He was a man of the people, a populist who helped military veterans
and initiated land reform. He was a brilliant strategist on the battlefield, an
astute politician, and an avid historian. This man would become the last
dictator of the Roman Republic, paving the way for the great Roman Empire. Julius
Caesar was masterful, artful and above all, powerful. He was adored by the man
in the street for all those things, but despised by those who were envious of
the hold he had over the people.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born on the 12th of July, 100 BC, in Rome. His
parents were named Gaius Julius Caesar and Aurelia Cotta. This family of his
was noble, claiming descent from powerful ancestors. Where the name Caesar
originated has been debated. It might have been related to the procedure of the
Cesarean section; it could have been linked to the slaying of an elephant or
it might have been down to the first Caesar’s thick, curly locks of hair.
Despite being noble, the family was not particularly rich and
didn’t hold much sway in Roman politics of the day. They were comfortable,
though, with the father holding the position of senator and the mother hailing
from a wealthy family. Information is scant as to what happened in the early
childhood of Julius Caesar, but he had to grow up fast due to his father
passing away. At age 16, he was the man of the family. This was a time of
division in Rome and there was a bloody civil war.
Caesar’s uncle Marius was in the middle of that, a man who had
granted Caesar the position of the high priest of Jupiter. Caesar was also married
to the daughter of his uncle’s main ally, Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Then all came
undone for the young man when his uncle and his ally lost the civil war to the
powerful Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Caesar was in a precarious position and his life
was in danger. He was soon stripped of his priesthood, robbed of the
inheritance he was set to receive, and for the sake of his survival, he went
into hiding.
But Caesar had a stroke of luck when his mother’s family joined the
support of Sulla He was allowed to come out of hiding, but he was stripped of
his title of priest. As things went, this would make the man be, because
priests were not allowed to become part of the military. Free of his title, Caesar
looked to the army. This being a time of pervasive back-stabbing, the literal
kind, Caesar was well aware that being close to Sulla was perhaps not a prudent
thing to do.
He got out of Rome as fast as he could and joined military
campaigns that stretched to Asia. He soon became a man of distinction and
received credit for his part in military victories. Caesar had found his
footing and his bearing in life. When he was 22-years old the great Sulla bit the
dust, and with him out of the way, Caesar knew he could likely return to Rome
without the fear of being killed by an enemy. That he did, and he acquired a
house in the “Subura”, a lower-class neighborhood ripe with crime where the
streets always thronged with people.
Stripped of his inheritance, Caesar was not a wealthy man by any
means. His getting to know those streets would shape his view of life. He would
not forget the average man. It’s now that Caesar’s life took another turn,
because during his time in the subura he became an admired prosecutor who
brought down corrupt governors who had taken advantage of their positions. He
was renowned for his gift of speech and dazzled people with his fluid orations.
He fought righteously and he won. He garnered even more praise in
Rome after people heard the story of him being kidnapped by pirates when he was
travelling the seas. While held prisoner he showed no fear and even demanded
that the pirates raise the ransom they had asked for. He was worth more than
the demand, he told the pirates. The money was paid and Caesar was released. He
soon got a fleet together and went in search of the pirates.
He found them and brought them back to Rome to face the music. He
had them all crucified, just as he had told them would happen when he was in
captivity. But Caesar was lenient, too, and rather than have them experience
the full force of this brutal kind of execution, he first slit their throats. After
that, it was back to the army and more campaigns in Asia. On his return to Rome
the now esteemed man was quickly made a public official and it is here where
his life in politics began.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing. He lost his wife, then married again,
and then divorced. But at age 37 he ran for the position of Pontifex Maximus,
which translates as chief priest of the Roman state religion. It was a messy
affair, with his rivals for that post accused of corruption. But Caesar won and
it wasn’t even close. At the age of 41 he was elected senior Roman consul, a
position he gained with the help of some powerful friends.
Caesar had one thing in mind to start with, a populist move which
would involve redistributing public land to some of the poorer people in Rome. If
anyone was against this, he said force might be used. The two men in his
triumvirate agreed, and so people became aware of the alliance. He was
successful, but his number of enemies were growing, especially within the ranks
of the Roman aristocracy. Caesar was viewed as a populist upstart, a possible
danger to the wealthy elite, but he had the admiration of the people for his social
reform.
He had the backing of his co-aligned, and so his power just grew
and grew. The thing was, he was still not a rich man and he had debts to pay. He
was aware that money could be made by winning military campaigns, and he looked
towards the region of Gaul which now covers parts of western Europe. That land
was inhabited by Germanic tribes that might be a threat to Rome, and so Caesar defeated
them with two legions. He wasn’t done by any means, and he defeated more
tribes.
After which, he concentrated his efforts on an invasion of Briton. On
his way there he won more campaigns winning battles against various European
tribes, although his first invasion of Britain was unsuccessful. On his second
attempt his troops made it further inland and some alliances were made, but
Caesar was forced to retreat once more due to revolts in Gaul. But we shouldn’t
underestimate what he had achieved. Caesar and his legions had crossed Europe and
they had defeated everyone in their path.
They had breached the borders of that island of Briton. Caesar had
gained great respect for these campaigns, but he had his detractors in the people
that thought he was gaining too much power. In Rome there was trouble, and the
triumvirate was strained. One of the enduring strengths of this alliance was
the fact that Caesar’s daughter was married to Pompey, but she died while
giving birth. Caesar offered him another relative, albeit a distant one this
time, and that was turned down.
Things went from bad to worse when the third member of the
triumvirate, Crassus, died in a military campaign. Pompey then married the
daughter of one of Caesar’s political enemies and that was the end of the
triad. Caesar meanwhile was busy fighting insurrection in Gaul, campaigns that
at times may not have gone as he wanted, but he nonetheless came out as victor.
The many tribes had known if they fought each other and the Romans they were
done for, so they formed an alliance and did have some success against Caesar’s
armies.
But in the end Caesar was victorious and he marched through parts
of Europe and defeated around 300 tribes while destroying 800 cities. Caesar is
now 50 years old and he faces a very big problem. Pompey is heading the senate
and he’s just demanded that Caesar disband his legions and return to Rome. Caesar
is seen as a power unto himself and a threat to those in the senate. He’s
accused of insubordination and treason. He knows what will happen and he does
not meet the demand.
Instead he takes a single legion, men who are wholeheartedly behind
him, to the border of Italy. He will not bow down. In Caesar’s own words he said,
“the die is cast” and he entered Italy ready to go against his opponents in the
Senate. Caesar was vastly outnumbered with his one legion, but those were
hardened men who’d been fighting tribes for some time. The fight didn’t even
happen and Pompey fled to Spain with his tail between his legs.
Caesar went in pursuit and left Rome in the hands of the great Mark
Anthony. Caesar had no ships since they had been taken by Pompey, and so he
marched into Spain, first subduing anyone that might align with Pompey and his
troops, and then going in search of Pompey himself. What ensued was the Battle
of Dyrrhachium, and at first Pompey had all the strategic advantages. Caesar’s
army was in a bad position, unable to attack and blocked in so they could not get
provisions to feed themselves.
Pompey on the other hand had the sea, and he could wait as long as
he wanted. But as time went by Pompey was finding it more difficult to get
supplies, while the harvest was on its way and Caesar would be in good stead
for battle. When the fighting finally commenced, Caesar lost ground; he was
simply outnumbered by Pompey’s forces. Both forces didn’t back down, but in the
end Caesar halted his attacks. Both armies retreated and went in search of more
men as well as supplies, and then what happened sometime after was the Battle
of Pharsalus in Greece.
Pompey again was in a much stronger position with double the troops
that Caesar had and a lot more provisions. He knew if he just waited, Caesar’s
army would starve. But the senate demanded Pompey attack and so he did. Caesar’s
battle-hardened soldiers were commendable, and his instructions were perfect. At
the end of the battle when many men had lost their lives all Pompey could do
was watch his men running away.
He had finally been defeated. Caesar was a proud man and it’s said
he remembered every officer, or centurion, by their name. Pompey fled to Egypt
but there Ptolemy XIII demanded that he be executed. He gave the head to Caesar
to see. It backfired and Caesar was inflamed, because he had been using his
time granting amnesty to all those in the senate that had been against him. Instead
of killing his enemies and anyone who had fought against him, Caesar showed mercy
and allowed the men to live their lives normally. Caesar then campaigned
against the Egyptian pharaoh and he won again.
He made the great Cleopatra the ruler and they became lovers, which
is a story that has gone down in history. Although Caesar was married in Rome,
what happened in Egypt kind of stayed in Egypt. Now dictator of Rome, Caesar
went off again on more campaigns and this time he easily defeated armies in the
Middle East. He moved on to Africa where there were Roman enemies who had been
aligned with Pompey, and while he didn’t win all the fights, he did enough.
The campaigns didn’t stop and Caesar went away to Spain. At this
time his name was being sung in the streets and he was being praised for the
great and merciful man he was. His enemies were not all slaughtered, but they
had not turned against him in Rome. But enmity towards him started to fester
when he was made dictator for another ten years and began a course of social
reforms that supported the lower and middle classes.
This infuriated most of the wealthy people of course. He wanted to
reform tax; subsidize grain, reduce government debt, support veterans of the
military and give Roman citizenship to people in territories far and wide. He
made laws so that certain people couldn’t buy extravagant luxury goods. He also
brought in the Julian calendar, the pre-cursor to the calendar we use today in the
West. At the same time he held outrageous games where 100s of wild animals were
killed as well as over 2,000 war captives. This kind of thing was seen as over
the top by some people.
It was March 15 and Caesar was 55 years old. He had won over many
of the people and had become known as a mighty leader, but his power and his
reforms had annoyed many of the Roman elites. They wanted him dead, and so they
plotted to assassinate him. Mark Anthony had got wind of this plot, but his own
plan to inform Caesar was thwarted. Caesar was called to the Senate where he
thought he had some matters to deal with, but little did he know that when he
arrived those waiting for him had all conspired to kill him. Senators grabbed
him and pulled him to the ground and then proceeded to stab him.
His body was punctured 23 times and 60 men were involved. It was
the politician named Marcus Junius Brutus that led the plot, and some records state
that Caesar’s last words were, “You too, Brutus?” Brutus then marched through
the streets announcing to the people that once again Rome was free. The
consequence of this was the lower and middle classes were outraged that their
champion had been brutally murdered by corrupt politicians.
They became a mob and a violent one at that. The story is a long
one, but civil wars ensued. Mark Anthony aligned with Caesar’s old flame, Cleopatra,
and the two of them warred against Caesar’s grandnephew, Octavian. Octavian
won, and he became the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Caesar has gone down
as perhaps the greatest military leader in ancient Rome, and he had an
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