Julius Caesar - Silver Denarius 17mm (2.9 grams) Struck 49-48
B.C. -
Reference: B.9;B.M.C., Gaul, 27; Syd. 1006; Craw. 443/1 -
Elephant walking right, trampling on serpent, CAESAR in
exergue.
Simpulum, sprinkler, axe and priest's hat.
The obverse type may
symbolize victory over evil, whereas the reverse refers to Caesar's office of Pontifex Maximus.
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Gaius
Julius Caesar[1]
(pronounced
[ˈɡaː.i.us
ˈjuːli.us ˈkaɪsar] in Classical
Latin;
conventionally
/ˈɡaɪ.əs ˈdʒuːli.əs ˈsiːzər/ in English), (13 July 100 BC[2]
– 15 March 44 BC[3]),
was a
Roman
military and
political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the
Roman Republic into the
Roman
Empire.
As a politician, Caesar made use of
popularist
tactics. During the late 60s and into the 50s BC, he formed political alliances
that led to the so-called "First
Triumvirate," an
extra-legal arrangement with
Marcus Licinius Crassus and
Gnaeus Pompeius
Magnus ("Pompey the Great") that was to dominate Roman politics for several
years. Their
factional attempts to amass power for themselves were opposed within the
Roman
Senate by the
optimates,
among them
Marcus Porcius Cato and
Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, with the sometime support of
Marcus Tullius Cicero. Caesar's conquest of
Gaul extended the
Roman world to the
North Sea,
and in 55 BC he also conducted the first
Roman invasion of Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military
power and threatened to eclipse Pompey's, while the
death of Crassus contributed to increasing political tensions between the
two triumviral survivors. Political realignments in Rome finally led to a
stand-off between Caesar and Pompey, the latter having taken up the cause of the
Senate. With the order that sent his legions across the
Rubicon,
Caesar began a
civil war in 49 BC from which he emerged as the unrivaled leader of the
Roman world.
After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms of Roman
society and government. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was
eventually proclaimed "dictator
in perpetuity" (dictator
perpetuo). A group of senators, led by
Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated the dictator on the
Ides
of March (15 March) 44 BC, hoping to restore the normal running of the
Republic. However, the result was another
Roman civil war, which ultimately led to the establishment of a permanent
autocracy
by Caesar's adopted heir,
Gaius
Octavianus. In 42 BC, two years after his assassination, the Senate
officially sanctified Caesar as one of the
Roman deities.
Much of Caesar's life is known from his own
Commentaries (Commentarii) on his military campaigns, and
other contemporary sources such as the letters and speeches of his political
rival Cicero,
the historical writings of
Sallust, and
the poetry of
Catullus. Many more details of his life are recorded by later historians,
such as Appian,
Suetonius,
Plutarch,
Cassius
Dio and Strabo.
Early life
Caesar was born into a
patrician family, the
gens
Julia,
which claimed descent from
Iulus, son of the legendary
Trojan prince
Aeneas,
supposedly the son of the goddess
Venus.[4]
The cognomen
"Caesar" originated, according to
Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by
caesarean section (from the Latin verb to cut, caedere, caes-).[5]
The
Historia Augusta suggests three
alternative explanations: that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair
(Latin caesaries); that he had bright grey eyes (Latin oculis caesiis);
or that he killed an elephant (caesai in Moorish) in battle.[6]
Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favoured
this interpretation of his name.[7]
Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially
politically influential, having produced only three
consuls.
Caesar's father, also called
Gaius Julius Caesar, reached the rank of
praetor, the
second highest of the Republic's elected magistracies, and governed the province
of
Asia, perhaps through the influence of his prominent brother-in-law
Gaius
Marius.[8]
His mother,
Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family which had produced several
consuls.
Marcus Antonius Gnipho, an orator and grammarian of
Gaulish origin, was
employed as Caesar's tutor.[9]
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.[10]
Caesar's formative years were a time 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 politicians known as
optimates
and
populares. The optimates were conservative[11][12][13],
defended the interests of the upper class[12][13]
and used and promoted the authority of the Senate[14];
the populares advocated reform in the interests of the masses[11][13]
and used and promoted the authority of the Popular Assemblies.[12][14]
Caesar's uncle Marius was a popularis, Marius' protégé
Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an optimas, and in Caesar's youth their
rivalry led to civil war.
Both Marius and Sulla 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
his army on Rome (the first time ever this had happened and a pointer for Caesar
in his later career as he contemplated crossing the Rubicon), reclaiming his
command and forcing Marius into exile, but when he left on campaign Marius
returned at the head of a makeshift army. He and his ally
Lucius Cornelius Cinna seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy,
and Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died
early in 86 BC, but his followers remained in power.[15]
In 85 BC Caesar's father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one
morning, without any apparent cause,[16]
and at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was
nominated to be the new
Flamen Dialis, high priest of
Jupiter, as
Merula, the previous incumbent, had died in Marius's purges.[17]
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 plebeian girl
of wealthy
equestrian family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married
Cinna's daughter
Cornelia.[18]
Then, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil
war against Marius' followers. After a campaign throughout Italy he seized Rome
at the
Battle of the Colline Gate in November 82 BC and 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 term limit. 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.[19]
Sulla's
proscriptions saw hundreds of his political enemies killed or exiled.
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 he 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, which included supporters of
Sulla, and the
Vestal Virgins. Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that
he saw many a Marius in Caesar.[10]
Early career
Feeling it much safer to be far away from Sulla should the Dictator change
his mind, Caesar quit Rome and joined the army, serving under
Marcus Minucius Thermus in
Asia and
Servilius Isauricus in
Cilicia. He
served with distinction, winning the
Civic
Crown for his part in the siege of
Mytilene.
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.[20]
Ironically, the loss of his priesthood had allowed him to pursue a military
career: the Flamen Dialis was not permitted to touch a horse, sleep three
nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army.[21]
At the end of 81 BC,
Sulla resigned his dictatorship, re-established consular government and,
after serving as consul in 80 BC, retired to private life.[22]
In a manner that the historian
Suetonius
thought arrogant, Julius Caesar would later mock Sulla for resigning the
Dictatorship—"Sulla did not know his political ABC's".[23]
He died two years later in 78 BC and was accorded a state funeral.[24]
Hearing of Sulla's death, Caesar felt safe enough to return to Rome. Lacking
means since his inheritance was confiscated, he acquired a modest house in the
Subura, a lower class neighbourhood of Rome.[25]
His return coincided with an attempted anti-Sullan coup by Marcus Aemilius
Lepidus but Caesar, lacking confidence in Lepidus's leadership, did not
participate.[26]
Instead he turned to legal advocacy. 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. Even
Cicero praised
him: "Come now, what orator would you rank above him...?"[27]
Aiming at
rhetorical perfection, Caesar travelled to
Rhodes in 75 BC
to study under
Apollonius Molon, who had previously taught Cicero.[28]
On the way across the
Aegean Sea,[29]
Caesar was kidnapped by
Cilician (not
to be confused with
Sicilian)
pirates and held prisoner in the
Dodecanese
islet of
Pharmacusa.[30]
He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the
pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty
talents of silver, he insisted they ask for fifty.[31][32]
After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the
pirates, and imprisoned them in
Pergamon.
Marcus Junctus, the governor of
Asia, refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as
slaves,[33]
but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as
he had promised to when in captivity[34]—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. The
war against
Spartacus
took place around this time (73–71 BC), but it is not recorded what role, if
any, Caesar played in it. He was elected
quaestor
for 69 BC,[35]
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.[36]
After her funeral, in the spring or early summer of 69 BC, Caesar went to serve
his quaestorship in
Hispania
under Antistius Vetus.[37]
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 in 67 BC,[38]
he married
Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla.[39]
He was elected
aedile and restored the trophies of Marius's victories; a controversial move
given the Sullan regime was still in place. He also brought prosecutions against
men who had benefited from Sulla's proscriptions, and spent a great deal of
borrowed money on public works and games, outshining his colleague
Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. He was also suspected of involvement in two
abortive coup attempts.[40]
Coming to prominence
63 BC was an eventful year for Caesar. He persuaded a tribune,
Titus Labienus, to prosecute the optimate senator
Gaius Rabirius for the political murder, 37 years previously, of the tribune
Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, and had himself appointed as one of the two
judges to try the case. Rabirius was defended by both
Cicero and
Quintus Hortensius, but was convicted of
perduellio
(treason). While he was exercising his right of appeal to the people, the
praetor
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer adjourned the assembly by taking down the
military flag from the Janiculum hill. Labienus could have resumed the
prosecution at a later session, but did not do so: Caesar's point had been made,
and the matter was allowed to drop.[41]
Labienus would remain an important ally of Caesar over the next decade.
The same year, Caesar ran for election to the post of
Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, after the death
of
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been appointed to the post by
Sulla. He ran against two powerful optimates, the former consuls
Quintus Lutatius Catulus and
Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. There were accusations of bribery by all
sides. Caesar is said to have told his mother on the morning of the election
that he would return as Pontifex Maximus or not at all, expecting to be forced
into exile by the enormous debts he had run up to fund his campaign. In any
event he won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and
standing, possibly because the two older men split their votes.[42]
The post came with an official residence on the
Via Sacra.[25]
When Cicero, who was consul that year, exposed
Catiline's
conspiracy to seize control of the republic, Catulus and others accused Caesar
of involvement in the plot.[43]
Caesar, who had been elected praetor for the following year, took part in the
debate in the Senate on how to deal with the conspirators. During the debate,
Caesar was passed a note.
Marcus Porcius Cato, who would become his most implacable political
opponent, accused him of corresponding with the conspirators, and demanded that
the message be read aloud. Caesar passed him the note, which, embarrassingly,
turned out to be a love letter from Cato's half-sister
Servilia. Caesar argued persuasively against the death penalty for the
conspirators, proposing life imprisonment instead, but a speech by Cato proved
decisive, and the conspirators were executed.[44]
The following year a commission was set up to investigate the conspiracy, and
Caesar was again accused of complicity. On Cicero's evidence that he had
reported what he knew of the plot voluntarily, however, he was cleared, and one
of his accusers, and also one of the commissioners, were sent to prison.[45]
While praetor in 62 BC, Caesar supported Metellus Celer, now tribune, in
proposing controversial legislation, and the pair were so obstinate they were
suspended from office by the Senate. Caesar attempted to continue to perform his
duties, only giving way when violence was threatened. The Senate was persuaded
to reinstate him after he quelled public demonstrations in his favour.[46]
That year the festival of the
Bona Dea
("good goddess") was held at Caesar's house. No men were permitted to attend,
but a young patrician named
Publius Clodius Pulcher managed to gain admittance disguised as a woman,
apparently for the purpose of seducing Caesar's wife
Pompeia. He was caught and prosecuted for sacrilege. Caesar gave no evidence
against Clodius at his trial, careful not to offend one of the most powerful
patrician families of Rome, and Clodius was acquitted after rampant bribery and
intimidation. Nevertheless, Caesar divorced Pompeia, saying that "my wife ought
not even to be under suspicion."[47]
After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern
Hispania Ulterior (Outer
Iberia), but he was still in considerable debt and needed to satisfy his
creditors before he could leave. He turned to
Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of Rome's richest men. In return for political
support in his opposition to the interests of
Pompey, Crassus
paid some of Caesar's debts and acted as guarantor for others. Even so, to avoid
becoming a private citizen and open to prosecution for his debts, Caesar left
for his province before his praetorship had ended. In Hispania he conquered the
Callaici and
Lusitani,
being hailed as
imperator
by his troops, reformed the law regarding debts, and completed his governorship
in high esteem.[48]
Being hailed as imperator entitled Caesar to a
triumph. However, he also wanted to stand for
consul, the
most senior magistracy in the republic. If he were to celebrate a triumph, he
would have to remain a soldier and stay outside the city until the ceremony, but
to stand for election he would need to lay down his command and enter Rome as a
private citizen. He could not do both in the time available. He asked the senate
for permission to stand in absentia, but Cato blocked the proposal. Faced
with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the
consulship.[49]
First
consulship and triumvirate
Three candidates stood for the consulship: Caesar, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus,
who had been aedile with Caesar several years earlier, and
Lucius Lucceius. The election was dirty. Caesar canvassed Cicero for
support, and made an alliance with the wealthy Lucceius, but the establishment
threw its financial weight behind the conservative Bibulus, and even Cato, with
his reputation for incorruptibility, is said to have resorted to bribery in his
favour. Caesar and Bibulus were elected as consuls for 59 BC.[50]
Caesar was already in
Crassus's political debt, but he also made overtures to
Pompey, who was
unsuccessfully fighting the Senate for ratification of his eastern settlements
and farmland for his veterans. Pompey and Crassus had been at odds since they
were consuls together in 70 BC, and Caesar knew if he allied himself with one he
would lose the support of the other, so he endeavoured to reconcile them.
Between the three of them, they had enough money and political influence to
control public business. This informal alliance, known as the
First Triumvirate (rule of three men), was cemented by the marriage of
Pompey to Caesar's daughter
Julia.[51]
Caesar also married again, this time
Calpurnia, daughter of
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, who was elected to the consulship for the
following year.[52]
Caesar proposed a law for the redistribution of public lands to the poor, a
proposal supported by Pompey, by force of arms if need be, and by Crassus,
making the triumvirate public. Pompey filled the city with soldiers, and the
triumvirate's opponents were intimidated. Bibulus attempted to declare the omens
unfavourable and thus void the new law, but was driven from the forum by
Caesar's armed supporters. His
lictors had
their fasces
broken, two tribunes accompanying him were wounded, and Bibulus himself had a
bucket of excrement thrown over him. In fear of his life, he retired to his
house for the rest of the year, issuing occasional proclamations of bad omens.
These attempts to obstruct Caesar's legislation proved ineffective. Roman
satirists ever after referred to the year as "the consulship of Julius and
Caesar".[53]
When Caesar and Bibulus were first elected, the aristocracy tried to limit
Caesar's future power by allotting the woods and pastures of Italy, rather than
governorship of a province, as their proconsular duties after their year of
office was over.[54]
With the help of Piso and Pompey, Caesar later had this overturned, and was
instead appointed to govern
Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) and
Illyricum (the western Balkans), with
Transalpine Gaul (southern France) later added, giving him command of four
legions. The term of his proconsulship, and thus his immunity from prosecution,
was set at five years, rather than the usual one.[55]
When his consulship ended, Caesar narrowly avoided prosecution for the
irregularities of his year in office, and quickly left for his province.[56]
Conquest of Gaul
Main article:
Gallic Wars
Caesar was still deeply in debt, and there was money to be made as a
provincial governor, whether by extortion[57]
or by military adventurism. Caesar had four legions under his command, two of
his provinces,
Illyricum and
Gallia Narbonensis, bordered on unconquered territory, and independent Gaul
was known to be unstable. Rome's allies the
Aedui had been
defeated by their Gallic rivals, with the help of a contingent of
Germanic Suebi
under
Ariovistus, who had settled in conquered Aeduan land, and the
Helvetii
were mobilising for a mass migration, which the Romans feared had warlike
intent. Caesar raised two new legions and defeated first the Helvetii, then
Ariovistus, and left his army in winter quarters in the territory of the Sequani,
signaling that his interest in the lands outside Gallia Narbonensis would not be
temporary.[58]
He began his second year with double the military strength he had begun with,
having raised another two legions in Cisalpine Gaul during the winter. The
legality of this was dubious, as the Cisalpine Gauls were not Roman citizens. In
response to Caesar's activities the previous year, the
Belgic tribes
of north-eastern Gaul had begun to arm themselves. Caesar treated this as an
aggressive move, and, after an inconclusive engagement against a united Belgic
army, conquered the tribes piecemeal. Meanwhile, one legion, commanded by
Crassus' son Publius, began the conquest of the tribes of the
Armorican
peninsula.[59]
During the spring of 56 BC the Triumvirate held a conference at Luca (modern
Lucca) in
Cisalpine Gaul. Rome was in turmoil, and
Clodius' populist campaigns had been undermining relations between Crassus
and Pompey. The meeting renewed the Triumvirate and extended Caesar's
proconsulship for another five years. Crassus and Pompey would be consuls again,
with similarly long-term proconsulships to follow: Syria for Crassus, the
Hispanian provinces for Pompey.[60]
The conquest of Armorica was completed when Caesar defeated the
Veneti in a naval battle, while young Crassus conquered the
Aquitani of
the south-west. By the end of campaigning in 56 BC only the
Morini and
Menapii of
the coastal Low Countries still held out.[61]
In 55 BC Caesar repelled an incursion into Gaul by the Germanic
Usipetes and
Tencteri, and followed it up by building a bridge across the Rhine and
making a show of force in Germanic territory, before returning and dismantling
the bridge. Late that summer, having subdued the Morini and Menapii, he crossed
to Britain, claiming that the Britons had aided the Veneti against him the
previous year. His intelligence was poor, and although he gained a beachhead on
the Kent coast he was unable to advance further, and returned to Gaul for the
winter.[62]
He returned the following year, better prepared and with a larger force, and
achieved more. He advanced inland, establishing
Mandubracius of the
Trinovantes as a friendly king and bringing his rival,
Cassivellaunus, to terms. But poor harvests led to widespread revolt in
Gaul, led by
Ambiorix of the
Eburones,
forcing Caesar to campaign through the winter and into the following year. With
the defeat of Ambiorix, Caesar believed Gaul was now pacified.[63]
While Caesar was in Britain his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, had died in
childbirth. Caesar tried to resecure Pompey's support by offering him his
great-niece
Octavia in marriage, alienating Octavia's husband
Gaius Marcellus, but Pompey declined. In 53 BC Crassus was killed leading a
failed invasion
of Parthia.
Rome was on the edge of violence. Pompey was appointed sole consul as an
emergency measure, and married
Cornelia, daughter of Caesar's political opponent Quintus Metellus Scipio,
whom he invited to become his consular colleague once order was restored. The
Triumvirate was dead.[64]
In 52 BC another, larger revolt erupted in Gaul, led by
Vercingetorix of the
Arverni.
Vercingetorix managed to unite the Gallic tribes and proved an astute commander,
defeating Caesar in several engagements including the
Battle of Gergovia, but Caesar's elaborate siege-works at the
Battle of Alesia finally forced his surrender.[65]
Despite scattered outbreaks of
warfare the following year,[66]
Gaul was effectively conquered.
Titus Labienus was Caesar's most senior
legate during
his Gallic campaigns, having the status of
propraetor.[67]
Other prominent men who served under him included his relative
Lucius Julius Caesar,[68]
Crassus' sons
Publius[69]
and
Marcus,[70]
Cicero's brother
Quintus,[71]
Decimus Brutus,[72]
and Mark
Antony.[73]
Plutarch claimed that the army had fought against three million men in the
course of the
Gallic
Wars, of whom 1 million died, and another million were
enslaved. 300 tribes were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed.[74]
Almost the entire population of the city of
Avaricum (Bourges)
(40,000 in all) was slaughtered.[75]
Julius Caesar reports that 368,000 of the
Helvetii
left home, of whom 92,000 could bear arms, and only 110,000 returned after the
campaign.[76]
However, in view of the difficulty of finding accurate counts in the first
place, Caesar's propagandistic purposes, and the common gross exaggeration of
numbers in ancient texts, the totals of enemy combatants in particular are
likely to be far too high. Furger-Gunti considers an army of more than 60,000
fighting Helvetii extremely unlikely in the view of the tactics described, and
assumes the actual numbers to have been around 40,000 warriors out of a total of
160,000 emigrants.[77]
Delbrück suggests an even lower number of 100,000 people, out of which only
16,000 were fighters, which would make the Celtic force about half the size of
the Roman body of ca. 30,000 men.[78]
Military career
Historians place the generalship of Caesar as one of the greatest military
strategists and tacticians who ever lived, alongside the likes of
Sun Tzu,
Alexander the Great,
Hannibal,
Khalid ibn al-Walid,
Genghis
Khan and
Napoleon Bonaparte. Caesar suffered occasional tactical defeats, such as
Battle of Gergovia during the Gallic War and the Battle of Dyrrhachium during
the Civil War. However, his 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 and his army's superlative
engineering abilities. There was also the legendary speed with which he
manoeuvred his troops; Caesar's army sometimes marched as many as 40 miles
(64 km) a day. His Commentaries on the Gallic Wars describe how, during
the siege of one Gallic city built on a very steep and high plateau, his
engineers tunnelled through solid rock, found the source of the spring from
which the town was drawing its water supply, and diverted it to the use of the
army. The town, cut off from their water supply, capitulated at once. Caesar
also used a cipher system to communicate with his generals which has now come to
be known as the
Caesar cipher.
Civil war
An engraving depicting Gaius Julius Caesar.
In 50 BC, the Senate, led by
Pompey, ordered
Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term as Proconsul had
finished.[79]
Moreover, the Senate forbade Caesar to stand for a second consulship in
absentia.[79]
Caesar thought he would be prosecuted and politically marginalised 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 10 January 49 BC Caesar
crossed the
Rubicon river (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only
one legion and ignited
civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Plutarch reports that Caesar quoted
the Athenian playwright
Menander in
Greek, saying ἀνερρίφθω κύβος (let the dice be tossed).[80]
Suetonius gives the Latin approximation
alea iacta est (the die is tossed).[81]
The Optimates, including Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger, fled to the
south, having little confidence in the newly raised troops especially since so
many cities in northern Italy had voluntarily surrendered. An attempted stand by
a consulate legion in Samarium resulted in the consul being handed over by the
defenders and the
legion surrendering without significant fighting. Despite greatly
outnumbering Caesar, who only had his
Thirteenth Legion with him, Pompey had no intention of fighting. Caesar
pursued Pompey to
Brindisium,
hoping to capture Pompey before the trapped Senate and their legions could
escape.[82]
Pompey managed to elude him, sailing out of the harbour before Caesar could
break the barricades.
Lacking a naval
force since Pompey had already scoured the coasts of all ships for
evacuation of his forces, 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 as tribune, Caesar made an astonishing 27-day route-march to
Hispania,
rejoining two of his Gallic legions, where he defeated Pompey's lieutenants. He
then returned east, to challenge Pompey in Greece where on 10 July 48 BC at
Dyrrhachium Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat when the line of
fortification was broken. 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.[83]
In Rome, Caesar was appointed
dictator,[84]
with Mark
Antony as his
Master of the Horse; Caesar presided over his own election to a second
consulate (with
Publius Servilius Vatia as his colleague) and then, after eleven days,
resigned this dictatorate.[84][85]
He pursued Pompey to
Alexandria,
where Pompey was murdered by a former Roman officer serving in the court of
King Ptolemy XIII.[86]
Caesar then became involved with the Alexandrine civil war between Ptolemy and
his sister, wife, and co-regent 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,[87]
which was offered to him by Ptolemy's chamberlain
Pothinus as
a gift. In any event, Caesar defeated the Ptolemaic forces in 47 BC in the
Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra
celebrated their victory of the Alexandrine civil war with a triumphant
procession on the Nile in the spring of 47 B.C. The royal barge was accompanied
by 400 additional ships, introducing Caesar to the luxurious lifestyle of the
Egyptian pharaohs.
Caesar and Cleopatra never married, as Roman Law only recognised marriages
between two Roman citizens. Caesar continued his relationship with Cleopatra
throughout his last marriage, which lasted 14 years – in Roman eyes, this did
not constitute adultery – and may have fathered a son called
Caesarion.
Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa
just outside Rome across the
Tiber.
Late in 48 BC, Caesar was again appointed Dictator, with a term of one year.[85]
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 mocked
Pompey's previous victories over such poor enemies.[88]
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).[89]
After this victory, he was appointed
Dictator for ten years.[90]
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
Battle of Munda in March 45 BC.[91]
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
While he was still campaigning in
Hispania,
the Senate began bestowing honours on Caesar in absentia. Caesar had not
proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning almost all, and there was no serious
public opposition to him.
Great games and celebrations were held on 21 April to honour Caesar’s victory
at Munda. Plutarch writes that many Romans found the triumph held following
Caesar's victory to be in poor taste, as those defeated in the civil war had not
been foreigners, but instead fellow Romans.[92]
On Caesar's return to Italy in September 45 BC, he filed his will, naming his
grandnephew
Gaius Octavius (Octavian) as the heir to everything, including his name.
Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did,
Marcus Junius Brutus would be the next heir in succession.
Caesar tightly regulated the purchase of state-subsidised grain and reduced
the number of recipients to a fixed number, all of whom were entered into a
special register.[93]
From 47 to 44 he made plans for the distribution of land to about 15,000 of his
veterans.[94]
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.[95]
(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.[95]
The month of July is named after Julius in his honour.[96]
The
Forum of Caesar, with its
Temple of Venus Genetrix, was built among many other public works.
Assassination
On the
Ides
of March (15 March; see
Roman calendar) of 44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the
Senate.
Mark Antony, having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a
terrified Liberator 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, located in the
Campus Martius, and directed him to a room adjoining the east portico.[97]
According to
Plutarch, as Caesar arrived at the Senate
Tillius Cimber presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother.[98]
The other conspirators crowded round to offer support. Both Plutarch and
Suetonius
say that Caesar waved him away, but Cimber grabbed his shoulders and pulled down
Caesar's tunic.
Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!").[99]
At the same time, Casca produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the
dictator's neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm.
According to
Plutarch, he said in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?"[100]
Casca, frightened, shouted "Help, brother!" in Greek ("ἀδελφέ,
βοήθει!", "adelphe, 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 continued stabbing him
as he lay defenceless on the lower steps of the portico. According to
Eutropius,
around sixty or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23
times.[101]
According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the
second one to his chest, had been lethal.[102]
The dictator's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested
subject among scholars and historians alike. Suetonius reports that others have
said Caesar's last words were the Greek phrase "καὶ
σύ, τέκνον;"[103]
(transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, child?" in English).
However, Suetonius himself says Caesar said nothing.[99]
Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head
when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.[104]
The version best known in the English-speaking world is the
Latin phrase "Et
tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", commonly rendered as "You too,
Brutus");[105][106]
this derives from Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar, where it actually forms the first half of a
macaronic line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar." It has no basis in
historical fact and Shakespeare's use of Latin here is not from any assertion
that Caesar would have been using the language, rather than the Greek reported
by Suetonius, but because the phrase was already popular at the time the play
was written.[107]
According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if
to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building.[108]
Brutus and his companions then marched to the Capitol while crying out to their
beloved city: "People of Rome, we are once again free!". They were met with
silence, as the citizens of Rome had locked themselves inside their houses as
soon as the rumour of what had taken place had begun to spread.
A wax statue of Caesar was erected in the forum displaying the 23 stab
wounds. A crowd who had amassed there started a fire, which badly damaged the
forum and neighbouring buildings. In the ensuing chaos
Mark
Antony,
Octavian (later Augustus Caesar), and others fought a series of five civil
wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire.
Aftermath of
the assassination
The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated
the end of the Roman Republic.[109]
The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and
had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of high-browed
aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from
Caesar, capitalised 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,
to his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius
Octavian
his sole heir, bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name as well as
making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.[110]
Gaius Octavian became, for all intents and purposes, the son of the great
Caesar, and consequently also inherited the loyalty of much of the Roman
populace. When Caesar's funeral was held several days later in the
Roman
Forum, 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. Further, it was announced to the public during the
funeral oration that Caesar in his will had left his private gardens on the
Tiber to the Roman public as well as 300 sesterces to every enrolled Roman
citizen. (While 300 sesterces was not a fortune, such was the equivalent of
three month's wages for the average Roman worker, a very nice gift.) These
bequests, combined with Antony's funeral oration, only served to increase
Caesar's posthumous stature among the populace, increasing the grief at his
death as well as the rage against his assassins. The crowd at the funeral boiled
over, throwing dry branches, furniture and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral
pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum.
The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled
only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the
Liberators' civil war, fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against
the aristocrats.[111]
However, Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil
wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 19
at the time of Caesar's death, proved to have considerable political skills, and
while Antony dealt with
Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian
consolidated his tenuous position.
In order to combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in
Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the
legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against them.
With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC,[112]
the
Second Triumvirate was officially formed, compsed of Antony, Octavian, and
Caesar's loyal cavalry commander
Lepidus.[113]
It formally
deified Caesar as
Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius
("Son of a god").[114]
Seeing that Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate
brought back the horror of
proscription, abandoned since
Sulla.[115]
It engaged in the legally-sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents
in order to secure funding for its forty-five legions in the second civil war
against Brutus and Cassius.[116]
Antony and Octavius defeated them at
Philippi.[117]
Afterward, Mark Antony married Caesar's lover, Cleopatra, intending to use
the fabulously wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome. A third civil war broke
out between Octavian on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This
final civil war, culminating in the latter's defeat at
Actium, resulted in the permanent ascendancy of Octavian, who became the
first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name that raised him to
status of a deity.[118]
Julius Caesar had been preparing to invade
Parthia, the
Caucasus
and Scythia,
and then swing back onto
Germania
through Eastern Europe. These plans were thwarted by his assassination.[119]
His successors did attempt the conquests of Parthia and Germania, but without
lasting results.
Health
Based on remarks by Plutarch,[120]
Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from
epilepsy.
Modern scholarship is "sharply divided" on the subject, and it is more certain
that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of
the 80s.[121]
Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial
seizures. He may additionally have had
absence seizures in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were
made by the biographer
Suetonius
who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some
medical historians by a claim of
hypoglycemia, which can cause epileptoid seizures.[122][123][124]
Literary works
Caesar was considered during his lifetime to be one of the best orators and
authors of prose in Rome—even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and
style.[125]
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.
Memoirs
Other works historically attributed to Caesar, but whose authorship is
doubted, are:
These narratives were written and published on a yearly basis during or just
after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". Apparently
simple and direct in style—to the point that Caesar's Commentarii are
commonly studied by first and second year Latin students—they are in fact highly
sophisticated tracts, aimed most particularly at the middle-brow readership of
minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.
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
[ˈɡaːius
ˈjuːlius ˈkaisar].[126]
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. This
German name was phonemically but not phonetically derived from the
Middle
Ages
Ecclesiastical Latin, in which the familiar part "Caesar" is
[ˈtʃeːsar], from which the modern English pronunciation is derived, as
well as the title of
Tsar. His name is also remembered in
Norse mythology, where he is manifested as the legendary king
Kjárr.[127]
Family
Parents
Sisters
Wives
- First marriage to
Cornelia Cinnilla, from 83 BC until her death in childbirth in 69 or 68
BC
- Second marriage to
Pompeia, from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC
- Third marriage to
Calpurnia Pisonis, from 59 BC until Caesar's death
Children
-
Julia with Cornelia Cinnilla, born in 83 or 82 BC
-
Caesarion, with
Cleopatra VII, born 47 BC. He was killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted
son Octavianus.
- adopted:
Gaius
Julius Caesar Octavianus, his great-nephew by blood, who later became
Emperor Augustus.
-
Marcus Junius Brutus: The historian Plutarch notes that Caesar believed
Brutus to have been his illegitimate son, as his mother Servilia had been
Caesar's lover during their youth.[128]
Grandchildren
- Grandson from
Julia and
Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed.
Lovers
Notable relatives
Political rivals and rumours of homosexual activity
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."[130]
According to Cicero,
Bibulus,
Gaius Memmius, and others (mainly Caesar's enemies), he had an affair with
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia early in his career. The tales were repeated,
referring to Caesar as the Queen of Bithynia, by some Roman politicians as a way
to humiliate and degrade him. It is possible that the rumours were spread only
as a form of character assassination. Caesar himself, according to
Cassius
Dio, denied the accusations under oath.[131]
This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to
demean and discredit political opponents. A favorite tactic used by the
opposition was to accuse a popular political rival as living a Hellenistic
lifestyle based on Greek and Eastern culture, where homosexuality and a lavish
lifestyle were more acceptable than in Roman tradition.[citation
needed]
Catullus
wrote two poems suggesting that Caesar and his engineer
Mamurra were
lovers,[132]
but later apologised.[133]
Mark
Antony charged that
Octavian
had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. 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.[134]
Honours and titles
As a young man he was awarded the Corona Civica (civic
crown) for valour while fighting in
Asia Minor and went on to receive many honours. These included titles such
as
Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland), and
Dictator.
He was also elected
Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC. 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 man to be awarded so many honours.
Divus Iulius or Divus Julius (the divine Julius or the deified
Julius) was the official title that was given to Caesar posthumously by decree
of the Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC.
Mark
Antony had been appointed as
flamen
(priest) to Caesar shortly before the latter was assassinated.[135]
Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be deified. The cult of Divus
Iulius was promoted by both Octavian and Mark Antony. After the death of Antony,
Octavian, as the adoptive son of Caesar, assumed the title of Divi Filius
(son of a god).
Caesar's
cognomen would itself become a title; it was greatly promulgated by the
Bible, by the
famous verse "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's". 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 at least one head of state
bearing his name.
Depictions
For the marble bust from Arles discovered in 2007–8 alleged to be Caesar's
likeness, and the ensuing controversy, see
Arles portrait bust.
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Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar,
Rimini, Italy
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