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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