Biography: Julius Caesar.

Born: 13 July 100 BCE.

Died: 15 March 44 BCE. 

Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE)

Julius Caesar is undoubtedly the most famous Roman leader in history. A capable general, he wrote accounts of the Gallic Wars and Roman Civil Wars that remain classics in military history. He was also a capable and far-sighted politician who won the people's support through his public policies and military triumphs. Ultimately, his life served as both an inspiration and a warning to later rulers about the dangers of accumulating too much political power.

Historical Background

Julius Caesar was born in Rome on 13 July 100 BCE to parents Gaius and Aurelia, who were members of the patrician class. Caesar began his political and military career by marrying Cornelia, the daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, in 82 BCE before being posted to Asia Minor to serve in the Second Mithridatic War. The couple had a daughter named Julia in 76 BCE, while Caesar rose through the political ranks to become quaestor (68 BCE), aedile (65 BCE), praetor (62 BCE) and consul (59 BCE). After establishing the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar conquered Gaul between 58 BCE and 51 BCE before crossing the Rubicon River in 49 BCE to start a civil war against Pompey. He defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE) before travelling to Egypt, where he fell in love with Cleopatra. They had a son, Caesarion, in 47 BCE, before Caesar left Egypt to defeat Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela. He went on to defeat Pompey’s remaining followers in North Africa and Spain before declaring himself dictator for life in 45 BCE. This aroused the ire of the Roman senators, Brutus and Cassius, who stabbed Caesar to death on 15 March 44 BCE. He was 55 years old.

Historical Influences

Caesar was influenced by the Patrician class and Hellenistic monarchy. Although a member of the Julii family, he was not from the highest Roman nobility and his marriage to Cornelia linked him with the popularis party, which eventually set him at odds with Pompey, who was linked with the optimates. Caesar himself claimed that his family traced its ancestry back to the goddess Venus, and according to Nic Fields, “Caesar carried Venus’ image on a ring he always wore and invoked her name in moments of danger” (Fields, 2010, p.4). In addition, his political ambitions were likely influenced by his encounters with Hellenistic monarchies like Pontus and Ptolemaic Egypt. According to Plutarch, while governing Spain, Caesar encountered a statue of Alexander the Great and said to his friends, “Do you not think…it is matter for sorrow that while Alexander, at my age, was already king of so many peoples, I have as yet achieved no brilliant success?” (Plut. Caes. 11.6). Caesar’s relationship with Cleopatra could also have been a possible inspiration for his adoption of the title dictator perpetuus. Caesar certainly did build a statue of Cleopatra in the Roman Senate, although in his will, he appointed Octavian as his successor, rather than his biological son, Caesarion.

Key Battle 

Julius Caesar’s signature battle was the Battle of Alesia (52 BCE). In late September, three months into the siege of Alesia, a Gallic relief army of 80,000 warriors arrived and attacked the Roman fortifications around Alesia for three days. On 2 October, the Gauls under Vercassivellaunos led a raiding party to attack a weak spot in the Roman outer wall while Vercingetorix assaulted the inner wall. This assault was repulsed by Caesar, who led his cavalry out and attacked Vercassivellaunos’ forces in the rear, which caused the relief army to rout. The following day, Vercingetorix rode out to Caesar’s camp and surrendered himself to the Roman army, ending the siege.

Alesia (52 BCE) 

Historical Significance

Along with Alexander the Great and Hannibal Barca, Julius Caesar is considered one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world. An audacious and decisive general, according to Plutarch, he “fought pitched battles at different times with three million men, of whom he slew one million in hand to hand fighting and took as many more prisoners” (Plut. Caes. 15.5). His conquest of Gaul provided the steppingstone to challenge Pompey and the Roman Senate for the political leadership of Rome. Although he achieved little as ruler compared to his successor, Octavian, his campaigns during the Roman Civil Wars decisively set the Roman Republic on its course to becoming a full-fledged empire. As Nigel Rodgers explains, “His career demonstrated that only monarchy – whether king, dictator or emperor – could save Rome from chaos” (Rodgers, 2007, p.44). So influential was Caesar that his name was adopted by all subsequent Roman emperors, even when totally unrelated to him. Indeed, even after the fall of the Roman Empire, the name Caesar became the basis for the German and Russian words for emperor (Kaiser and Czar), with both being used up until the dissolution of those empires in 1918 CE.

Bibliography

Fields, Nic. Julius Caesar. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2010.

Grant, R.G. Commanders: History’s Greatest Military Leaders. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2010.

Plutarch. Life of Caesar. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, Loeb Classical Library, 1919.

Rodgers, Nigel. The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome. London, Hermes House, 2007.

Royer, Lionel. “Vercingetorix Throws Down his Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar.” Wikimedia Commons. Last revised April 26, 2015. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg