GREAT LEADERS
JULY 16, 2021
the great life of julius caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was born on or around July 13, 100 B.C. His father was also named Gaius Julius Caesar, and his mother named Aurelia Cotta.
Julius Caesar was a great general, politician and scholar in ancient Rome. He conquered the vast region of Gaul and when he became dictator of the Roman Empire, he started the end of the Roman Republic.
Caesar was also the nephew of the famous Roman general Gaius Marius. In 84 B.C., he married Cornelia, the daughter of an ally of Marius. Caesar and Cornelia had one daughter named Julia.
When his uncle was overthrown by the dictator Sulla, the Republic’s new ruler came after his family. Sulla ordered Caesar to divorce Cornelia but he refused and left Rome.
Caesar lost his inheritance and then he joined the army and headed for the overseas military service. He gained brilliant career in the military and returned to Rome after Sulla died in 78 BC.
Caesar, Crassus and Pompey then formed an informal alliance (strengthened by the marriage of Caesar’s daughter Julia to Pompey). The alliance was known as the First Triumvirate.
The union terrified the Roman Senate and they were right because the triumvirate soon controlled Rome.
After the death of Julia (Pompey’s wife and Caesar’s daughter) in 54 B.C. and Crassus in 53 B.C., Pompey joined force with Caesar’s opponents and ordered him to return to Rome and surrender.
Caesar refused and in turn he directed his army into Italy, causing a civil war between his loyal supporters and those of Pompey. Caesar and his armies continued to pursue Pompey across Europe. From Spain, Greece and finally, Egypt.
On September 28, 48 B.C. the child pharaoh Ptolemy VIII killed Pompey in a hope to prevent Caesar from invading Egypt. When Caesar entered Egypt, Ptolemy gave him Pompey’s severed head as a gift.
It did not take long for Caesar to find himself in another war. This time it was a civil war between Ptolemy and Cleopatra. Caesar became Cleopatra’s lover and teamed up with her to overthrow Ptolemy and make her ruler of Egypt.
The powerful couple never married but their long-term love affair produced a son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, known as Caesarion.
In 46 B.C. Caesar became the dictator of Rome for ten years, outraging his political opponents and setting the process to end the Roman Republic era. Not just that, Caesar also began making several drastic changes to benefit Rome’s lower and middle-class citizens.
Caesar declared himself dictator for life in 44 B.C. But his efforts for absolute power made many Roman politicians felt unease. Driven by fear that he would become a king, a group of senators made a plan. The conspiration had one clear objective : to end his life.
On the Ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.), the senators, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, stabbed Caesar 23 times.
This ended both his reign and his life as well as he fell bleeding onto the Senate floor at the age of 55.
The Caesar’s assassination made him a martyr and triggered a cycle of civil wars resulting in the downfall of the Roman Republic.
These chaotic events led the rise to power of his grandnephew and heir, Gaius Octavius (Octavian) to emperor of the Roman Empire which later known as Augustus Caesar.
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