Julieas Ceasar Essay, Research Paper

In the last century of Rome, a great general and politician rose to become the sole ruler of

the republic. That ruler was Julius Caesar. Born Gaius Julius Caesar on July 13, 100 B.C.,

he was the son of a patri- cian family. His father was also named Gaius Julius Caesar. His

mother was Aurelia, who was part of the Aurelii family, an important Roman family. Julius

Caesar was raised to be in the military, because his father was a general and gave Julius

the desire to follow in his footsteps. Julius was only fifteen years old when his father died,

but he already had a lot of military experience. In 84 B.C., Caesar married Cornelia, the

daughter of his father s friend and partner, Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Because she was so

young, Caesar was ordered to divorce her, but he refused, and in order to keep him from

harm he was sent to get a fleet of ships from a Roman ally, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.

When Caesar was about twenty-four years old, he left Rome to study oratory in Rhodes,

Greece. He was captured by pirates when he was on his way to Rhodes,, but was released

after obtaining a ransom. Caesar vowed revenge, and gathered troops together to go after

the pirates. He captured them in 75 B.C. and had them executed. After returning to Rome

from his studies in Rhodes, he helped Marcus Antonius Creticus fight piracy. In 73 B.C.,

Caesar was made a pontiff at Rome. He supported those who were trying to get power

from the nobles who dominated the Senate. He also -2- supported the return of tribunician

powers. His wife Cornelia died in 69 B.C. and he married Pompeia in 68 B.C., a

granddaughter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and a relative of Pompey the Great. He also

became the quaestor of Spain at this time, and in 61 B.C. became governor of Further

Spain. He divorced Pompeia this same year because he suspected she was unfaithful, and

in 58 B.C. he married Calpurnia. A year after becoming the governor of Further Spain,

Caesar joined the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus to further their political

ambitions. Caesar helped Crassus get a reduction of Asian tax contracts, and he helped

Pompey to obtain land for his veterans and ratify postwar agreements. As a result, Caesar

became governor of Illyricum, Cisalpine Gaul, and Transalpine Gaul. He was also given a

large army which he used to conquer Gaul. These were known as the Gallic Wars and they

lasted from 58-51 B.C. Caesar became very powerful because of these wars. Even though

Caesar s daughter, Julia, married Pompey in 59 B.C., things began to go wrong with the

Triumverate. Then Julia died in 54 B.C. and Crassus died in 53 B.C. Caesars successes in

Gaul and the fact that Pompey blamed Caesar for Julia s death, caused the two to become

enemies. Pompey joined the enemies of Caesar and kept him from getting a second

consulate. This lead Caesar to begin a civil war which eventually forced Pompey to

withdraw to Greece. After overrunning Italy and Spain, Caesar entered Greece where he

defeated Pompey on August 9, 48 B.C. at Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Egypt where he was

murdered. Caesar followed Pompey to Eaypt where he became involved in a civil -3- war

between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. With Caesar s help, Cleopatra defeated

her brother, and became the queen of Egypt. She also became Caesar s mistress and

followed him to Rome. After defeating allies of Pompey in Anatolia (47 B.C.), North

Africa (47 B.C.), Thapsus (46 B.C.) and Munda, Spain (45 B.C.), Caesar was appointed

dictator of Rome. As a popular ruler, Caesar was honored by having his face put on coins,

and having a temple erected in his name. He was elected consul, appointed prefect of

morals, awarded tribunician sacrosanctity, and finally appointed dictator for life in 44 B.C.

Caesar introduced alot of new ideas during his reign, such as, limiting the distribution of

free grain, founding citizen colonies, introducing the Julian Calen- dar (which we still use

today), and enlarging the Senate. He reduced debts, revised the tax structure, and

extended Roman citizenship to non-Italians. While meeting the needs of the citizens of

Rome, Caesar strenthened his control of the state, becoming more popular with the

citizenry, but causing his opponents to fear him. In 44 B.C., Caesar began to plan the

conquest of Parthia, likening himself to Alexander the Great. Many in the Roman Senate

feared that he would become an absolute king and conspired to murder him. They were

led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. On March 15, 44 B.C.,during a

meeting of the Senate in Pompey s theatre, Caesar was stabbed to death by the group of

conspirators. As he lay dying, at the foot of Pompey s statue, he looked at his friend

Brutus and said in Greek: Even you, Lad? Caesar was a very intelligent, popular leader,

who caused much loyalty -4- among the citizens of Rome and many of those in the

government, but because he was very ambitious and he did not honor the traditions of his

opponents, he drove them to desperate measures against him. Caesar s adopted son, Octa-

vian later became the first emperor of Rome, Augustus. Julius Caesar, one of history s

most remarkable men, in a little less than fifteen years, had set Rome on the path to

become an empire, had shaped the future of western Europe, had triumphed on battlefields

from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, had reformed the calendar, and at his death had been

decreed a god by the Roman Senate. Caesar— the man and the legend—has fascinated

the ages. Bibliography Caesar, Gaius Julius , p.470-471. The Collegiate Encyclopedia

Vol. 3. New York:Grolier, 1970 Caesar, Gaius Julius . Grolier Electronic Publishing,

Inc. 1993 Grimal, Pierre. In The Footsteps of Caesar: Conquerer s Path to Mighty

Empire , 373-434 Story of Man: Greece and Rome. National GeographicSociety, 1977

Winer, Bart. Rome: Ruler of the World , p. 170-213. Life in the Ancient World. New

York: Random House, 1961

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