man in Rome, was also having problems in
   obtaining relief for his publicani clients, the tax-farmers who were in
   charge of collecting Roman tributes. Caesar desperately needed
   Crassus's money and Pompey's influence, and an informal alliance soon
   followed: The First Triumvirate (rule by three men). To confirm the
   alliance, Pompey married Julia, Caesar's only daughter. Despite their
   differences in age and upbringing, this political marriage proved to be
   a love match.

Gallic wars

   Caesar was then appointed to a five year term as Proconsular Governor
   of Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria (the coast of
   Dalmatia). Not content with an idle governorship, Caesar started the
   Gallic Wars (58 BC–49 BC) in which he conquered all of Gaul (the rest
   of current France, with most of Switzerland and Belgium and parts of
   Germany, effectively western mainland Europe from the Atlantic to the
   Rhine) and annexed them to Rome. Among his legates were his cousins
   Lucius Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Titus Labienus and Quintus
   Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of Caesar's future political
   opponent, Marcus Tullius Cicero.

   Caesar defeated the Helvetii (in Switzerland) in 58 BC, the Belgic
   confederacy and the Nervii in 57 BC and the Veneti in 56 BC. On August
   26 55 and 54 BC he made two expeditions to Britain and, in 52 BC he
   defeated a union of Gauls led by Vercingetorix at the battle of Alesia.
   He recorded his own accounts of these campaigns in Commentarii de Bello
   Gallico ("Commentaries on the Gallic War").

   According to Plutarch and the writings of scholar Brendan Woods, the
   whole campaign resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes,
   one million men sold to slavery and another three million dead in
   battle fields. Ancient historians notoriously exaggerated numbers of
   this kind, but Caesar's conquest of Gaul was certainly one of the
   greatest military invasion since the campaigns of Alexander the Great.
   The victory was also far more lasting than those of Alexander's: Gaul
   never regained its Celtic identity, never attempted another nationalist
   rebellion, and remained loyal to Rome until the fall of the Western
   Empire in 476.

Fall of the First Triumvirate

   Despite his successes and the benefits to Rome, Caesar remained
   unpopular among his peers, especially the conservative faction, who
   suspected him of wanting to be king. In 55 BC, his partners Pompey and
   Crassus were elected consuls and honored their agreement with Caesar by
   prolonging his proconsulship for another five years. This was the last
   act of the First Triumvirate.

   In 54 BC, Caesar's daughter Julia died in childbirth, leaving both
   Pompey and Caesar heartbroken. Crassus was killed in 53 BC during his
   campaign in Parthia. Without Crassus or Julia, Pompey drifted towards
   the Optimates. Still in Gaul, Caesar tried to secure Pompey's support
   by offering him one of his nieces in marriage, but Pompey refused.
   Instead, Pompey married Cornelia Metella, the daughter of Metellus
   Scipio, one of Caesar's greatest enemies.

The civil war

   An engraving depicting Gaius Julius Caesar.
   Enlarge
   An engraving depicting Gaius Julius Caesar.

   In 50 BC, the Senate, led by Pompey, ordered Caesar to return to Rome
   and disband his army because his term as Proconsul had finished.
   Moreover, the Senate forbade Caesar to stand for a second consulship in
   absentia. Caesar thought he would be prosecuted and politically
   marginalized if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a
   Consul or without the power of his army. Pompey accused Caesar of
   insubordination and treason. On January 10, 49 BC Caesar crossed the
   Rubicon (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only one legion and
   ignited civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar is reported to
   have said Iacta alea est. This is normally rendered as "The die is
   cast".

   The Optimates, including Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger, fled to
   the south, not knowing that Caesar had only his Thirteenth Legion with
   him. Caesar pursued Pompey to Brindisium, hoping to restore their
   alliance of ten years prior. Pompey managed to elude him, however. So
   instead of giving chase Caesar decided to head for Hispania saying " I
   set forth to fight an army without a leader, so as later to fight a
   leader without an army." Leaving Marcus Aemilius Lepidus as prefect of
   Rome, and the rest of Italy under Mark Antony, Caesar made an
   astonishing 27-day route-march to Hispania where he defeated Pompey's
   lieutenants. He then returned east, to challenge Pompey in Greece where
   on July 10, 48 BC at Dyrrhachium Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic
   defeat. He decisively defeated Pompey, despite Pompey's numerical
   advantage (nearly twice the number of infantry and considerably more
   cavalry), at Pharsalus in an exceedingly short engagement in 48 BC.

   In Rome, Caesar was appointed dictator, with Mark Antony as his Master
   of the Horse; Caesar resigned this dictatorate after eleven days and
   was elected to a second term as consul with Publius Servilius Vatia as
   his colleague. He pursued Pompey to Alexandria, where Pompey was
   murdered by an officer of King Ptolemy XIII. Caesar then became
   involved with the Alexandrine civil war between Ptolemy and his sister,
   wife, and co-regnant queen, the Pharaoh Cleopatra VII. Perhaps as a
   result of Ptolemy's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with
   Cleopatra; he is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head,
   which was offered to him by Ptolemy's chamberlain Pothinus as a gift.
   In any event, Caesar defeated the Ptolemaic forces and installed
   Cleopatra as ruler, with whom he fathered his only known biological
   son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, better known as "Caesarion". Cleopatra moved
   into an elaborate estate in Rome.

   Caesar and Cleopatra never married: they could not do so under Roman
   Law. The institution of marriage was only recognized between two Roman
   citizens; Cleopatra was Queen of Egypt. In Roman eyes, this did not
   constitute adultery, and Caesar is believed to have continued his
   relationship with Cleopatra throughout his last marriage, which lasted
   14 years and produced no children.

   After spending the first months of 47 BC in Egypt, Caesar went to the
   Middle East, where he annihilated King Pharnaces II of Pontus in the
   battle of Zela; his victory was so swift and complete that he
   commemorated it with the words Veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I
   conquered"). Thence, he proceeded to Africa to deal with the remnants
   of Pompey's senatorial supporters. He quickly gained a significant
   victory at Thapsus in 46 BC over the forces of Metellus Scipio (who
   died in the battle) and Cato the Younger (who committed suicide).
   Nevertheless, Pompey's sons Gnaeus Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius,
   together with Titus Labienus, Caesar's former propraetorian legate (
   legatus propraetore) and second in command in the Gallic War, escaped
   to Hispania. Caesar gave chase and defeated the last remnants of
   opposition in the Munda in March 45 BC. During this time, Caesar was
   elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC (with Marcus
   Aemilius Lepidus) and 45 BC (without colleague).

Aftermath of the civil war

   Caesar returned to Italy in September 45 BC. As one of 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 be the next
   heir in succession. 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.

   Great games and celebrations were held on April 21 to honour Caesar’s
   great victory. Along with the games, Caesar was honoured with the right
   to wear triumphal clothing, including a purple robe (reminiscent of the
   kings of Rome) and laurel crown, on all public occasions. A large
   estate was being built at Rome’s expense, and on state property, for
   Caesar’s exclusive use. The title of Dictator became a legal title that
   he could use in his name for the rest of his life. An ivory statue in
   his likeness was to be carried at all public religious processions.
   Images of Caesar show his hair combed forward in an attempt to conceal
   his baldness.
   Caesar was the first living man to appear on a Roman Republican coin.
   Enlarge
   Caesar was the first living man to appear on a Roman Republican coin.

   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 on equal terms with not only the gods, but also the
   ancient kings. A third statue was erected on the capitol alongside
   those of the seven Roman Kings and of Lucius Junius Brutus, the man who
   originally led the revolt to expel the Kings. 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.

   When Caesar returned to Rome in October of 45 BC, he gave up his fourth
   Consulship (which he held without colleague) and placed Quintus Fabius
   Maximus and Gaius Trebonius as suffect consuls in his stead. This
   irritated the Senate, because he completely disregarded the Republican
   system of election, and performed these actions at his own whim. He
   celebrated a fifth triumph, this time to honour his victory in
   Hispania. The Senate continued to encourage more honours. A temple to
   Libertas was to be built in his honour, and he was granted the title
   Liberator. They elected him Consul for life, and allowed to hold any
   office he wanted, including those generally reserved for plebeians.
   Rome also seemed willing to grant Caesar the unprecedented right to be
   the only Roman to own imperium. In this, Caesar alone would be immune
   from legal prosecution and would technically have the supreme command
   of the legions.

   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 lot or through 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. Theoretically, this 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 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.

   In 63 BC Caesar had been elected Pontifex Maximus, and one of his roles
   as such was settling the calendar. A complete overhaul of the old Roman
   calendar proved to be one of his most long lasting and influential
   reforms. 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 Gregorian calendar). As a
   result of this reform, a certain Roman year (mostly equivalent to 46 BC
   in the modern Calendar) was made 445 days long, to bring the calendar
   into line with the seasons.

   Additionally, great public works were undertaken. Rome was a city of
   great urban sprawl and unimpressive brick architecture, and desperately
   needed a renewal. A new Rostra of marble was built, along with
   courthouses and marketplaces. 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.

   All of the pomp, circumstance, and public taxpayers' money being spent
   incensed certain members of the Roman Senate. One of these was Caesar's
   closest friend, Marcus Junius Brutus.

The assassination plot

   Plutarch records that at one point, Caesar informed the Senate that his
   honours were more in need of reduction than augmentation, but withdrew
   this position so as not to appear ungrateful. He was given the title
   Pater Patriae ("Father of the Fatherland"). He was appointed dictator a
   third time, and then nominated for nine consecutive one-year terms as
   dictator, effectually making him dictator for ten years. He was also
   given censorial authority as prefect of morals (praefectus morum) for
   three years.

   At the onset of 44 BC, the honours heaped upon Caesar continued and the
   rift between him and the aristocrats deepened. He had been named
   Dictator Perpetuus, making him dictator for the remainder of his life.
   This title even began to show up on coinage bearing Caesar’s likeness,
   placing him above all others in Rome. Some among the population even
   began to refer to him as ‘Rex’ (king), but Caesar refused to accept the
   title, claiming, "Rem Publicam sum!"(I am the Republic!) At Caesar’s
   new temple of Venus, a senatorial delegation went to consult with him
   and Caesar refused to stand to honour them upon their arrival. Despite
   it being believed that Caesar was suffering from diarrhea at that time
   (a painful symptom of his epilepsy), the Senators present were deeply
   insulted. He attempted to rectify the situation later by exposing his
   neck to his friends and saying he was ready to offer it to anyone who
   would deliver a stroke of the sword. This seemed to at least cool the
   situation, but the damage was done. The seeds of conspiracy were
   beginning to grow.

   The fear of Caesar becoming autocrat, thus ending the Roman Republic,
   grew stronger when someone placed a diadem on the statue of Caesar on
   the Rostra. The tribunes, Gaius Epidius Marcellus and Lucius Caesetius
   Flavius, removed the diadem. Not long after the incident with the
   diadem, the same two tribunes had citizens arrested after they called
   out the title Rex to Caesar as he passed by on the streets of Rome. Now
   seeing his supporters threatened, Caesar acted harshly. He ordered
   those arrested to be released, and instead took the tribunes before the
   Senate and had them stripped of their positions. Caesar had originally
   used the sanctity of the Tribunes as one reason for the start of the
   civil war, but now revoked their power for his own gain.

   At the coming festival of the Lupercalia, the biggest test of the Roman
   people for their willingness to accept Caesar as king was to take
   place. On February 15, 44 BC, Caesar sat upon his gilded chair on the
   Rostra, wearing his purple robe, red shoes and a golden laurel and
   armed with the title of Dictator Perpetuus. The race around the
   pomerium was a tradition of the festival, and Mark Antony ran into the
   forum and was raised to the Rostra by the priests attending the event.
   Antony produced a diadem and attempted to place it on Caesar’s head,
   saying "the people offer this [the title of king] to you through me."
   There was, however, little support from the crowd and Caesar quickly
   refused being sure that the diadem didn’t touch his head. The crowd
   roared with approval, but Antony, undeterred attempted to place it on
   Caesar’s head again. Still there was no voice of support from the crowd
   and Caesar rose from his chair and refused Antony again, saying, "I
   will not be king of Rome. Jupiter alone is King of the Romans." The
   crowd wildly endorsed Caesar’s actions.

   All the while Caesar was still planning a campaign into Dacia and then
   Parthia. The Parthian campaign stood to bring back considerable wealth
   to Rome, along with the potential return of the standards that Crassus
   had lost over nine years earlier. An ancient legend has told that
   Parthia could only be conquered by a king, so Caesar was authorized by
   the Senate to wear a crown anywhere in the empire, save Italy. Caesar
   planned to leave in April 44 BC, and the secret opposition that was
   steadily building had to act fast. Made up mostly of men that Caesar
   had pardoned already, they knew their only chance to rid Rome of Caesar
   was to prevent him ever leaving for Parthia.

   Brutus began to conspire against Caesar with his friend and
   brother-in-law Cassius and other men, calling themselves the
   Liberatores ("Liberators"). Many plans were discussed by the group, as
   documented by Nicolaus of Damascus:


   Julius Caesar

    The conspirators never met openly, but they assembled a few at a time
    in each others' homes. There were many discussions and proposals, as
     might be expected, while they investigated how and where to execute
    their design. Some suggested that they should make the attempt as he
    was going along the Sacred Way, which was one of his favourite walks.
   Another idea was for it to be done at the elections during which he had
     to cross a bridge to appoint the magistrates in the Campus Martius;
     they should draw lots for some to push him from the bridge and for
    others to run up and kill him. A third plan was to wait for a coming
   gladiatorial show. The advantage of that would be that, because of the
   show, no suspicion would be aroused if arms were seen prepared for the
   attempt. But the majority opinion favoured killing him while he sat in
    the Senate, where he would be by himself since only Senators would be
     admitted, and where the many conspirators could hide their daggers
                 beneath their togas. This plan won the day.


   Julius Caesar

   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.

   On the Ides of March ( March 15; see Roman calendar) of 44 BC, a group
   of senators called Caesar to the forum for the purpose of reading a
   petition, written by the senators, asking him to hand power back to the
   Senate. However, the petition was a fake. Mark Antony, having vaguely
   learned of the plot the night before from a terrified Liberatore named
   Servilius Casca, and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off at the
   steps of the forum. However, the group of senators intercepted Caesar
   just as he was passing the Theatre of Pompey, and directed him to a
   room adjoining the east portico.

   As Caesar began to read the false petition, the aforementioned Casca
   pulled down Caesar's tunic and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's
   neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm, crying
   in Latin "Villain Casca, what do you do?" Casca, frightened, called to
   his fellow senators in Greek: "Help, brothers!" ("αδελφοι βοήθει!" in
   Greek, "adelphoi boethei!"). Within moments, the entire group,
   including Brutus, was striking out at the dictator. Caesar attempted to
   get away, but, blinded by blood, he tripped and fell; the men
   eventually murdering him as he lay, defenseless, on the lower steps of
   the portico. According to Eutropius, around sixty or more men
   participated in the assassination.

   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? Then fall, Caesar." ("And you, Brutus? Then fall, Caesar.").
   However, this is Shakespeare's invention. Suetonius reports his last
   words, spoken in Greek, as "καί σύ τέκνον" (transliterated as "Kai su,
   teknon?"; "You too, child?" in English). Plutarch says he said nothing,
   pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the
   conspirators.

   Regardless, shortly after the assassination the senators left the
   building talking excitedly amongst themselves, and Brutus cried out to
   his beloved city: "People of Rome, we are once again free!". However,
   this was not the end. The assassination of Caesar sparked a civil war
   in which Mark Antony, Octavian (later Augustus Caesar), and others
   fought the Roman Senate for both revenge and power.

Aftermath of assassination

   Deification of Julius Caesar.
   Enlarge
   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
   that Shakespeare penned for him more than 1600 years later (" Friends,
   Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..."), but he did give a dramatic
   eulogy that appealed to the common people, a reflection of public
   opinion following Caesar's murder. Antony, who had been drifting apart
   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 had named his grand nephew Gaius
   Octavian his sole heir, giving him the immensely powerful Caesar name
   as well as making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.
   Gaius Octavius was also, to all intents and purposes, the son of the
   great Caesar, and consequently also inherited the loyalty of much of
   the Roman populace. 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.

   In order to combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an army in
   Greece, Antony needed both the cash from Caesar's war chests and the
   legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide any action he took against
   the two. A new Triumvirate was found—the Second and final one—with
   Octavian, Antony, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus as the
   third member. This Second Triumvirate deified Caesar as Divus Iulius
   and—seeing that Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder—brought
   back the horror of proscription, abandoned since Sulla, and proscribed
   its enemies in large numbers in order to seize even more funds for the
   second civil war against Brutus and Cassius, whom Antony and Octavian
   defeated at Philippi. A third civil war then broke out between Octavian
   on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil
   war, culminating in Antony and Cleopatra's defeat at Actium, resulted
   in the ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor,
   under the name Caesar Augustus. In 42 BC, Caesar was formally deified
   as "the Divine Julius" (Divus Iulius), and Caesar Augustus henceforth
   became Divi filius ("Son of a God").

Caesar's literary works

   Caesar was considered during his lifetime to be one of the finest
   orators and authors of prose in Rome—even Cicero spoke highly of
   Caesar's rhetoric and style. Among his most famous works were his
   funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his Anticato, a
   document written to blacken Cato's reputation and respond to Cicero's
   Cato memorial. Unfortunately, the majority of his works and speeches
   have been lost to history.

Memoirs

     * The Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War),
       campaigns in Gallia and Britannia during his term as proconsul; and
     * The Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War),
       events of the Civil War until immediately after Pompey's death in
       Egypt.

   Other works historically attributed to Caesar, but whose authorship is
   doubted, are:
     * De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War), campaign in
       Alexandria;
     * De Bello Africo (On the African War), campaigns in North Africa;
       and
     * De Bello Hispaniensis (On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the
       Iberian peninsula.

   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 highly sophisticated advertisements for his
   political agenda, most particularly for the middle-brow readership of
   minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.

Poetry

   Very little of Caesar's poetry survives to this day. One of the poems
   he is known to have written is The Journey.

Military career

   Historians place the generalship of Caesar on the level of such
   military geniuses as Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Genghis Khan,
   Napoleon Bonaparte and Saladin. 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.

   Caesar's successful campaigning in any terrain and under all weather
   conditions owes much to the strict but fair discipline of his
   legionaries, whose admiration and devotion to him were proverbial due
   to his promotion of those of skill over those of nobility. Caesar's
   infantry and cavalry were first rate, and he made heavy use of
   formidable Roman artillery; additional factors that made him so
   effective in the field were his army's superlative engineering
   abilities and the legendary speed with which he maneuvered his troops
   (Caesar's army sometimes marched as many as 40 miles a day). His army
   was made of 40,000 infantry and many cavaliers, with some specialized
   units, such as engineers. He records in his Commentaries on the Gallic
   Wars that during the siege of one Gallic city built on a very steep and
   high plateau, his engineers were able to tunnel through solid rock and
   find the source of the spring that the town was drawing its water
   supply from, and divert it to the use of the army. The town, cut off
   from their water supply, capitulated at once.

Caesar's name

   Using the Latin alphabet as it existed in the day of Caesar (i.e.,
   without lower case letters, "J", or "U"), Caesar's name is properly
   rendered "GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR" (the form "CAIVS" is also attested using
   the old Roman pronunciation of letter C as G; it is an antique form of
   the more common "GAIVS"). It is often seen abbreviated to "C. IVLIVS
   CAESAR". (The letterform "Æ" is a ligature, which is often encountered
   in Latin inscriptions where it was used to save space, and is nothing
   more than the letters "ae".) In classical Latin, it was pronounced IPA
   [ˈgaːius ˈjuːlius ˈkaisar] (note that the first name, like the second,
   is properly pronounced in three syllables, not two) (see Latin spelling
   and pronunciation). In the days of the late Roman Republic, many
   historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans
   studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and
   sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's
   principal assassin, Brutus. In Greek, during Caesar's time, his family
   name was written Καίσαρ, reflecting its contemporary pronunciation.
   Thus his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of
   the German Kaiser. Clearly, this German name was not derived from the
   Middle Ages Ecclesiastical Latin, in which the familiar part "Caesar"
   is [ˈtʃeːsar], from which the modern English pronunciation (a
   much-softened "SEE-zer") is derived.

Caesar's family

Parents

     * Father Gaius Julius Caesar.
     * Mother Aurelia (related to the Aurelia Cottae)

Wives

     * First marriage to Cornelia Cinnilla
     * Second marriage to Pompeia Sulla
     * Third marriage to Calpurnia Pisonis

Children

     * Julia with Cornelia Cinnilla
     * Possibly Caesarion, with Cleopatra VII, who would become Pharaoh
       with the name Ptolemy Caesar.
     * Adopted son, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (his great-nephew by
       blood), later known as Augustus.
     * Possible, but seemingly unlikely, Marcus Junius Brutus with
       Servilia Caepionis.

Grandchildren

     * Grandson from Julia and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed

Female lovers

     * Cleopatra VII
     * Servilia Caepionis, mother of Brutus

Notable relatives

     * Gaius Marius ( married to his Aunt Julia)
     * Lucius Cornelius Sulla (possibly through Marriage)

Possible male lovers

   Roman society viewed the passive role during sex, regardless of gender,
   to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that
   in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have
   conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar". According to
   Cicero, Bibulus, Gaius Memmius (whose account may be from firsthand
   knowledge), and others (mainly Caesar's enemies), he had an affair with
   Nicomedes IV of Bithynia early in his career. The tales were repeated
   by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate and degrade him. It is
   possible that the rumors were spread only as a form of character
   assassination. Caesar himself, according to Cassius Dio, denied the
   accusations under oath.

   Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar
   through sexual favors. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an
   affair with Octavian as political slander. The boy Octavian was to
   become the first Roman emperor following Caesar's death.

Chronology

   [USEMAP:31218.png]

Honours

   Was voted the title Divus, or "god," after his death.

   During his life, he received many honours, including titles such as
   Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland), Pontifex Maximus (Highest
   Priest), and Dictator. The many titles bestowed on him by the Senate
   are sometimes cited as a cause of his assassination, as it seemed
   inappropriate to many contemporaries for a mortal man to be awarded so
   many honours.

   As a young man he was awarded the Corona Civica ( civic crown) for
   valor while fighting in Asia minor.

   Perhaps the most significant title he carried was his name from birth:
   Caesar. This name would be awarded to every Roman emperor, and it
   became a signal of great power and authority far beyond the bounds of
   the empire. The title became the German Kaiser and Slavic Tsar/Czar.
   The last tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgaria whose reign
   ended in 1946; for two thousand years after Julius Caesar's
   assassination, there was a least one head of state bearing his name.

   Note, however, that Caesar was an ordinary name of no more importance
   than other cognomen like Cicero and Brutus. It did not become an
   Imperial title until well after Julius Caesar's death.

Julius Caesar in popular culture

Fiction

     * Masters of Rome, a series of six novels by the Australian writer,
       Colleen McCullough
     * Emperor Series, a series of four novels by the writer, Conn
       Iggulden
     * Roma Sub Rosa, a series of historical mysteries by the American
       writer, Steven Saylor

Theatre

     * Caesar and Cleopatra, a play by George Bernard Shaw
     * Julius Caesar, a play by William Shakespeare

TV

     * Cleopatra (1999 mini-series) played by Timothy Dalton
     * a 2002 TV movie called Julius Caesar, which depicts his active life
     * Rome (TV series), played by Ciarán Hinds
     * Julius Caesar (2002) TV, played by Jeremy Sisto
     * Wayne and Shuster's comedy sketch Rinse the Blood off My Toga is a
       spoof of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the form of a Dragnet
       episode
     * Xena: Warrior Princess highlighted Julius Caesar as a major
       protagonist, as played by actor Karl Urban
     * Histeria!, where Caesar's appearance is based on Frank Sinatra

Film

     * Played by Louis Calhern in Julius Caesar ( 1953)
     * Played by John Gavin in Spartacus ( 1960)
     * Played by Rex Harrison in Cleopatra ( 1963)
     * Played by John Gielgud in Julius Caesar ( 1970)

Comics

     * Asterix comics, written by the French writer René Goscinny and
       drawn by Albert Uderzo.

Games

     * Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego features Julius Caesar in one of
       its stages.

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