Gaius Julius Caesar

Caesar had more than a mere name and military reputation: his energy
could never rest and his one disgrace was to conquer without war. He was
alert and headstrong; his arms answered every summons of ambition or
resentment; he never shrank from using the sword lightly; he followed up
each success and snatched at the favor of Fortune, overthrowing every
obstacle on his path to supreme power, and rejoicing to clear the way
before him by destruction. --Lucan, Bellum Civile I, 143-150
 The Early Years
• Born to a not-so-well-off patrician family in
100 BC in a plebeian neighborhood of
Rome.
• After a civil war, Caesar was left penniless
and almost lost his life while still a teenager.
• He joined the army at age 18 and serves for
four years.
 The (Legal) Rungs of Power
• Was elected a Senator at age 30.

• At age 34 he was put in charge of public

entertainments. He spent lavishly, and won
great popularity.

• Was elected Pontifex Maximus at age 36.

This post was for life, and brought power,
wealth, and prestige (plus a big house in the
Forum!)

• At age 39, then became military governor

in Spain, where he earned his reputation as
a general.

• Was elected Consul, the highest office in

Rome, at age 41.
 The First Triumvirate
• Wealth, popularity, military
commands are all creating new
and great opportunities for
personal power.
• Marcus Licinius Crassus: the
Richest man in Rome
• Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus: the
most successful General of the
time
• Caesar: up-and-coming,
popular, and Consul
 Gaul
• After his Consulship, Caesar makes sure he’s appointed
governor of Illyricum, Italian Gaul, and then Gaul-
across-the-Alps.
• This gives him the opportunity to command troops
again, and to conquer territory.
• This also gives him the opportunity for great wealth.
• Through his
Commentaries of the
war, published back in
Rome, he gains even
greater celebrity.
 Risking All
• Crassus dies in battle in Parthia.
• The Senate convinces Pompey to oppose
Caesar rather than work with him.
• Caesar, after eight years in Gaul, is ordered
to surrender his armies and return to Rome
(to stand trial!).
• Caesar invades Italy with his Legions.
Alea iacta est! The die is cast.--Caesar, crossing the
Rubicon into Italy with his army. (Suetonius, Life of
Caesar)
 Civil War--Again!
• Pompey and the leading Senators flee to
Greece to ready their army.
• Caesar easily takes Italy, Rome, and Spain.
• Outnumbered two to one, he faces Pompey
in Greece, and crushes him.
• Pompey flees to Egypt.
Caesar’s Coins
• Caesar was the first
Roman to have his
face put on a coin
while he was still alive
• The Romans believed
only ancestors and
gods could be pictured
• Caesar was equating
himself with gods and
Eastern kings
 Ego sum Caesar
• He has himself appointed Dictator-for-Life.
Caesar now rules alone, using friends,
freedmen, and slaves to govern--ignoring
the Senate. Was Caesar a KING?
• Starts wearing an all-purple toga: the
garment of a triumphal general representing
the god Jupiter. Was Caesar a GOD?
 CLEOPATRA
• Became Queen of Egypt at
the age of 17
• Joint Ruler of Egypt with
her brother Ptolomy XII
• Egyptian custom meant
that she had to marry him
• Ptolomy was aged 12
• He died aged 18
 Ptolomy
• Ptolomy and Cleopatra did not
get along.
• Ptolomy’s advisors drove
Cleopatra out into the desert so
Ptolomy XIII could rule alone.
• Pompey fled to Egypt after
being defeated by Julius Caesar
• Ptolomy had Pompey beheaded
and presented his head to
Julius Casar
 Ptolomy’s Mistake
• This was a big miscalculation –
Pompey was still Consul of
Rome and Julius Caesar’s son-
in-law
• Julius Caesar demanded that
Pompey’s assassins be handed
over to him
• Ptolomy refused
• Julius Caesar fought against
Ptolomy’s army.
• Ptolomy, weighted by his armor
of gold, drowned in the River
Nile
• Cleopatra’s third brother
Ptolomy XIV becomes joint
ruler
 Julius and Cleopatra
• Julius Caesar had
Cleopatra restored to the
throne of Egypt
• Cleopatra became
Caesar’s mistress
• Cleopatra’s son Caesarean
was probably Caesar’s son
• She and Caesarean lived
in Rome with Julius.
• Caesar refused to
recognize Caesarean as his
heir
 The Julian Forum
•Julius Caesar
created the Julian
Forum. (named
after himself)

The Forum was needed

because the old forum had
become to small to deal
with the amount of people.
 The Ides of March
• A group of over fifty Senators decide that enough is
enough--they are not ready to relinquish power and control
of Rome to one man.
• They conspire to murder Caesar on March 15, 44 BC.
• They invite him to be crowned and declared King of
Rome. He arrives to find 50 Senators with knives hidden
in their togas. They promptly stabbed him to death.

This coin, issued by Brutus,

commemorates Caesar’s
assassination. Brutus had hoped
he and the other conspirators
would be seen as heroes
liberating the Republic from a
tyrant.
 The Aftermath
• Caesar’s body is cremated in a massive
public demonstration in the Forum. A
temple is built to Divine Julius in that spot.
• The conspirators are forced to flee.
• Civil war again breaks out, with Caesar’s
right-hand-man, Marc Antony, and his heir,
Octavian, conquering the armies of Brutus,
Cassius, and the Senators.
 Caesar’s Lasting Impact
• Caesar provided a blueprint for rising to
absolute power in Rome--a blueprint both
Octavian and Antony followed.
• His name became one of the titles for the
Roman emperors. The more modern “Czar”
and “Kaiser” derive from his name too.
• Caesar began the practice of granting
Roman citizenship to conquered peoples.
This helped to prolong the expansion and
maintenance of the Roman Empire.
 Caesar’s Lasting Impact
• His Commentaries are one of the great
pieces of Latin literature.
• He inspired one of Shakespeare’s most
celebrated plays.
• His reform of the calendar has been
changed very little over the past two
millenia.
• The month July is named for him.