Caesar title
Julius Caesar
Roman general and dictator (–44 BC)
"Gaius Julius Caesar" and "Caesar" redirect here. For the name, see Gaius Julius Caesar (name). For other uses, see Gaius Julius Caesar (disambiguation), Caesar (disambiguation), and Julius Caesar (disambiguation).
Gaius Julius Caesar[a] (12 July BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman.
A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the private support of Cicero. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51&#;BC, which greatly extended Roman territory.
During this time he both invaded Britain and built a bridge across the river Rhine. These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53&#;BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome.
In 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority by crossing the Rubicon and marching towards Rome at the head of an army.[3] This began Caesar's civil war, which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC.
After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reform, including the creation of the Julian calendar.
He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reforms to support his veterans and initiated an enormous building programme. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life" (dictator perpetuo). Fearful of his power and domination of the state, a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44&#;BC.
A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the last civil war of the Roman Republic. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.
Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources.
Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.[4] His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for "Emperor"; the title "Caesar" was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern descendants such as Kaiser and Tsar. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works.
Early life and career
Main article: Early life and career of Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gensJulia on 12 July &#;BC.[5] The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from Alba Longa during the seventh century&#;BC after the third king of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, took and destroyed their city.
The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness. There is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but Caesar's mother lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth.
Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic.
The first person known to have had the cognomenCaesar was a praetor in &#;BC during the Second Punic War. The family's first consul was in &#;BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90&#;BC.[8] Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically.
He married Aurelia, a member of the politically influential Aurelii Cottae, producing – along with Caesar – two daughters.
Julius caesar biography Archived from the original on 26 January From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. In January 49 B. Retrieved 24 MayBuoyed by his own marriage and his sister's marriage (the dictator's aunt) with the extremely influential Gaius Marius, he also served on the Saturninian land commission in &#;BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85&#;BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90&#;BC.[9]
Life under Sulla and military service
Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and instead chose retirement.
During Cinna's dominance, Caesar was named as flamen Dialis (a priest of Jupiter) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia. The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar.[11] In early 84&#;BC, Caesar's father died suddenly.
After Sulla's victory in the civil war (82&#;BC), Cinna's acta were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter.
Sid caesar biography Philippa, F. Few Romans would have chosen young Julius Caesar ca —44 B. Retrieved 24 May W W Norton.Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the proscription lists, though scholars are mixed.[13] Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the Vestal Virgins were able to intercede on his behalf.[14] They then reached a compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in [Caesar] many Mariuses"[15] is apocryphal.[16]
Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, Marcus Minucius Thermus.
While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, Nicomedes IV, though later invective connected Caesar to a homosexual relation with the monarch.[18] He then served at the Siege of Mytilene where he won the civic crown for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle.
The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to the staff of Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78&#;BC and returning home immediately.
He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul Lepidus' revolt that year[20] but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age.
Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella in 77&#;BC, who had recently returned from a proconsulship in Macedonia.
Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting Gaius Antonius Hybrida (later consul in 63&#;BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf.[22] After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician Apollonius Molon.
While travelling, he was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty talents and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per Velleius Paterculus.[24] His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War over the winter of 75 and 74&#;BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces.[25]
Entrance to politics
While absent from Rome, in 73&#;BC, Caesar was co-opted into the pontifices in place of his deceased relative Gaius Aurelius Cotta.
The promotion marked him as a well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career. Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the military tribunes for 71&#;BC.[27] There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though the war on Spartacus was on-going – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on the plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned.[28] These advocacies were common and uncontroversial.
The next year, 70&#;BC, Pompey and Crassus were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles.[30]
For his quaestorship in 69&#;BC, Caesar was allotted to serve under Gaius Antistius Vetus in Hispania Ulterior.
His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius died and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, Julia. He gave eulogies for both at public funerals.[31] During Julia's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of his aunt's husband Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in the civil war.
Some of the Sullan nobles – including Quintus Lutatius Catulus – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common. Contra Plutarch, Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism.
Caesar quickly remarried, taking the hand of Sulla's granddaughter Pompeia.[35]
Aedileship and election as pontifex maximus
For much of this period, Caesar was one of Pompey's supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans.
Caesar also supported the lex Gabinia in 67&#;BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in the Mediterranean and also supported the lex Manilia in 66&#;BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander Lucullus to Pompey.
Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65&#;BC, Caesar served as curule aedile and staged lavish games that won him further attention and popular support.[37] He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over Jugurtha and the Cimbri.
According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; however, any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night.
It is more likely that Caesar was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of pietas – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate.
In 63&#;BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of pontifex maximus,[41] who was the head of the College of Pontiffs and the highest ranking state religious official.
In the pontifical election before the tribes, Caesar faced two influential senators: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus. Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent.[42] Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating;[43] that no charge was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory.
Augustus caesar biography On the last day of 45 BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ally elected as replacement for a single day. Coruncanius BC : L. Caesar's cognomen itself became a title ; it was promulgated by the Bible , which contains the famous verse " Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". Additionally, his military campaigns had economic implications, often including the acquisition of territory that promised further wealth through taxation.If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy.
Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune Publius Servilius Rullus, however, there are no ancient sources so attesting.
Caesar also engaged in a collateral manner in the trial of Gaius Rabirius by one of the plebeian tribunes – Titus Labienus – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a senatus consultum ultimum some forty years earlier.[48] The most famous event of the year was the Catilinarian conspiracy.
While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy,[49] the chance that he was a participant is extremely small.[50]
Praetorship
Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63&#;BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property.[52] Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the lex Sempronia de capite civis, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by Cato, however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.
During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey.
This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition. He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune Metellus Nepos to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the comitia tributa in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and Quintus Minucius Thermus, the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility[56] – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority.
He also was engaged in the Bona Dea affair, where Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion" – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.[59]
After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Hispania Ulteriorpro consule.[61] Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off.
He campaigned against the Callaeci and Lusitani and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts. Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed imperator. When he arrived home in the summer of 60&#;BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the pomerium (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy.
Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception.
Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.[67]
First consulship and the Gallic Wars
Main articles: Military campaigns of Julius Caesar and First Triumvirate
Caesar stood for the consulship of 59&#;BC along with two other candidates.
His political position at the time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society. With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one Lucius Lucceius, Caesar won.
Lucceius, however, did not and the voters returned Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies.[70]
First consulship
Further information: First Triumvirate
After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly[71] termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times.[72] Caesar was still at work in December of 60&#;BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance was finalised only some time around its start.
Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of Pompey's eastern settlement and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans.[74]
Caesar's first act was to publish the minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public.
He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains.
Referring it to the Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people, there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement.
Octavian caesar biography: His early years unfolded during a period of significant political instability within the Roman Republic, which had begun to struggle under the weight of its own expansion and the discrediting of its nobility. Cornelius Cethegus BC : P. Il Messaggero in Italian. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving.
Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened a permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy.
The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused.
Caesar also brought and passed a one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements.
Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate. Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius moved the lex Vatinia assigning the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul to Caesar for five years.[84] Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the silvae callesque ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60&#;BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'".[85] The Senate was also persuaded to assign to Caesar Transalpine Gaul as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps.
Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land[87] and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house.
There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons. Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through the year.[89][90] This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy.
Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the lex Julia de repetundis to crack down on provincial corruption.[92] When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in the Senate stalled and was regardless dropped.
He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March.[93]
Campaigns in Gaul
Main article: Gallic Wars
During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his Commentaries thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52&#;BC.
Each was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome; the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period.
Gaul in 58&#;BC was in the midst of some instability.
Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years. The first engagement was in April 58&#;BC when Caesar prevented the migrating Helvetii from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally.
Building a wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte before forcing them to return to their original homes. He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the Aedui, for aid against Ariovistus – king of the Suebi and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at the Battle of Vosges.
Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the Belgae in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the Battle of the Sabis, Caesar spent much of 56&#;BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the Veneti in what is now Brittany.
At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation.
Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross the Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier; displaying Roman engineering prowess, he here built a bridge across the Rhine in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power.
Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54&#;BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at the time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder". He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the Eburones and Belgae starting in late 54&#;BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts.
Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle. The next year, a greater challenge emerged with the uprising of most of central Gaul, led by Vercingetorix of the Averni. Caesar was initially defeated at Gergovia before besieging Vercingetorix at Alesia.
Casear biography Caesar stood for the consulship of 59 BC along with two other candidates. The exact date is unknown. Domitius Ahenobarbus 89 BC : Q. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty [ 77 ] and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy.After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51&#;BC suppressing any remaining resistance.
Politics, Gaul, and Rome
In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59&#;BC, the three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular Publius Clodius Pulcher,[] who was plebeian tribune in 58&#;BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile.
When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.[]
Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero.
With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving.[] Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent the Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the lex Vatinia until 54&#;BC.
His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally.
The three allies' relations broke down in 57&#;BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year.
With a real threat to Caesar's command and acta brewing in 56&#;BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support.