One of the most famous consuls and generals whose thirst for power, and later murder, sparked two civil wars that led to the destruction of the Roman Republic and laid the seed for the Empire. From his name we get the noun 'Caesar' ('Kaiser' in German and 'Tsar' in Russian) for a dictator or supreme ruler.
Born into a not-so-well-known aristocratic family (which claimed as ancestors Aeneas, the pre-founder of Rome, and the goddess Venus), Julius Caesar lost his father when he was about sixteen. Fiercely intelligent and highly educated, he very nearly died during the civil war between Marius and Sulla when he was in his late teens. His name was found on a list of persons proscribed for political murder by Sulla on account of the fact that he was Marius's nephew, and married to the daughter of Cinna, a Marian leader. He fled, was captured but got off from execution by his family name and connections.
With his life back in hand, Caesar left for Asia and there proved himself more than an able general. Captured by pirates on his way home to Rome, he was ransomed, whereupon he returned and tracked down his captors and had them crucified. Back in Rome, he also proved himself a fine orator (a skill highly prized among Romans) and, over the years, rose in the political ladder, becoming—with plentiful bribery—Pontifex Maximus (the chief priest) in 63 BC, and praetor the following year. But Caesar was also already making enemies and heavily in debt. He found the way out with a military command in Spain, where he spent a year looting and pillaging and making enough to return to Rome with plenty enough to fund his future in politics. Elected consul in 60 BC, Caesar made a pact of convenience (the First Triumvirate) with Pompey Magnus (giving him his daughter in marriage as a seal of pledge) and Crassus, two of the richest and most powerful politicians of the day.
The following years found Caesar in Gaul fighting a brutal war of conquest, and winning him the prized surrender of Gaul's most famous leader Vercingetorix. The death of Crassus in 53 BC led to the breakup of the triumvirate. Abandoned also by Pompey Caesar (whose wife, Caesar's daughter, had recently died) now faced political death. His attempts to negotiate a way out with the senate proved futile. Caesar took the only path left to him: on 11 January 49 BC he crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome, sparking a civil war from which there was no return. With him came a vast army ruthlessly loyal to him, bound together by the steel-hard comradeship forged over nine years in battles after battles. Besides Caesar was an inveterate propagandist. Not surprisingly, perhaps, his opponents abandoned the city to Caesar, hoping to use their extensive resources in the East to starve him out. At the Battle of Phasarlus the following year—despite his forces being reduced to eating bread made from roots and out-numbered—Caesar defeated Pompey, who fled to Egpyt. Caesar followed, only to find that the Egyptian king had had Pompey murdered. There too he got himself involved with the local dynasty struggle, and in the process 'befriended' Cleopatra, who purportedly gave him a son.
By 47 BC, Caesar was the absolute master of Rome. Further military campaigns followed, against the king of Pontus (the occasion of his famous saying, "Veni, vidi, vici," 'I came, I saw, I conquered'), then Africa and Spain to rid of the remainder of his opponents. Riding the senate roughshod, he had himself proclaimed dictator for life in January 44. He did not live long to enjoy its privileges and power; on 15 March—the infamous Ides of March—he was assassinated publicly and in broad daylight by more than sixty members of the senate. His death sparked another civil and eventually usher in the Empire.
Bibliography:
Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2006).
Philip Freeman, Julius Caesar. Reprinted, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
Tom Holland, Rubicon. The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic. London: Abacus, 2003.
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