Jump to content

Julius Caesar

Change links
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the person. For the play byWilliam Shakespeare,seeJulius Caesar (play).
Julius Caesar
TheTusculum portrait,possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum,Turin,Italy
Dictator of the Roman Empire
In office
October 49 BC – 15 March 44 BC
Lieutenant
Preceded bySulla
(82/81–81 BC; as previous Dictator)
Succeeded byAugustus
(27 BC – AD 14; asRoman emperor)
Consul of the Roman Republic
In office
1 January 44 BC – 15 March 44 BC
Serving withMark Antony
Preceded by
Succeeded by
In office
1 January 46 BC – September 45 BC
Serving withM. Aemilius Lepidus(46 BC)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
In office
1 January 48 BC – 1 January 47 BC
Preceded by
Succeeded by
In office
1 January 59 BC – 1 January 58 BC
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Personal details
Born
Gaius Julius Caesar

12 July 100 BC
Rome,Italia,Roman Republic
Died15 March 44 BC (aged 55)
Rome
Cause of deathMultiple stab wounds
Resting placeTemple of Caesar,Rome
Political partyPopulares
Spouse(s)
Children
ParentsGaius Julius CaesarandAurelia Cotta

Gaius Julius Caesar(12 July 100BC[1]– 15 March 44 BC) was amilitarycommander,politicianandauthorat the end of theRoman Republic.[2][3]

Caesar became a member of theFirst Triumvirate.When that broke up, he fought acivil waragainstPompeythe Great. Winning the war, Caesar becameRoman dictatoruntil his death.

On March 15, 44 BC, he wasstabbed to deathby a group of senators on theIdes of Marchbefore a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey (the Theatre of Pompey) inRome.

Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders.[4]Hissurnameis asynonymfor "Emperor";the title"Caesar"was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to moderndescendantssuch as "Kaiser"in German,"Tsar"in the Slavonic languages, and" Qayṣar "in the languages of theIslamic world.[5]

Early Life

[change|change source]

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Italy in July 100 BC.

At sixteen he was the head of his family, and came under threat whenLucius Cornelius SullabecameRoman dictator.

Sulla set about purging Rome of his enemies. Hundreds were killed orexiled,and Caesar was on the list. His mother's family pleaded for his life; Sulla reluctantly gave in and removed Caesar from his inheritance. From then on, lack of money was one of the main problems in his life. Caesar joined the army and left Rome.

On the way across theAegean Sea,[6]Caesar was kidnapped bypiratesand held prisoner.[7]When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twentytalentsof silver, he insisted they ask for fifty.[8][9]p39After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them. He had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised while in captivity—a promise the pirates had taken as a joke.[10]As a sign of leniency, he first had their throats cut. He was soon called back into military action.

On the way up

[change|change source]

On his return to Rome, he was elected as militarytribune,a first step in a political career. He was electedquaestorfor 69 BC.[11]His wife Cornelia died that year.[12]After her funeral, Caesar went to serve his quaestorship inSpain.[13]p100On his return in 67 BC,[14]he married Pompeia (a granddaughter of Sulla), whom he later divorced.[15]In 63 BC he ran for election to the post ofPontifex Maximus,as high priest of the Roman state religion. He ran against two powerful senators; there were accusations of bribery by all sides. Caesar won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and standing.[16]

After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern RomanSpain,but he was still in considerable debt and needed to pay his creditors. He turned toMarcus Licinius Crassus,one of Rome's richest men. In return for political support, Crassus paid some of Caesar's debts and acted as guarantor for others. Caesar left for his province before his praetorship had ended. In Spain he conquered two local tribes, was hailed asimperatorby his troops, and completed his governorship in high esteem.[17]Though he was due a 'triumph' in Rome, he also wanted to stand for Consul, the most senior magistracy in the Republic. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship. After election, he was a consul in 59 BC.[18]

The First Triumvirate

[change|change source]

Caesar took power withGnaeus Pompeius Magnus(Pompey the Great) andMarcus Licinius Crassus.These three men ruledRomeand were called theTriumvirate.

Caesar was the go-between for Crassus and Pompey. They had been at odds for years, but Caesar tried to reconcile them. Between the three of them, they had enough money and political influence to control public business. This informal alliance, known as theFirst Triumvirate(rule of three men), was cemented by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daughter Julia.[19]Caesar also married again, this time to Calpurnia, who was the daughter of another powerful senator.[20]

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 frightened.

Caesar's Gallic War

[change|change source]

With the agreement of his partners, Caesar became thegovernorofGallia(Gaul). Gaul is the area which is today's NorthernItaly,Switzerland,andFrance.

Caesar was the commander of the Roman legions during theGallic War.The war was fought on the side of Rome's Gallicclientsagainst theGermans,who wanted to invade Gaul. It was also to extend Rome's control of Gaul. Caesar's conquest of Gaul extended Rome's territory to theNorth Sea.In 55 BC he conducted the first Roman invasion ofBritain.Caesar wrote about this eight-year war in his bookDe Bello Gallico('About the Gallic Wars'). This book is an important historical account.

These achievements got him great military power, and threatened to overshadow Pompey. The balance of power was further upset by the death of Crassus in 53 BC.

Caesar's civil war

[change|change source]

In 50 BC, the Senate, led byPompey,ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term as governor had finished.[21]Caesar thought he would beprosecutedif he entered Rome without theimmunityenjoyed by a magistrate. Pompey accused Caesar ofinsubordinationandtreason.

Crossing the Rubicon

[change|change source]

Caesar and hisarmyapproached Rome andcrossed theRubicon,a shallow river in north-east Italy, in 49 BC. It was the point beyond which no army was supposed to go. The river marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul to the north, and Italy proper to the south. Crossing the Rubicon caused acivil war.Pompey,the lawful Consul, and his friends, fled from Rome as Caesar's army approached.

Pompey managed to escape before Caesar could capture him. Caesar decided to head for Spain, while leaving Italy under the control ofMark Antony.Caesar made an astonishing 27-day route-march toSpain,where he defeated Pompey's lieutenants. He then returned east, to challenge Pompey inGreece.There, in July 48 BC, atDyrrhachiumCaesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat. He then decisively defeated Pompey, at theBattle of Pharsaluslater that year.[22]

Dictator at last

[change|change source]

In Rome, Caesar was appointedDictator,[23]withMark Antonyas hisMaster of the Horse(second in command). Caesar presided over his own election to a second consulship and then, after eleven days, resigned this dictatorship.[23][24]

Late in 48 BC, he was appointed dictator again, with a term of one year. Caesar then pursued Pompey toEgypt,where Pompey was soon murdered.[25]Caesar then became involved in an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh and his sister, wife, and co-regent queen,Cleopatra.Perhaps as a result of the pharaoh's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra. He is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head,[26]which was offered to him by the pharaoh as a gift. In any event, Caesar defeated the pharaoh's forces in 47 BC and installed Cleopatra as ruler.

Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated their victory 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; Roman Law only recognized 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 calledCaesarion.Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, staying in Caesar's villa, outside Rome across the RiverTiber.

In 46 BC, Caesar defeatedCatoand the remnants of Pompey's supporters in Africa. He was then appointed dictator for ten years. In two years he made numerous changes in Roman administration to improve the Republic. Many of these changes were meant to improve the lives of ordinary people. One example, which has lasted, was his reform of the calendar into the present format, with a leap day every four years.[27]In February of 44 BC, one month before his assassination, he was appointed Dictator for life.

Death

[change|change source]
See also:Assassination of Julius Caesar

On theIdes of March(15 March; seeRoman calendar) of 44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the Senate.Mark Antony,fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off. The plotters expected this, and arranged for someone to intercept him.[28]

According toEutropius,around sixty or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.[29]According toSuetonius,a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal.[30] The dictator's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. The version best known in the English-speaking world is theLatinphraseEt tu, Brute?('You too, Brutus?').[31][32]In Shakespeare'sJulius Caesar,this is the first half of the line: "Et tu, Brute?Then fall, Caesar ".[33] According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building.[34]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 gathered there started a fire, which badly damaged the forum and the 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.

TheRoman Empireand its emperors were so important in history that the wordCaesarwas used as a title in someEuropeancountries long after the Roman empire was gone. For example,Germany's emperor was called aKaiserup to the year 1919ADandRussia's emperor was called aTsaruntil 1917 AD.

Caesar as author

[change|change source]
C. Julii Cæsaris quæ extant, 1678

Caesar was a significant author.

  • TheCommentarii de Bello Gallico(Commentaries on the Gallic War), campaigns in Gallia and Britannia during his term asproconsul;and
  • TheCommentarii 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 Hispaniensi(On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the Iberian peninsula.

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'sCommentariiare commonly studied by first and second yearLatinstudents—they are in fact quite sophisticated, aimed at the middle-brow readership of minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.

Epilepsy

[change|change source]

Based on remarks by Plutarch,[35]Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered fromepilepsy.Modern scholarship is divided on the subject. It is more certain that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s.[36]

Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have hadabsence seizures(petit mal) in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographerSuetoniuswho was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim ofhypoglycemia.This can cause seizures which are a bit like epilepsy.[37][38][39]

In 2003, psychiatrist Harbour F. Hodder published what he termed as the "Caesar Complex" theory, arguing that Caesar was a sufferer oftemporal lobeepilepsy, and that the symptoms were a factor in Caesar's decision to forgo personal safety in the days leading up to his assassination.[40]

[change|change source]

References

[change|change source]
  1. ↑The date of his birth is controversial. His 'official' birthday was on the 12th.[1]
  2. ↑Fully,Caius Iulius Caii filius Caii nepos Caesar Imperator( "Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Gaius, grandson of Gaius, Imperator" ). Official name afterdeificationin 42 BC:Divus Iulius( "The Divine Julius" ).
  3. ↑Robinson Jr., C.A. (May 1964). "Introduction".Selections from Greek and Roman historians.Holt, Rinehart and Winston. pp. xxix.
  4. ↑Tucker, Spencer (2010).Battles That Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict.ABC-CLIO. p.68.ISBN978-1-59884-430-6.
  5. ↑https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler
  6. ↑Again, according to Suetonius's chronology (Julius4). Plutarch (Caesar1.8–2) says this happened earlier, on his return from Nicomedes's court. Velleius Paterculus (Roman History2:41.3–42) says merely that it happened when he was a young man.
  7. ↑Plutarch,Caesar1–2
  8. ↑Thorne, James (2003).Julius Caesar: conqueror and Dictator.The Rosen Publishing Group. p.15.ISBN9780823935956.
  9. ↑Freeman, Philip 2008.Julius Caesar.Simon and Schuster.ISBN 0-7432-8953-6.
  10. ↑Freeman, 40
  11. ↑Freeman, p. 51
  12. ↑Freeman, 52
  13. ↑Goldsworthy, Adrian 2006.Caesar: life of a Colossus.Yale University Press.ISBN 0-300-12048-6.
  14. ↑Goldsworthy, 101
  15. ↑Suetonius.Julius5–8;Plutarch,Caesar5;Velleius Paterculus,Roman History2.43
  16. ↑Velleius Paterculus,Roman History2.43;Plutarch,Caesar7;Suetonius,Julius,p.13
  17. ↑Plutarch,Caesar11–12;Suetonius,Julius18.1
  18. ↑Plutarch,Julius13;Suetonius,Julius18.2
  19. ↑Cicero,Letters to Atticus2.1,2.3,2.17;Velleius Paterculus,Roman History2.44;Plutarch,Caesar13–14,Pompey47,Crassus14;Suetonius,Julius19.2;Cassius Dio,Roman History37.54–58
  20. ↑Suetonius,Julius21
  21. ↑Suetonius,Julius28
  22. ↑Plutarch,Caesar42–45
  23. ↑23.023.1Plutarch,Caesar37.2
  24. ↑Martin Jehne,Der Staat des Dicators Caesar,Köln/Wien 1987, p. 15-38.
  25. ↑Plutarch,Pompey77–79
  26. ↑Plutarch,Pompey80.5
  27. ↑Suetonius,Julius40
  28. ↑Huzar, Eleanor Goltz (1978).Mark Antony, a biography By Eleanor Goltz Huzar.Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. pp.79–80.ISBN9780816608638.
  29. ↑Woolf Greg (2006),Et tu Brute? – the murder of Caesar and political assassination.ISBN1-86197-741-7
  30. ↑Suetonius,Julius,c. 82.
  31. ↑Stone, Jon R. (2005).The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations.London: Routledge. p.250.ISBN0415969093.
  32. ↑Morwood, James (1994).The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Latin-English).Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.ISBN0198602839.
  33. ↑The phrase appears in Richard Eedes's Latin playCaesar Interfectusof 1582 andThe True Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke &tcof 1595, Shakespeare's source work for other plays.Dyce, Alexander; (quoting Edmond Malone) (1866).The Works of William Shakespeare.London: Chapman and Hall. p.648.
  34. ↑Plutarch,Caesar67
  35. ↑Plutarch,Caesar17, 45, 60; see also Suetonius,Julius45.
  36. ↑Ronald T. Ridley 2000. The Dictator's mistake: Caesar's escape from Sulla.Historia49,225–226, citing doubters of epilepsy: F. Kanngiesser, "Notes on the Pathology of the Julian Dynasty,"Glasgow Medical Journal77 (1912) 428–432; T. Cawthorne, "Julius Caesar and the Falling Sickness,”Proceedings of Royal Society of Medicine51 (1957) 27–30, who prefersMénière's disease;and O. Temkin,The Falling Sickness: a history of epilepsy from the Greeks to the beginnings of modern neurology(Baltimore 1971), p 162.
  37. ↑Hughes J; Atanassova, E; Boev, K (2004). "Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar—did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology?".Epilepsy Behav.5(5): 756–64.doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.05.006.PMID5380131.S2CID34640921.
  38. ↑Gomez J, Kotler J, Long J (1995)."Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor?".The Journal of the Florida Medical Association.82(3): 199–201.PMID7738524.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  39. ↑H. Schneble (1 January 2003)."Gaius Julius Caesar".German Epilepsy Museum.Retrieved28 August2008.
  40. ↑Hodder, Harbour Fraser (September 2003). "Epilepsy and Empire, Caveat Caesar".Accredited Psychiatry & Medicine.106(1). Harvard, Boston: Harvard University: 19.
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:Julius Caesar
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_Caesar&oldid=9571066"