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{{Short description|Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)}}
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{{Redirect2|Gaius Julius Caesar|Caesar|the name|Gaius Julius Caesar (name)|text=For other uses, see ], ], and ]}}
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{{For|the German politician|Cajus Julius Caesar}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}


{{Infobox Emperor {{Infobox person
|name =Gaius Julius Caesar | name = Julius Caesar
| image = Retrato de Julio César (26724093101) (cropped).jpg
|title=] of the ]
| image_upright = 1.1
|image =]
|caption =Bust of Julius Caesar | alt = The Tusculum portrait, a marble sculpture of Julius Caesar
| caption = Caesar as portrayed by the ]
|full name =Gaius Julius Caesar
| birth_date = 12 July 100&nbsp;BC<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=|ps=. All ancient sources place his birth in 100&nbsp;BC. Some historians have argued against this; the "consensus of opinion" places it in 100&nbsp;BC. {{harvnb|Goldsworthy|2006|p=30}}.}}</ref>
|reign =October 49 BC –<br>15 March 44 BC (as dictator)
| birth_place = ], Rome
|consort =] 84–68 BC <br>] 68–63 BC <br>] 59–44 BC
| death_date = ] 44 BC (aged 55)<!-- 100 - 44 is, after adjusting for that 15 March is before July, 55 -->
|issue=] 85/84-54 BC<br>] 47-30 BC<br>] 63 BC-AD 14 (grand-nephew, posthumously adopted as Caesar's son in 44 BC)
| death_place = ], Rome
|royal house =]
| death_cause = ] (])
|father =]
| resting_place =
|mother =]
| resting_place_coordinates =
|date of birth =13 July 100 BC or 102 BC
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|soldier|author}}
|place of birth =], ]
| years_active =
|date of death =15 March 44 BC
| office = {{Aligned table
|place of death =], ]
| class=nowrap |fullwidth=on |leftright=on
|place of burial=
| style=line-height:1.2em; |col2style=font-size:90%;
| ] | 64–44&nbsp;BC
| ] | 59&nbsp;BC
| ] (Gaul, Illyricum) | 58–49&nbsp;BC
| ] | 49–44&nbsp;BC
| Consul | 48, 46–44&nbsp;BC
| ] | 44&nbsp;BC<ref>All offices and years thereof from {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=574}}.</ref>
}}
| organization =
| known_for =
| notable_works = {{ubl|{{lang|la|]}}|{{lang|la|]}}}}
| net_worth = <!-- Net worth should be supported with a citation from a reliable source -->
| opponents =
| spouse = {{Aligned table
| class=nowrap |fullwidth=on |leftright=on
| style=line-height:1.2em; |col2style=font-size:90%;
| ] (disputed) |
| ] | {{Abbr|m.|married}} 84 BC; {{Abbr|d.|died}} 69 BC
| ] | {{Abbr|m.|married}} 67 BC; {{Abbr|div.|divorced}} 61 BC
| ] | {{Abbr|m.|married}} 59&nbsp;BC
}}
| partner = ]
| children = {{ubl|]|] (unacknowledged)|] (adoptive)}}
| parents = {{ubl|]|]}}
| relatives =
| awards = ]
| module = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes
| allegiance = ]
| branch = ]
| commands = ]
| battles = {{tree list}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
{{tree list/end}}
| serviceyears = 81–45 BC
}}
}} }}


'''Gaius Julius Caesar'''{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|z|ər}} {{respell|SEE|zər}}, {{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈɡaːi.ʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar|lang|small=no}}.}} (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a ] general and statesman. A member of the ], Caesar led the Roman armies in the ] before defeating his political rival ] in ], and subsequently became ] from 49 BC until ] in 44 BC. He played a critical role in ] the ] and the rise of the ].
'''Gaius Julius Caesar'''<ref name="name">Fully, ''Caius Iulius Caii filius Caii nepos Caesar Imperator'' ("Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Gaius, grandson of Gaius, Imperator"). Official name after ] in 42 BC: ''Divus Iulius'' ("The Divine Julius").</ref> ({{pronounced|ˈgaːius ˈjuːlius ˈkaɪsar}} in Classical ]; conventionally {{pronounced|ˈgajəs ˈdʒuːliəs ˈsiːzɚ}} in ]), (13 July 100 BC<ref>There is some dispute over the date of Caesar's birth. The day is sometimes stated to be be 12 July when his feast-day was celebrated after deification, but this was because his true birthday clashed with the '']''. Some scholars, based on the dates he held certain magistracies, have made a case for 101 or 102 BC as the year of his birth, but scholarly consensus favours 100 BC. Goldsworthy, 30</ref> – 15 March 44 BC<ref>After Caesar's death the leap years were not inserted according to his intent and there is uncertainty about when leap years were observed between 45 BC and AD 4 inclusive; the dates in this article between 45 BC and AD 4 inclusive are those observed in Rome and there is an uncertainty of about a day as to where those dates would be on the ]. See Blackburn, B and Holford-Strevens, L. (1999 corrected 2003). ''The Oxford Companion to the Year''. Oxford University Press. p. 671. ISBN 978-0192142313</ref>), was a ] ] and ] leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the ] into the ].


In 60 BC, Caesar, ], and ] formed the ], an informal political alliance that dominated ] for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the ], among them ] with the private support of ]. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the ], completed by 51&nbsp;BC, which greatly extended Roman territory. During this time he both ] and ]. These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the ] in 53&nbsp;BC. With the ] concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. In 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority by ] and marching towards Rome at the head of an army.<ref>{{cite book |last=Keppie |first=Lawrence |chapter=The approach of civil war |title=The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire |publisher=] |location=Norman, OK |date=1998 |page=102 |isbn=978-0-8061-3014-9}}</ref> This began ], which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC.
A politician of the '']'' tradition, he formed an unofficial ] with ] and ] which dominated Roman politics for several years, opposed in the ] by '']'' like ] and ]. His conquest of ] extended the Roman world to the ], and he also conducted the first ] in 55 BC. The collapse of the triumvirate, however, led to a stand-off with Pompey and the ]. Leading his legions across the ], Caesar began a ] in 49 BC from which he became the master of the Roman world.


After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed "] in perpetuity" ('']''), and heavily centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic. A group of senators, led by ], assassinated the dictator on the ] (March 15) in 44 BC, hoping to restore the normal running of the Republic. However, the result was another ], which ultimately led to the establishment of a permanent ] by Caesar's adopted heir, ]. In 42 BC, two years after his assassination, the Senate officially sanctified Caesar as one of the ]. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reform, including the creation of the ]. He gave ] to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reforms to support his veterans and initiated an enormous building programme. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life" ({{lang|la|]}}). Fearful of his power and domination of the state, a group of senators led by ] and ] assassinated Caesar on the ] (15 March) 44&nbsp;BC. A new ] broke out and the ] was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as ], rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the ]. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the ] began.


Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of ]. Later biographies of Caesar by ] and ] are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=Battles That Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/battlesthatchang00tuck_956 |url-access=limited |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |page= |isbn=978-1-59884-430-6}}</ref> His ] was subsequently adopted as a ] for "]"; the title "]" was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern descendants such as ] and ]. He has ].
Much of Caesar's life is known from his own ] (''Commentarii'') on his military campaigns, and other contemporary sources such as the letters and speeches of his political rival ], the historical writings of ], and the poetry of ]. Many more details of his life are recorded by later historians, such as ], ], ], ] and ].
{{TOClimit|limit=2}}


== Early life == ==Early life and career==
{{main|Early life and career of Julius Caesar}}
Caesar was born into a ] family, the ''] ]'', which claimed descent from ], son of the legendary ] prince ], supposedly the son of the goddess ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Froude|first=James Anthony|authorlink=James Anthony Froude|title=Life of Caesar|publisher=Project Gutenberg e-text|date=1879|page=67|url=http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05/8cesr10.txt}} See also: ], '']'': ''Julius'' ; ], ''Roman History'' ; ], '']''</ref> The '']'' "Caesar" originated, according to ], with an ancestor who was born by ] (from the Latin verb to cut, ''caedere'', ''caes-'').<ref>], ''Natural History'' . The misconception that Julius Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section dates back at least to the 10th century ('']'' ). Julius wasn't the first to bear the name, and in his time the procedure was only performed on dead women, while Caesar's mother, ], lived long after he was born.</ref> The '']'' suggests three ]: that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair (Latin ''caesaries''); that he had bright grey eyes (Latin ''oculis caesiis''); or that he killed an elephant (''caesai'' in Moorish) in battle.<ref>'']'': ''Aelius'' .</ref> Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favoured this interpretation of his name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.aol.com/dkaplan888/jcae.htm|title=Coins of Julius Caesar}}</ref>
], Caesar's uncle and the husband of Caesar's aunt ]. He was an enemy of Sulla and took the city with Lucius Cornelius Cinna in 87&nbsp;BC.]]


Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a ] family, the {{lang|la|] ]}} on 12 July 100&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=16|ps=, pursuant to Macr. ''Sat.'' 1.12.34, quoting a law by Mark Antony noting the date as the fourth day before the Ides of Quintilis. Only Dio gives 13 July. All sources give the year 100&nbsp;BC.}}</ref> The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from ] during the seventh century&nbsp;BC after the third ], ], took and destroyed their city. The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=32–33}} There is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by ]; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but ] lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=35}}
Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, having produced only three ]. Caesar's father, also called ], reached the rank of ], the second highest of the Republic's elected magistracies, and governed the province of ], perhaps through the influence of his prominent brother-in-law ].<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; ], ''Caesar'' , ''Marius'' ; Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'' ; ''Inscriptiones Italiae'', 13.3.51-52</ref> His mother, ], came from an influential family which had produced several consuls. ], an orator and grammarian of ]ish origin, was employed as Caesar's tutor.<ref>Suetonius, ''Lives of Eminent Grammarians'' ]</ref> Caesar had two sisters, both called ]. Little else is recorded of Caesar's childhood. ] and ]'s biographies of him both begin abruptly in Caesar's teens; the opening paragraphs of both appear to be lost.<ref name="plutsuet1">Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic. The first person known to have had the ] ''Caesar'' was a praetor in 208&nbsp;BC during the ]. The family's first consul was in 157&nbsp;BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=14}}; {{harvnb|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=31–32|ps=. The consul of 157&nbsp;BC was ]; the consuls of 91 and 90 were ] and ], respectively.}}</ref> Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically. He married ], a member of the politically influential ], producing – along with Caesar – two daughters. Buoyed by his own marriage and ] marriage (the dictator's aunt) with the extremely influential ], he also served on the ] land commission in 103&nbsp;BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85&nbsp;BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=15}} dates the land commission to 103 per ''MRR'' 3.109; {{harvnb|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=33–34}}; {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=22}}, dating the proconsulship to 91 with praetorship in 92&nbsp;BC and citing, among others, {{CIL|1|705}} and {{CIL|1|706}}.</ref>
Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil. The ] was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of ], while ] of ] threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between politicians known as '']'' and '']'', neither of which had a common agenda and so cannot be considered a political party or even a faction. The ''optimates'' were those politicians who pursued their agendas through traditional, constitutional routes in the ]; the ''populares'' those who preferred to bypass traditional procedure and pursue their agendas by appealing directly to the electorate. Caesar's uncle Marius was a ''popularis'', Marius' protégé ] was an ''optimas''<!-- not "optimus", as one would think! -->, and in Caesar's youth their rivalry led to civil war.


=== Life under Sulla and military service ===
Both Marius and Sulla distinguished themselves in the Social War, and both wanted command of the war against Mithridates, which was initially given to Sulla; but when Sulla left the city to take command of his army, a ] passed a law transferring the appointment to Marius. Sulla responded by marching on Rome, reclaiming his command and forcing Marius into exile, but when he left on campaign Marius returned at the head of a makeshift army. He and his ally ] seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy, and Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died early in 86 BC, but his followers remained in power.<ref>], ''Civil Wars'' ; Plutarch, ''Marius'' , ''Sulla'' ; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History ; ] ; ], ''Epitome of Roman History'' ], ]</ref>
] in 54&nbsp;BC. Sulla took the city in 82&nbsp;BC, purged his political enemies, and instituted ].]]


Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of ] and instead chose retirement.{{sfn|Badian|2009|p=16}} During Cinna's dominance, Caesar was named as '']'' (a priest of ]) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, ]. The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=16|ps=. Badian cites {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=1.2}} arguing that Caesar was actually appointed; because a divorced man could not be ''flamen Dialis'', the assertion that Caesar married one Cossutia then divorced her to marry Cornelia and become ''flamen'' in {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=5.3}} is incorrect.}}</ref> In early 84&nbsp;BC, Caesar's father died suddenly.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=34}} After ]'s victory in the ] (82&nbsp;BC), Cinna's ''acta'' were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter. Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the ], though scholars are mixed.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|pp=16–17}}, stating Caesar was placed on the lists. Cf, stating Caesar was only summoned for interrogation, {{cite book |last=Hinard |first=François |title=Les proscriptions de la Rome républicaine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3UaAAAAIAAJ |publisher=Ecole française de Rome |date=1985 |pages=64 |isbn=978-2-7283-0094-5 |oclc=1006100534 |language=fr}}</ref> Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the ] were able to intercede on his behalf.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|pp=16–17|ps=, also rejecting claims that Caesar hid by bribing his pursuers: "this is an example of how the pervades our accounts and makes it difficult to get at the facts... cannot be true, since confiscation of his fortune went with his proscription".}}</ref> They then reached a compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in many Mariuses"<ref>{{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=1.4}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=1.3}}.</ref> is apocryphal.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=17|ps=, noting also that Sulla never killed any fellow patricians.}}</ref>
In 85 BC Caesar's father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one morning, without any apparent cause,<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'' </ref> and at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was nominated to be the new '']'', high priest of ], as ], the previous incumbent, had died in Marius's purges.<ref>Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Florus, ''Epitome of Roman History'' ]</ref> Since the holder of that position not only had to be a patrician but also be married to a patrician, he broke off his engagement to Cossutia, a plebeian girl of wealthy ] family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married Cinna's daughter ].<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' </ref>


] – wearing the ] ({{langx|la|corona civica}}). Caesar won the civic crown for his bravery at the ] in 81&nbsp;BC.]]
Then, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil war against Marius' followers. After a campaign throughout Italy he seized Rome at the ] in November 82 BC and had himself appointed to the revived office of ]; but whereas a dictator was traditionally appointed for six months at a time, Sulla's appointment had no term limit. Statues of Marius were destroyed and Marius' body was exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. Cinna was already dead, killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny.<ref>Appian, ''Civil Wars'' ; Plutarch, ''Sulla'' ; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Eutropius, ''Abridgement of Roman History'' ; Florus, ''Epitome of Roman History'' ]</ref> Sulla's ]s saw hundreds of his political enemies killed or exiled. Caesar, as the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was targeted. He was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry and his priesthood, but he refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against him was lifted by the intervention of his mother's family, which included supporters of Sulla, and the ]. Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw many a Marius in Caesar.<ref name="plutsuet1" />


Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, ]. While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, ], though later invective connected Caesar to a homosexual relation with the monarch.{{sfn|Badian|2009|pp=17–18}}<ref>{{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=2–3}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=2–3}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=43.20}}.</ref> He then served at the ] where he won the ] for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to the staff of ] in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78&nbsp;BC and returning home immediately.{{sfn|Badian|2009|p=17}} He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul ]' revolt that year<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=18}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=3}}.</ref> but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=35}}
==Early career==
Rather than returning to Rome, Caesar joined the army, serving under ] in ] and ] in ]. He served with distinction, winning the ] for his part in the siege of ]. On a mission to ] to secure the assistance of King ] fleet, he spent so long at his court that rumours of an affair with the king arose, which would persist for the rest of his life.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; ], ''Roman History'' </ref> Ironically, the loss of his priesthood had allowed him to pursue a military career: the ''Flamen Dialis'' was not permitted to touch a horse, sleep three nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army.<ref>William Smith, ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'': ''''</ref>


Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of ] in 77&nbsp;BC, who had recently returned from a proconsulship in Macedonia. Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting ] (later consul in 63&nbsp;BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf.<ref>{{harvnb|Alexander|1990|p=71}} (Trial 140) noting also that Tac. ''Dial.'', 34.7 wrongly places the trial in 79&nbsp;BC; {{harvnb|Alexander|1990|pp=71–72}} (Trial 141).</ref> After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician ].{{sfn|Badian|2009|p=18}} While travelling, he was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty ]s and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pelling |first=C B R |title=Plutarch: Caesar |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-814904-0 |location=Oxford |oclc=772240772 |pages=139–41}} {{harvnb|Vell. Pat.|loc=2.42.3}} reports that the governor wanted to enslave and sell the pirates but that Caesar returned quickly and had them executed. Pelling believes the second part of Vell. Pat.'s narrative – along with other sources ({{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=1.8–2.7}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=4}}) – are literary embellishment and that the pirates were enslaved and sold.</ref> His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the ] over the winter of 75 and 74&nbsp;BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=19|ps=, calling the story in {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=4.2}} that Caesar called up auxiliaries and with them drove Mithridates' prefect from the province of Asia, "a striking example of the Caesar myth... difficult to believe".}}</ref>
In 80 BC, after two years in office, ] resigned his dictatorship, re-established consular government and, after serving as consul, retired to private life.<ref>Appian. ''Civil Wars'' </ref> Caesar later ridiculed Sulla's relinquishing of the dictatorship&mdash;"Sulla did not know his political ABC's".<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' .</ref> He died two years later in 78 BC and was accorded a state funeral.<ref>Plutarch, ''Sulla'' </ref> Hearing of Sulla's death, Caesar felt safe enough to return to Rome. Lacking means since his inheritance was confiscated, he acquired a modest house in the ], a lower class neighbourhood of Rome.<ref name="suet46">Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> His return coincided with an attempted anti-Sullan coup by ], but Caesar, lacking confidence in Lepidus's leadership, did not participate.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Appian, ''Civil Wars'' </ref> Instead he turned to legal advocacy. He became known for his exceptional oratory, accompanied by impassioned gestures and a high-pitched voice, and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for ] and ]. Even ] praised him: "Come now, what orator would you rank above him...?"<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Aiming at ]al perfection, Caesar travelled to ] in 75 BC to study under ], who had previously taught Cicero.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' . Plutarch (''Caesar'' ) reports the same events but follows a different chronology.</ref>


=== Entrance to politics ===
On the way across the ],<ref>Again, according to Suetonius's chronology (''Julius'' ). Plutarch (''Caesar'' ) says this happened earlier, on his return from Nicomedes's court. Velleius Paterculus (''Roman History'' says merely that it happened when he was a young man.</ref> Caesar was kidnapped by ]n ] and held prisoner in the ] islet of ].<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' 1-2</ref> He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty ] of silver, he insisted they ask for fifty.<ref>{{cite book |title=Julius Caesar: Conqueror and Dictator |author=Thorne, James |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |year=2003 |page=15}}</ref><ref>Freeman, 39</ref> After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them in ]. ], the governor of ], refused to execute them as Caesar demanded, preferring to sell them as slaves,<ref>Freeman, 39-40</ref> but Caesar returned to the coast and had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised to when in captivity<ref>Freeman, 40</ref>&mdash;a promise the pirates had taken as a joke. He then proceeded to Rhodes, but was soon called back into military action in Asia, raising a band of ] to repel an incursion from Pontus.
While absent from Rome, in 73&nbsp;BC, Caesar was co-opted into the ] in place of his deceased relative ]. The promotion marked him as a well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=78}} Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the ] for 71&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=19}}; {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=114, 125}}; {{harvnb|Vell. Pat.|loc=2.43.1}} (pontificate); {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=5.1}} and {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=5}} (military tribunate).</ref> There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though ] on ] was on-going – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on the plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=19}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=5}}.</ref> These advocacies were common and uncontroversial.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=63}} The next year, 70&nbsp;BC, ] and ] were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|pp=19–20|ps=, also noting senatorial support for the pardons}}; {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=126, 128, 130 n. 4|ps=, argues the tribunician law recalling the Lepidan exiles must postdate the consular law in 70 which removed Sulla's suppression of tribunician legislative initiative.}}</ref>


For his quaestorship in 69&nbsp;BC, Caesar was allotted to serve under ] in ]. His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius died and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, ]. He gave eulogies for both at public funerals.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=132}}. {{harvnb|Badian|2009|p=21}} cites {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=6.1}} for the incipit of Caesar's eulogy.</ref> During Julia's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of his aunt's husband Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in the civil war. Some of the Sullan nobles – including ] – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=43}} Contra Plutarch,{{sfn|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=5.2–3}} Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=43–46}} Caesar quickly remarried, taking the hand of Sulla's granddaughter ].<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=46|ps=, noting also that Plutarch omits this detail likely because it "would indeed have been embarrassing for his Marian representation of Caesar" (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).}}</ref>
On his return to Rome he was elected military ], a first step on the '']'' of Roman politics. The ] against ] took place around this time (73 - 71 BC), but it is not recorded what role, if any, Caesar played in it. He was elected ] for 69 BC,<ref>Freeman, 51</ref> and during that year he delivered the funeral oration for his aunt Julia, widow of Marius, and included images of Marius, unseen since the days of Sulla, in the funeral procession. His own wife Cornelia also died that year.<ref>Freeman, 52</ref> After her funeral, in the spring or early summer of 69 BC, Caesar went to serve his quaestorship in ] under Antistius Vetus.<ref>Goldsworthy, 100</ref> While there he is said to have encountered a statue of ], and realised with dissatisfaction he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little. He requested, and was granted, an early discharge from his duties, and returned to Roman politics. On his return in 67 BC,<ref>Goldsworthy, 101</ref> he married ], a granddaughter of Sulla.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' </ref> He was elected ] and restored the trophies of Marius's victories; a controversial move given the Sullan regime was still in place. He also brought prosecutions against men who had benefited from Sulla's proscriptions, and spent a great deal of borrowed money on public works and games, outshining his colleague ]. He was also suspected of involvement in two abortive coup attempts.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' , </ref>


=== Aedileship and election as ''pontifex maximus'' ===
===Coming to prominence===
For much of this period, Caesar was one of ]'s supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans. Caesar also supported the '']'' in 67&nbsp;BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in the Mediterranean and also supported the '']'' in 66&nbsp;BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander ] to Pompey.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=79–80}}
], ]]]
]


Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65&nbsp;BC, Caesar served as ] and staged lavish ] that won him further attention and popular support.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mouritsen |first=Henrik |title=Plebs and politics in the late Roman Republic |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-04114-4 |oclc=56761502 |page=97}} See also {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=158}} and {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=6.1–4}}.</ref> He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over ] and the ].{{sfn|Broughton|1952|p=158}} According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; however, any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=46–47}} It is more likely that Caesar was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of {{lang|la|]}} – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=48–49}}
63 BC was an eventful year for Caesar. He persuaded a tribune, ], to prosecute the optimate senator ] for the political murder, 37 years previously, of the tribune ], and had himself appointed as one of the two judges to try the case. Rabirius was defended by both ] and ], but was convicted of '']'' (treason). While he was exercising his right of appeal to the people, the praetor ] adjourned the assembly by taking down the military flag from the Janiculum hill. Labienus could have resumed the prosecution at a later session, but did not do so: Caesar's point had been made, and the matter was allowed to drop.<ref>], ''''; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> Labienus would remain an important ally of Caesar over the next decade.


In 63&nbsp;BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of {{lang|la|]}},<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=64, 64 n. 129|ps=, noting that it is not clear which election was first; it is more likely, however, that elections were late and therefore that the pontifical election occurred first. Dio's claim of elections in December is clearly erroneous. {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=172 n. 3}}.}}</ref> who was the head of the ] and the highest ranking state religious official. In the pontifical election before the ], Caesar faced two influential senators: ] and ]. Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=64–65|ps=, noting the victory of curule aedile ] in 212 over senior consulars and plebeian tribune ] over consulars.}}</ref> Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating;<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=66}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=13}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=7.1–4}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=37.37.1–3}}.</ref> that no charge was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=67–68}} If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=80–81}}
The same year, Caesar ran for election to the post of ], chief priest of the Roman state religion, after the death of ], who had been appointed to the post by Sulla. He ran against two powerful ''optimates'', the former consuls ] and ]. There were accusations of bribery by all sides. Caesar is said to have told his mother on the morning of the election that he would return as Pontifex Maximus or not at all, expecting to be forced into exile by the enormous debts he had run up to fund his campaign. In any event he won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and standing, possibly because the two older men split their votes.<ref>Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> The post came with an official residence on the ].<ref name="suet46" />


Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune ], however, there are no ancient sources so attesting.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=69 n. 148}} Caesar also engaged in a collateral manner in the trial of ] by one of the plebeian tribunes – ] – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a ] some forty years earlier.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=71}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Alexander|1990|p=110|ps=&nbsp;(Trials 220–21).}}</ref> The most famous event of the year was the ]. While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy,<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=80|ps=, citing Sall. ''Cat.'', 49.1–2.}} See also {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=17}}.</ref> the chance that he was a participant is extremely small.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=72–77|ps=, placing it around 2.5 per cent.}} {{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=429 n. 107}} calls the view that Caesar was one of the masterminds of the conspiracy "long... discredited and requires no further refutation".</ref>
When Cicero, who was consul that year, exposed ]'s conspiracy to seize control of the republic, Catulus and others accused Caesar of involvement in the plot.<ref>], ''Catiline War'' </ref> Caesar, who had been elected praetor for the following year, took part in the debate in the Senate on how to deal with the conspirators. During the debate, Caesar was passed a note. ], who would become his most implacable political opponent, accused him of corresponding with the conspirators, and demanded that the message be read aloud. Caesar passed him the note, which, embarrassingly, turned out to be a love letter from Cato's half-sister ]. Caesar argued persuasively against the death penalty for the conspirators, proposing life imprisonment instead, but a speech by Cato proved decisive, and the conspirators were executed.<ref>Cicero, ''Against Catiline'' ; Sallust, ''Catiline War'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Cicero'' , ''Cato the Younger'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> The following year a commission was set up to investigate the conspiracy, and Caesar was again accused of complicity. On Cicero's evidence that he had reported what he knew of the plot voluntarily, however, he was cleared, and one of his accusers, and also one of the commissioners, were sent to prison.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


=== Praetorship ===
While praetor in 62 BC, Caesar supported Metellus Celer, now tribune, in proposing controversial legislation, and the pair were so obstinate they were suspended from office by the Senate. Caesar attempted to continue to perform his duties, only giving way when violence was threatened. The Senate was persuaded to reinstate him after he quelled public demonstrations in his favour.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>
Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63&nbsp;BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=85–86, 90}} Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=92}}. Earlier sources being Cic. ''Cat.'', 4.8–10 and Sall. ''Cat.'', 51.42. Later sources include {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=7.9}} and {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.6}}.</ref> Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the {{lang|la|lex Sempronia de capite civis}}, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by ], however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=281–82}}


], consul in 63&nbsp;BC, depicted in an 1889 ] denouncing Catiline and exposing his conspiracy before the Senate. When conspirators within the city were later arrested, Cicero referred their fate to the Senate, triggering a debate in which Caesar as praetor-elect participated.]]
That year the festival of the ] ("good goddess") was held at Caesar's house. No men were permitted to attend, but a young patrician named ] managed to gain admittance disguised as a woman, apparently for the purpose of seducing Caesar's wife ]. He was caught and prosecuted for sacrilege. Caesar gave no evidence against Clodius at his trial, careful not to offend one of the most powerful patrician families of Rome, and Clodius was acquitted after rampant bribery and intimidation. Nevertheless, Caesar divorced Pompeia, saying that "my wife ought not even to be under suspicion."<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to Atticus'' ], ], ]; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>


During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt ], accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=102}} He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune ] to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the ] in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and ],{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=102–04}} the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=107|ps=, citing {{harnvb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=16}}.}} Dio reports a ]. {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=173|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Dio|loc=37.41}}.}}</ref> – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=109}} He also was engaged in the ] affair, where ] sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion"{{sfn|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=10.9}} – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=110|ps=, adding in notes that the affair is usually interpreted as an attempt to destroy Clodius' career and that Caesar may have been a secondary target due to expectations that he would reject political pressure for a divorce.}}</ref>
After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern ] (Outer ]), but he was still in considerable debt and needed to satisfy his creditors before he could leave. He turned to ], one of Rome's richest men. In return for political support in his opposition to the interests of ], Crassus paid some of Caesar's debts and acted as guarantor for others. Even so, to avoid becoming a private citizen and open to prosecution for his debts, Caesar left for his province before his praetorship had ended. In Hispania he conquered the ] and ], being hailed as '']'' by his troops, reformed the law regarding debts, and completed his governorship in high esteem.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


]}}.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|pp=97–98}}]]
Being hailed as ''imperator'' entitled Caesar to a ]. However, he also wanted to stand for ], the most senior magistracy in the republic. If he were to celebrate a triumph, he would have to remain a soldier and stay outside the city until the ceremony, but to stand for election he would need to lay down his command and enter Rome as a private citizen. He could not do both in the time available. He asked the senate for permission to stand ''in absentia'', but Cato blocked the proposal. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.<ref>Plutarch, ''Julius'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern ] ''pro consule''.<ref>{{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=173, 180}}. Most sources give a proconsular dignity. After the Sullan era, all magistrates were prorogued ''pro consule''. {{cite web |last1=Badian |first1=Ernst |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |title=pro consule, pro praetore |website=Oxford Classical Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5337 |year=2016|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5337 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }}</ref> Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=109–10}} He campaigned against the ] and ] and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts.{{sfn|Broughton|1952|p=180}} Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed {{lang|la|]}}.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=110–11}} When he arrived home in the summer of 60&nbsp;BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the {{lang|la|]}} (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=111}} Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=112–13}} Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=114}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=13}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=18.2}}.</ref>
==First consulship and triumvirate==
{{main|First Triumvirate}}
Three candidates stood for the consulship: Caesar, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, who had been aedile with Caesar several years earlier, and ]. The election was dirty. Caesar canvassed Cicero for support, and made an alliance with the wealthy Lucceius, but the establishment threw its financial weight behind the conservative Bibulus, and even Cato, with his reputation for incorruptibility, is said to have resorted to bribery in his favour. Caesar and Bibulus were elected as consuls for 59 BC.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' ; Suetonius </ref>


== First consulship and the Gallic Wars ==
Caesar was already in ] political debt, but he also made overtures to ], who was unsuccessfully fighting the Senate for ratification of his eastern settlements and farmland for his veterans. Pompey and Crassus had been at odds since they were consuls together in 70 BC, and Caesar knew if he allied himself with one he would lose the support of the other, so he endeavoured to reconcile them. Between the three of them, they had enough money and political influence to control public business. This informal alliance, known as the ] (rule of three men), was cemented by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daughter ].<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to Atticus'' ], ], ]; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Pompey'' , ''Crassus'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> Caesar also married again, this time ], daughter of ], who was elected to the consulship for the following year.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>
{{main|Military campaigns of Julius Caesar|First Triumvirate}}
] depicting Julius Caesar, dated to February–March 44 BC{{snd}}the goddess ] is shown on the reverse, holding ] and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA.]]
Caesar stood for the consulship of 59&nbsp;BC along with two other candidates. His political position at the time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|p=28}} With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one ], Caesar won. Lucceius, however, did not and the voters returned ] instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|pp=30–31}}<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|2009|p=28}}; {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=158, 173|ps=. Bibulus was Caesar's colleague both in the curule aedileship and the praetorship. They clashed politically in both magistracies.}} On credit for the aedilican games, see {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=10}}, {{harvnb|Dio|loc=37.8.2}}, and {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=5.5}}.</ref>


=== First consulship ===
Caesar proposed a law for the redistribution of public lands to the poor, a proposal supported by Pompey, by force of arms if need be, and by Crassus, making the triumvirate public. Pompey filled the city with soldiers, and the triumvirate's opponents were intimidated. Bibulus attempted to declare the omens unfavourable and thus void the new law, but was driven from the forum by Caesar's armed supporters. His ]s had their '']'' broken, two tribunes accompanying him were wounded, and Bibulus himself had a bucket of excrement thrown over him. In fear of his life, he retired to his house for the rest of the year, issuing occasional proclamations of bad omens. These attempts to obstruct Caesar's legislation proved ineffective. Roman satirists ever after referred to the year as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar".<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to Atticus'' ], ], ], ], ], ], ]; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Pompey'' , ''Cato the Younger'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>
{{further|First Triumvirate}}


After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=119|ps=. "n alliance which in modern times has come, quite misleadingly, to be called the 'First Triumvirate'... the very phrase... invokes a misleading teleology. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to use without adopting some version of the view that it was a kind of conspiracy against the republic".}}</ref> termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ridley |first=R |year=1999 |title=What's in the Name: the so-called First Triumvirate |journal=Arctos: Acta Philological Fennica |volume=33 |pages=133–44 |url=https://journal.fi/arctos/article/download/85987/44908 }} The first usage of the term was in 1681.</ref> Caesar was still at work in December of 60&nbsp;BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance was finalised only some time around its start.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|p=31}} Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of ] and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|2009|p=31}}; {{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=121–22|ps=, noting that the Senate had approved distribution of lands to Pompey's veterans from the ] all the way back in 70&nbsp;BC.}}</ref>
When Caesar and Bibulus were first elected, the aristocracy tried to limit Caesar's future power by allotting the woods and pastures of Italy, rather than governorship of a province, as their proconsular duties after their year of office was over.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> With the help of Piso and Pompey, Caesar later had this overturned, and was instead appointed to govern ] (northern Italy) and ] (the western Balkans), with ] (southern France) later added, giving him command of four legions. His term of office, and thus his immunity from prosecution, was set at five years, rather than the usual one.<ref>Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Crassus'' , ''Pompey'' , ''Cato the Younger'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> When his consulship ended, Caesar narrowly avoided prosecution for the irregularities of his year in office, and quickly left for his province.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


Caesar's first act was to ] the minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public. He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|p=32}} Referring it to the Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people,{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=125–29}} there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|p=32}} Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened a permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=130, 132}} and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=138}} The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=139–40}}
===Conquest of Gaul===
{{Main|Gallic Wars}}
Caesar was still deeply in debt, and there was money to be made as a provincial governor, whether by extortion<ref>See Cicero's speeches ] for an example of a former provincial governor successfully prosecuted for illegally enriching himself at his province's expense.</ref> or by military adventurism. Caesar had four legions under his command, two of his provinces, ] and ], bordered on unconquered territory, and independent Gaul was known to be unstable. Rome's allies the ] had been defeated by their Gallic rivals, with the help of a contingent of ] ] under ], who had settled in conquered Aeduan land, and the ] were mobilising for a mass migration, which the Romans feared had warlike intent. Caesar raised two new legions and defeated first the Helvetii, then Ariovistus, and left his army in winter quarters in the territory of the Sequani, signaling that his interest in the lands outside Gallia Narbonensis would not be temporary.<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to Atticus'' ]; Julius Caesar, '']'' ]; Appian, ''Gallic Wars'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>
] with the head of captive Gaul 48 BC, following the campaigns of Caesar.]]
He began his second year with double the military strength he had begun with, having raised another two legions in Cisalpine Gaul during the winter. The legality of this was dubious, as the Cisalpine Gauls were not Roman citizens. In response to Caesar's activities the previous year, the ] tribes of north-eastern Gaul had begun to arm themselves. Caesar treated this as an aggressive move, and, after an inconclusive engagement against a united Belgic army, conquered the tribes piecemeal. Meanwhile, one legion, commanded by Crassus' son Publius, began the conquest of the tribes of the ].<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]; Appian, ''Gallic Wars'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>


Caesar also brought and passed a one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements. Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate.{{sfn|Wiseman|1994|p=372}} Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=143 (Bibulus), 147 (dating to May)}} Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance.{{sfn|Wiseman|1994|p=374}} An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune ] moved the '']'' assigning the provinces of ] and ] to Caesar for five years.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=137}}<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|2009|p=33}}, noting that the {{lang|la|lex Vatinia}} was "no means unprecedented... or even controversial".</ref> Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the {{lang|la|silvae callesque}} ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60&nbsp;BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'".<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=175}}, citing {{Cite journal |last=Balsdon |first=J P V D |date=1939 |title=Consular provinces under the late Republic – II. Caesar's Gallic command |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/297143 |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=29 |pages=167–83 |doi=10.2307/297143 |jstor=297143 |s2cid=163892529 |issn=0075-4358}} Moreover, Caesar's eventual provinces of Trans- and Cisalpine Gaul had been assigned to the consuls of 60 and therefore would have been unavailable. {{Cite journal |last=Rafferty |first=David |date=2017 |title=Cisalpine Gaul as a consular province in the late Republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019257 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=147–172 |doi=10.25162/historia-2017-0008 |jstor=45019257 |s2cid=231088284 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref> The Senate was also persuaded to assign to Caesar ] as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps.{{sfnm|Morstein-Marx|2021|1pp=176–77|Gruen|2009|2p=34}}
During the spring of 56 BC the Triumvirate held a conference at Luca (modern ]) in Cisalpine Gaul. Rome was in turmoil, and ] populist campaigns had been undermining relations between Crassus and Pompey. The meeting renewed the Triumvirate and extended Caesar's proconsulship for another five years. Crassus and Pompey would be consuls again, with similarly long-term proconsulships to follow: Syria for Crassus, the Hispanian provinces for Pompey.<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to his brother Quintus'' ; Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Crassus'' , ''Pompey'' </ref> The conquest of Armorica was completed when Caesar defeated the ] in a naval battle, while young Crassus conquered the ] of the south-west. By the end of campaigning in 56 BC only the ] and ] of the coastal Low Countries still held out.<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>


Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=143}}: {{harvnb|Dio|loc=38.6.5}} and {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=20.1}} say around late January; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Pomp.''|loc=48.5}} says in early May; {{harvnb|Vell. Pat.|loc=2.44.5}} says May.</ref> and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house. There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=142–44}} Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through the year.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|2009|p=34|ps=, also citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=20.2}} – the "consulship of Julius and Caesar" – as part of Catonian propaganda.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=150–51|ps=, noting that Bibulus' voluntary seclusion "presented the image of the city dominated by one man ... unchecked by a colleague".}}</ref> This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy.{{sfn|Gruen|2009|p=34}} Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the {{lang|la|]}} to crack down on provincial corruption.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|pp=138–39, noting Cato's support of Caesar's anti-corruption bill and the possibility that Cato gave input for some of its provisions}} When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in the Senate stalled and was regardless dropped. He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=182–83, 182 n. 260}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=23.1}}; pace {{harvnb|Ramsey|2009|p=38}}.</ref>
In 55 BC Caesar repelled an incursion into Gaul by the Germanic ] and ], and followed it up by building a bridge across the Rhine and making a show of force in Germanic territory, before returning and dismantling the bridge. Late that summer, having subdued the Morini and Menapii, he crossed to Britain, claiming that the Britons had aided the Veneti against him the previous year. His intelligence was poor, and although he gained a beachhead on the Kent coast he was unable to advance further, and returned to Gaul for the winter.<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]; Appian, ''Gallic Wars'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> He returned the following year, better prepared and with a larger force, and achieved more. He advanced inland, establishing ] of the ] as a friendly king and bringing his rival, ], to terms. But poor harvests led to widespread revolt in Gaul, led by ] of the ], forcing Caesar to campaign through the winter and into the following year. With the defeat of Ambiorix, Caesar believed Gaul was now pacified.<ref>Cicero, ''Letters to friends'' ], ], ], ], ]; ''Letters to his brother Quintus'' ], ], ]; ''Letters to Atticus'' ], ], ]; Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref>


=== Campaigns in Gaul ===
While Caesar was in Britain his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, had died in childbirth. Caesar tried to resecure Pompey's support by offering him his great-niece ] in marriage, alienating Octavia's husband ], but Pompey declined. In 53 BC Crassus was killed leading a failed ] of ]. Rome was on the edge of violence. Pompey was appointed sole consul as an emergency measure, and married ], daughter of Caesar's political opponent Quintus Metellus Scipio, whom he invited to become his consular colleague once order was restored. The Triumvirate was dead.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Plutarch, ''Caesar'' , ''Pompey'' , ''Crassus'' ; Velleius Paterculus, ''Roman History'' </ref>
{{main|Gallic Wars}}
]
During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his ''Commentaries'' thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=186–87}} Each was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome;{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=188–89}} the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=189–90}}


Gaul in 58&nbsp;BC was in the midst of some instability. Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=204}} The first engagement was in April 58&nbsp;BC when Caesar prevented the migrating ] from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=205, 208–10}} Building a wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the ] before forcing them to return to their original homes.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|pp=212–15}} He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the ], for aid against ] – king of the ] and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at the ].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=217}} Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the ] in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the ], Caesar spent much of 56&nbsp;BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the ] in what is now ].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=220}} At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation.{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|p=242}}
].|left]]


] throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by ] in 1899. ], ], France.]]
In 52 BC another, larger revolt erupted in Gaul, led by ] of the ]. Vercingetorix managed to unite the Gallic tribes and proved an astute commander, defeating Caesar in several engagements including the ], but Caesar's elaborate siege-works at the ] finally forced his surrender.<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> Despite scattered outbreaks of ] the following year,<ref>], ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> Gaul was effectively conquered.


Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross the Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier;{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|p=242}} displaying Roman engineering prowess, he here built a ] in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=203}} Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54&nbsp;BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at the time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder".{{sfnm|Goldsworthy|2016|1pp=221–22|Boatwright|2004|2p=242}} He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the ] and ] starting in late 54&nbsp;BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=222}} Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=223}} The next year, a greater challenge emerged with the uprising of most of central Gaul, led by ] of the ]. Caesar was initially defeated at ] before ]. After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51&nbsp;BC suppressing any remaining resistance.{{sfnm|Goldsworthy|2016|1pp=229–32, 233–38|Boatwright|2004|2p=242}}
] was Caesar's most senior ] during his Gallic campaigns, having the status of ].<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> Other prominent men who served under him included his relative ],<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> Crassus' sons Marcus<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> and Publius,<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> Cicero's brother ],<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]f.</ref> ],<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]</ref> and ].<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'' ]f.</ref>


=== Politics, Gaul, and Rome ===
Plutarch claimed that the army had fought against three million men in the course of the ], of whom 1 million died, and another million were ]. 300 tribes were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/plutarch/lives/chapter48.html|title=Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, by Plutarch (chapter48)}}</ref> Almost the entire population of the city of ] (Bourges) (40,000 in all) was slaughtered.<ref>{{citebook|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10657/10657.txt|title="De Bello Gallico" & Other Commentaries of Caius Julius Caesar|chapter=Chapter 28|edition=Translated by ]}}</ref> Julius Caesar reports that 368,000 of the ] left home, of whom 92,000 could bear arms, and only 110,000 returned after the campaign.<ref>{{citebook|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10657/10657.txt|title="De Bello Gallico" & Other Commentaries of Caius Julius Caesar|chapter=Chapter 29|edition=Translated by ]}}</ref> However, in view of the difficulty of finding accurate counts in the first place, Caesar's propagandistic purposes, and the common gross exaggeration of numbers in ancient texts, the totals of enemy combatants in particular are likely to be far too high. Furger-Gunti considers an army of more than 60,000 fighting Helvetii extremely unlikely in the view of the tactics described, and assumes the actual numbers to have been around 40,000 warriors out of a total of 160,000 emigrants.<ref>Furger-Gunti, 102.</ref> Delbrück suggests an even lower number of 100,000 people, out of which only 16,000 were fighters, which would make the Celtic force about half the size of the Roman body of ca. 30,000 men.<ref>H. Delbrück ''Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der politischen Geschichte'', Vol. 1, 1900, pp. 428 and 459f.</ref>
In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59&nbsp;BC, the three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular ],<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=98|ps=. "It should no longer be necessary to refute the older notion that Clodius acted as agent or tool of the triumvirate". Clodius was an independent agent not beholden to the triumvirs or any putative popular party. {{cite journal |last=Gruen |first=Erich S |title=P. Clodius: Instrument or Independent Agent? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1086053 |journal=Phoenix |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=120–30 |date=1966 |issn=0031-8299 |jstor=1086053 |doi=10.2307/1086053}}}}</ref> who was ] in 58&nbsp;BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile. When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.{{sfn|Ramsey|2009|pp=37–38}}<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=194|ps=, noting Caesar's opposition – in early 58&nbsp;BC – to Cicero's banishment. Caesar offered Cicero a position on his staff which would have conferred immunity from prosecution but Cicero refused. {{harvnb|Ramsey|2009|p=37}}.}}</ref>{{sfn|Ramsey|2009|p=39}}


Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=220|ps=, citing Gelzer, "this extraordinary honour... cut the ground from under the feet of those who maintained that since 58 Caesar had held his position illegally"; Morstein-Marx also rejects the claim of senatorial duress at {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=21.7–9}}.}}</ref> Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent the Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the ''lex Vatinia'' until 54&nbsp;BC.{{sfnm|Morstein-Marx|2021|1pp=196, 220|Ramsey|2009|2pp=39–40}} His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=220–21}}
==Military career==
{{main|Military career of Julius Caesar}}
Historians place the generalship of Caesar as one of the greatest military strategists and tacticians who ever lived, along with ], ], ], ], and ]. Caesar suffered occasional tactical defeats, such as Battle of Gergovia during the Gallic War and the Battle of Dyrrhachium during the Civil War. However, his tactical brilliance was highlighted by such feats as his circumvallation of Alesia during the Gallic War, the rout of Pompey's numerically superior forces at ] during the Civil War, and the complete destruction of Pharnaces' army at Battle of Zela.


The three allies' relations broke down in 57&nbsp;BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year.{{sfn|Ramsey|2009|pp=39–40}} With a real threat to Caesar's command and {{lang|la|acta}} brewing in 56&nbsp;BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=229}} Pompey and Crassus too wanted military commands. Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of ] and his younger brother Clodius for the consulship of 54&nbsp;BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55&nbsp;BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command.{{sfnm|Ramsey|2009|1pp=41–42|Morstein-Marx|2021|2p=232}}
Caesar's successful campaigning in any terrain and under all weather conditions owes much to the strict but fair discipline of his legionaries, whose admiration and devotion to him were proverbial due to his promotion of those of skill over those of nobility. Caesar's infantry and cavalry were first rate, and he made heavy use of formidable Roman artillery and his army's superlative engineering abilities. There was also the legendary speed with which he manoeuvred his troops; Caesar's army sometimes marched as many as {{convert|40|mi|km|0}} a day. His ''Commentaries on the Gallic Wars'' describe how, during the siege of one Gallic city built on a very steep and high plateau, his engineers tunnelled through solid rock, found the source of the spring from which the town was drawing its water supply, and diverted it to the use of the army. The town, cut off from their water supply, capitulated at once. Caesar also used a cipher system to communicate with his generals which has now come to be known as the ].


Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55&nbsp;BC.{{sfnm|Ramsey|2009|1p=43|Morstein-Marx|2021|2pp=232–33}} During their consulship, Pompey and Crassus passed – with some tribunician support – the {{lang|la|lex Pompeia Licinia}} extending Caesar's command and the ] giving them respective commands in Spain and Syria,{{sfnm|Ramsey|2009|1p=44|Morstein-Marx|2021|2pp=232–33}} though Pompey never left for the province and remained politically active at Rome.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=451}} The opposition again unified against their heavy-handed political tactics – though not against Caesar's activities in Gaul<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=238}}, citing Cic. ''Sest.'', 51, "hardly anyone has lost popularity among the citizens for winning wars".</ref> – and defeated the allies in the elections of that year.{{sfn|Ramsey|2009|p=44}}
==Civil war==
{{Main|Caesar's civil war}}
]


The ambush and destruction in Gaul of a legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55–54&nbsp;BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's ''Commentaries''.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=241ff|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Caes. ''BGall.''|loc=5.26–52}}.}}</ref> The death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia in childbirth {{circa|late August 54}} did not create a rift between Caesar and Pompey.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=272 n. 42|ps=: "Gruen.. and Raaflaub... have effectively disposed of the old idea, too heavily influenced by ", citing {{harnvb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=28.1}} and {{harvnb|Plut. ''Pomp.''|loc=53.6–54.2}}, "that Pompey had now turned against Caesar... since Julia's death in 54".}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ramsey|2009|p=46|ps=: "Despite the fact that Pompey declined Caesar's later offer to form another marriage connection, their political alliance showed no signs of strain for the next several years".}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|pp=451–52, 453|ps=: "Julia's death came in the late summer of 54 if it opened a breach between Pompey and Caesar, there is no sign of it in subsequent months... The evidence indicates no change in the relationship during 53"; "Julia's death provoked no change in the contract Caesar did not cut Pompey out of his will until the outbreak of civil war".}}</ref> At the start of 53&nbsp;BC, Caesar sought and received reinforcements by recruitment and a private deal with Pompey before two years of largely unsuccessful campaigning against Gallic insurgents.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=243–44}} In the same year, Crassus's campaign ended in disaster at the ], culminating in his death at the hands of the ]. When in 52&nbsp;BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ramsey |first=J T |date=2016 |title=How and why was Pompey made sole consul in 52 BC? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45019234 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=298–324 |doi=10.25162/historia-2016-0017 |jstor=45019234 |s2cid=252459421 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref> Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with the support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=247–48, 260, 265–66}}{{sfn|Wiseman|1994|p=412}}
In 50 BC, the Senate, led by ], ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term as Proconsul had finished.<ref name=Sue28>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Moreover, the Senate forbade Caesar to stand for a second consulship ''in absentia''.<ref name=Sue28/> Caesar thought he would be prosecuted and politically marginalised if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a Consul or without the power of his army. Pompey accused Caesar of insubordination and treason. On January 10, 49 BC Caesar crossed the ] river (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only ] and ignited ]. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Plutarch reports that Caesar quoted the Athenian playwright ] in Greek, saying ''ἀνερρίφθω κύβος'' (let the die be thrown).<ref name=Plu65>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> Suetonius gives the Latin approximation '']'' (the die is thrown).<ref name=Sue32>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>


== Civil war ==
The Optimates, including Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger, fled to the south, having little confidence in the newly raised troops especially since so many cities in northern Italy had voluntarily surrendered. An attempted stand by a consulate legion in Samarium resulted in the consul being handed over by the defenders and the ] surrendering without significant fighting. Despite greatly outnumbering Caesar, who only had his ] with him, Pompey had no intention of fighting. Caesar pursued Pompey to ]um, hoping to capture Pompey before the trapped Senate and their legions could escape.<ref name=Plu35>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> Pompey managed to elude him, sailing out of the harbour before Caesar could break the barricades.
{{main|Caesar's civil war}}
{{further|Alexandrine war|Early life of Cleopatra VII|Reign of Cleopatra VII}}
] made during the reign of ] (27 BC{{snd}}14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70 to 60 BC, ], Italy]]
From the period 52 to 49&nbsp;BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=258|ps=. See also Appendix 4 in the same book, analysing the conflict between Caesar and Pompey in terms of a ].}} In 51&nbsp;BC, the consul ] proposed recalling Caesar, arguing that his ''provincia'' (here meaning "task") in Gaul – due to his victory against Vercingetorix in 52 – was complete; it evidently was incomplete as Caesar was that year fighting the ]<ref>{{harvnb|Wiseman|1994|p=414|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Caes. ''BGall.''|loc=8.2–16}}.}}</ref> and regardless the proposal was vetoed.{{sfnm|Morstein-Marx|2021|1p=270|Drogula|2019|2p=223}} That year, it seemed that the conservatives around Cato in the Senate would seek to enlist Pompey to force Caesar to return from Gaul without honours or a second consulship.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=273}} Cato, Bibulus, and their allies, however, were successful in winning Pompey over to take a hard line against Caesar's continued command.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=272, 276, 295 (identities of Cato's allies)}}


As 50&nbsp;BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=291}} In the autumn, Cicero and others sought disarmament by both Caesar and Pompey, and on 1 December 50&nbsp;BC this was formally proposed in the Senate.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=292–93}} It received overwhelming support – 370 to 22 – but was not passed when ] dissolved the meeting.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=297}} That year, when a rumour came to Rome that Caesar was marching into Italy, both consuls instructed Pompey to defend Italy, a charge he accepted as a last resort.<ref>{{harvnb|Wiseman|1994|pp=412–22|ps=, citing {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.30–31}} and {{harvnb|Dio|loc=40.64.1–66.5}}.}}</ref> At the start of 49&nbsp;BC, Caesar's renewed offer that he and Pompey disarm was read to the Senate and was rejected by the hardliners.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=304}} A later compromise given privately to Pompey was also rejected at their insistence.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=306}} On 7 January, his supportive tribunes were driven from Rome; the Senate then declared Caesar an enemy and it issued its '']''.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=308}}
Lacking a ] since Pompey had already scoured the coasts of all ships for evacuation of his forces, Caesar decided to head for Hispania saying "I set forth to fight an army without a leader, so as later to fight a leader without an army." Leaving ] as prefect of Rome, and the rest of Italy under ] as tribune, Caesar made an astonishing 27-day route-march to ], rejoining two of his Gallic legions, where he defeated Pompey's lieutenants. He then returned east, to challenge Pompey in ] where on July 10, 48 BC at ] Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat when the line of fortification was broken. He decisively defeated Pompey, despite Pompey's numerical advantage (nearly twice the number of infantry and considerably more cavalry), at ] in an exceedingly short engagement in 48 BC.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref>


There is scholarly disagreement as to the specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose – when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure – between prosecution, conviction, and exile or civil war in defence of his position.{{sfnm|Boatwright|2004|1p=247|Meier|1995|2pp=1, 4|Mackay|2009|3pp=279–81|Wiseman|1994|4p=419}}{{sfn|Ehrhardt|1995|p=30. "Everyone knows that Caesar crossed the Rubicon because put on trial, found guilty and have his political career ended... Yet over thirty years ago, Shackleton Bailey, in less than two pages of his introduction to Cicero's ''Letters to Atticus'', destroyed the basis for this belief, and... no one has been able to rebuild it"}} Whether Caesar actually would have been prosecuted and convicted is debated. Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Morstein-Marx |first=Robert |date=2007 |title=Caesar's alleged fear of prosecution and his "ratio absentis" in the approach to the civil war |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=159–78 |doi=10.25162/historia-2007-0013 |jstor=25598386|s2cid=159090397 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=262–63}}, explaining:
In Rome, Caesar was appointed ],<ref name=Plu37>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> with ] as his ]; Caesar resigned this dictatorate after 11 days and was elected to a second term as consul with ] as his colleague.<ref name=Plu37/>
* Any prosecution was extremely unlikely to succeed.
* No ''contemporary'' source expresses dissatisfaction with an inability to prosecute.
* No timely charges could have been brought. The possibility of conviction for irregularities during his consulship in 59 was a fantasy when none of Caesar's actions in 59 were overturned. {{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=624}}.
* Caesar proposed giving up his command – opening himself up to prosecution – in January 49&nbsp;BC as part of peace negotiations, something he would not have proposed if he were worried about a sure-fire conviction.


See also {{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|loc=Appendix 2}}, and, contra Morstein-Marx, {{cite book |last=Girardet |first=Klaus Martin |title=Januar 49 v. Chr.: Vorgeschichte, Rechtslage, politische Aspekte |url=https://publikationen.sulb.uni-saarland.de/handle/20.500.11880/28669 |location=Bonn |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-7749-4068-0 |language=de |doi=10.22028/d291-30177 |publisher=Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH}}</ref> Caesar's main objectives were to secure a second consulship – first mooted in 52 as colleague to Pompey's sole consulship<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=247 n. 234}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=26.1}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Pomp.''|loc=56.1–3}}.</ref> – and a triumph. He feared that his opponents – then holding both consulships for 50&nbsp;BC – would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=288|ps=. "Caesar feared that the only guarantee of his rights... to stand for election in absentia under the protection of the Law of the Ten Tribunes and to receive a triumph... was his army".}}</ref> This also was the core of his war justification: that Pompey and his allies were planning, by force if necessary (indicated in the expulsion of the tribunes{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=309}}), to suppress the liberty of the Roman people to elect Caesar and honour his accomplishments.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=320}}
]


=== Italy, Spain, and Greece ===
He pursued Pompey to ], where Pompey was murdered by a former Roman officer serving in the court of ].<ref name=PluPom77>Plutarch, ''Pompey'' </ref> Caesar then became involved with the Alexandrine civil war between Ptolemy and his sister, wife, and co-regent queen, the ] ]. Perhaps as a result of Ptolemy's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra; he is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head,<ref>Plutarch, ''Pompey'' </ref> which was offered to him by Ptolemy's chamberlain ] as a gift. In any event, Caesar defeated the Ptolemaic forces in 47 BC in the ] and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated their victory of the Alexandrine civil war with a triumphant procession on the Nile in the spring of 47 B.C. The royal barge was accompanied by 400 additional ships, introducing Caesar to the luxurious lifestyle of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last=Beard |first=Mary |title=SPQR: a history of ancient Rome |date=2016 |publisher=W W Norton |isbn=978-1-84668-381-7 |page=286 |quote=The exact date is unknown.}}</ref>{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=322}} in response to the Senate's "final decree",{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=331}} Caesar ] – the river defining the northern boundary of Italy – with a single legion, the ], and ignited ]. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright ], in Greek, "]".<ref name=Plu65>{{harvnb|Boatwright|2004|p=246}}, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=32.8}}. {{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=424|ps=&nbsp;gives the same translation.}}</ref> Pompey and many senators fled south, believing that Caesar was marching quickly for Rome.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=336}} Caesar, after capturing communication routes to Rome, paused and opened negotiations, but they fell apart amid mutual distrust.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=340 (Caesar's pause), 342 (Caesar's offer), 343 (Pompey's counter-offer), 345 (negotiations collapse)}} Caesar responded by advancing south, seeking to capture Pompey to force a conference.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=347}}


Pompey withdrew to ] and was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|pp=424–25, 427|ps=. " was probably justified from a military point of view ... but Cicero was doubtless right in seeing it as politically and psychologically very damaging to abandon the capital and indeed all Italy, intending to starve and then invade it".}}</ref> Caesar stayed near Rome for about two weeks – during his stay his forceful seizure of the treasury over tribunician veto put the lie to his pro-tribunician war justifications<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=430|ps=, citing: Cic. ''Att.'', 10.4.8; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=41.15–16}}; {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.41}}.}}</ref>{{sfn|Ehrhardt|1995|p=36. Caesar's "concern for the 'rights of tribunes' was too obvious a sham... what actually thought about the inviolability of tribunes and their right of veto was unmistakably displayed "}} – and left Lepidus in charge of Italy while he attacked Pompey's Spanish provinces.{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|p=252}} He defeated two of Pompey's legates at the ] before forcing surrender of ]; his legates moved into Sicily and into ], though the African expedition failed.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=431|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Caes. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.17–20}}.}}</ref> Returning to Rome in the autumn, Caesar had Lepidus, as praetor, bring a law appointing Caesar ] to conduct the elections; he, along with ], won the following elections and would serve as consuls for 48&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=431|ps=. He also passed laws removing civil disabilities from the descendants of those ] and recalling all exiles on specious claims of unfair trials.}}</ref> Resigning the dictatorship after eleven days,<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=309|ps=, citing, among others, {{harvnb|Caes. ''BCiv.''|loc=3.1.1}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=37.1–2}}; {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.48}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=41.36.1–4}}. He had no {{lang|la|]}}.}}</ref> Caesar then left Italy for Greece to stop Pompey's preparations, arriving in force in early 48&nbsp;BC.{{sfnm|Rawson|1994a|1p=432|Boatwright|2004|2p=252}}
Caesar and Cleopatra never married, as Roman Law only recognised between two Roman citizens. Caesar continued his relationship with Cleopatra throughout his last marriage, which lasted 14 years - in Roman eyes, this did not constitute adultery - and possibly fathered a son called ]. Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa just outside Rome across the ].


Caesar ], but Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee. Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, he engaged and decisively defeated Pompey ] on 9 August 48&nbsp;BC. Pompey then fled for Egypt; Cato fled for Africa; others, like Cicero and ], begged for Caesar's pardon.{{sfnm |Rawson|1994a|1p=433 |Boatwright|2004|2pp=252–53 |Plut. ''Caes.''|3loc=42–45}}
After spending the first months of 47 BC in Egypt, Caesar went to the ], where he annihilated King ] in the ]; his victory was so swift and complete that he mocked Pompey's previous victories over such poor enemies.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Thence, he proceeded to Africa to deal with the remnants of Pompey's senatorial supporters. He quickly gained a significant victory at ] in 46 BC over the forces of Metellus Scipio (who died in the battle) and Cato the Younger (who committed suicide).<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> Nevertheless, Pompey's sons ] and ], together with ], Caesar's former propraetorian legate (''] ]'') and second in command in the Gallic War, escaped to Hispania. Caesar gave chase and defeated the last remnants of opposition in the ] in March 45 BC.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> During this time, Caesar was elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC (with ]) and 45 BC (without colleague).


=== Alexandrine war and Asia Minor ===
===Aftermath of the civil war===
{{see also|Alexandrine war}}
<!-- Please do not restore the previous text to this section, which was here in violation of copyright from the original source. On the other hand, please do expand this section to restore the information lost (just not in the same words!) -->
]'', 1866 painting by ]]]
While he was still campaigning in ], the Senate began bestowing honours on Caesar ''in absentia''. Caesar had not proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning almost all, and there was no serious public opposition to him.
] in ] is probably a depiction of ] as ], with her son ] as ]. Its owner Marcus Fabius Rufus most likely ordered its concealment behind a wall in reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of ] in 30&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roller |first=Duane W |title=Cleopatra: a biography |url=https://archive.org/details/cleopatrabiograp00roll_0 |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536553-5 |location=Oxford |oclc=405105996 |page=175}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Susan |date=2008 |title=Cleopatra in Pompeii? |journal=Papers of the British School at Rome |volume=76 |pages=35–46 |doi=10.1017/S0068246200000404 |s2cid=62829223 |issn=2045-239X|doi-access=free }}</ref>]]


Pompey was killed when he arrived in ], the capital of ]. Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48&nbsp;BC. Prevented from leaving the city by ], Caesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh ] and ], his sister, wife, and co-regent queen.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|pp=433–34|ps=, noting that both children were left under Roman protection under their father's will.}} {{harvnb|Boatwright|2004|2p=253}}.</ref> In late October 48&nbsp;BC, Caesar was appointed<!-- this is not his first dictatorship; the first one was in 49 to hold elections --> in absentia to a year-long dictatorship,<ref>{{Harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=309}}, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=51.1}} and {{harvnb|Dio|loc=42.17.1–22.2}}.</ref> after news of his victory at Pharsalus arrived to Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=435|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Dio|loc=42.18}}.}}</ref> While in Alexandria, he started an ] with Cleopatra and withstood a ] and his other sister ] until March 47&nbsp;BC. Reinforced by eastern client allies under ], he then defeated Ptolemy at the ] and installed Cleopatra as ruler.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=434}}. At the battle, Ptolemy drowned. {{harvnb|Boatwright|2004|p=253}}.</ref> Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated the victory with a triumphal procession on the ]. He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called ].{{sfnm|Rawson|1994a|1p=434|Boatwright|2004|2p=253}}
Great games and celebrations were held on April 21 to honour Caesar’s victory at Munda. Plutarch writes that many Romans found the triumph held following Caesar's victory to be in poor taste, as those defeated in the civil war had not been foreigners, but instead fellow Romans.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref>
]


When Caesar landed at ], he learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, ], had attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across the ] in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at ] and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write {{lang|la|]}} ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories. He then left quickly for Italy.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=434}}, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=50.2}} and {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=35.2, 37.2}}.</ref>
On Caesar's return to Italy in September 45 BC, he filed his will, naming his grand-nephew ] (Octavian) as the heir to everything, including his name. Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did, ] would be the next heir in succession.


=== Italy, Africa, and Spain ===
Caesar tightly regulated the purchase of state-subsidised grain and reduced the number of recipients to a fixed number, all of whom were entered into a special register.<ref>{{cite book | title = Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History | author = Mackay, Christopher S. | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2004 | page = 254}}</ref> From 47-44 he made plans for the distribution of land to about 15,000 of his veterans.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Roman Army, 31 BC-AD 337 | author = Campbell, J. B. | publisher = Routledge | year = 1994 | page = 10}}</ref>
Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as {{lang|la|]}}, in charge. His rule was unpopular: ], serving as plebeian tribune in 47&nbsp;BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity. Cato had marched to Africa<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=435|ps=, noting "an epic march through the desert from Cyrenaica to the province of Africa", citing ] '']'', 9.}}</ref> and there ] was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with ] of ]; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=435|ps=. Rawson also notes claims – {{harvnb|Dio|loc=42.56.4}} – that the republicans were planning a naval invasion of Italy.}}</ref>


Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=435 n. 58}}, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=70}}.</ref> before overseeing the election of the rest of the magistrates for 47&nbsp;BC – no elections had yet been held – and also for those of 46&nbsp;BC. Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|p=435}} Caesar's landing in Africa was marked with some difficulties establishing a beachhead and logistically. He was defeated by ] at ] on 4 January 46&nbsp;BC and thereafter took a rather cautious approach.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|pp=435–36}} After inducing some desertions from the republicans, Caesar ended up surrounded at ]. His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46&nbsp;BC, starting a ]; they then won it and massacred the republican forces ]. Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=436|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Cat. Min.''|loc=58–70}}}}; see also {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=52–54}}.</ref> Many of the remaining anti-Caesarian leaders, including Metellus Scipio and Juba, also committed suicide shortly thereafter.{{sfnm|Rawson|1994a|1p=436|Boatwright|2004|2p=253}} Labienus and two of Pompey's sons, however, had moved to the Spanish provinces in revolt. Caesar started a process of annexing parts of Numidia and then returned to Italy via Sardinia in June 46&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|p=436}}
In 63 BC Caesar had been elected ], and one of his roles as such was settling the calendar. A complete overhaul of the old ] proved to be one of his most long lasting and influential reforms. In 46 BC, Caesar established a 365-day year with a leap year every fourth year.<ref name=Sue40>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> (This ] was subsequently modified by ] in 1582 into the modern ].) As a result of this reform, a certain Roman year (mostly equivalent to 46 BC in the modern calendar) was made 445 days long, to bring the calendar into line with the seasons.<ref name=Sue40/> The month of July is named after Julius in his honour.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> The ], with its ], was built among many other public works.


Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces (Asia), and Juba (Africa). He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix was executed.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|p=436}} According to Appian, in some of the triumphs, Caesar paraded pictures and models of his victories over fellow Romans in the civil wars, to popular dismay.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=436|ps=, citing {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.101–2}}.}}</ref> The soldiers were each given 24,000 ] (a lifetime's worth of pay); further games and celebrations were put on for the plebs. Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as {{lang|la|]}}.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|pp=436–37}}
==Health==
Based on remarks by Plutarch,<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' 17, 45, 60; see also Suetonius, ''Julius'' 45.</ref> Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from ]. Modern scholarship is "sharply divided" on the subject, and it is more certain that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s.<ref>Ronald T. Ridley, "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla," ''Historia'' 49 (2000), pp. 225–226, citing doubters of epilepsy: F. Kanngiesser, "Notes on the Pathology of the Julian Dynasty," ''Glasgow Medical Journal'' 77 (1912) 428-432; T. Cawthorne, "Julius Caesar and the Falling Sickness,” ''Proceedings of Royal Society of Medicine'' 51 (1957) 27-30, who prefers ]; and O. Temkin, ''The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology'' (Baltimore 1971), p 162. </ref>


At a bloody battle at ] on 17 March 45&nbsp;BC, Caesar narrowly found victory;<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=436|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=56}}.}}</ref> his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|p=437}} Labienus died on the field. While one of Pompey's sons, ], escaped, the war was effectively over.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994a|p=436|ps=, noting that Sextus fomented a momentary rebellion and that ] led a revolt in Syria which continued until after Caesar's death in 44&nbsp;BC.}}</ref> Caesar remained in the province until June before setting out for Rome, arriving in October of the same year, and celebrated an unseemly triumph over fellow Romans.{{sfn|Rawson|1994a|p=437}} By this point he had started preparations for war on the ] to avenge Crassus' death at ] in 53&nbsp;BC, with wide-ranging objectives that would take him into Dacia for three or more years. It was set to start on 18 March 44&nbsp;BC.{{sfnm|Rawson|1994a|1pp=437–38|Boatwright|2004|2pp=253–54}}
Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had ]s in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer ] who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of ], which can cause epileptoid seizures.<ref name="Hughes2004Caesar">{{cite journal|author=Hughes J|title=Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar--did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology?|journal=Epilepsy Behav|volume=5|issue=5|pages=756–64|year=2004|pmid=5380131 |doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.05.006}}</ref><ref name="Gomez1995">{{cite journal|author=Gomez J, Kotler J, Long J|title=Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor?|journal=The Journal of the Florida Medical Association|volume=82|issue=3|pages=199–201|year=1995| pmid = 7738524}}</ref><ref name="epilepsiemuseumCaesar">{{cite web|url=http://www.epilepsiemuseum.de/alt/caesaren.html|title=Gaius Julius Caesar|accessdate=2008-08-28|author=H. Schneble|date=]|publisher=German Epilepsy Museum}}</ref>


== Dictatorship and assassination ==
==Assassination==
], posthumous ] from the 1st century AD, now located at the ] in Berlin]]
===Assassination plot===
{{Multiple image
{{main|Assassination of Julius Caesar}}
| align = right
]]]Ancient biographers describe the tension between Caesar and the Senate, and his possible claims to the title of king. These events would be the principal motive for Caesar's assassination by his political opponents in the Senate.
| total_width = 300
| image1 = Cesar Dictator Perpetuo denier Gallica 23528 avers.jpg
| image2 = Cesar Dictator Perpetuo denier Gallica 23528 revers.jpg
| footer = This coin, minted {{circa|44&nbsp;BC}}, shows Caesar's laurelled head surrounded by the {{lang|la|CAESAR DICT PERPETVO}}. The reverse shows symbols of victory, internal harmony, and liberty.{{sfn|Crawford|1974|loc=480/6 (= pp. 487–89, 494)}}
}}


=== Dictatorships and honours ===
] records that at one point, Caesar informed the Senate that his honours were more in need of reduction than augmentation, but withdrew this position so as not to appear ungrateful. He was given the title '']'' ("Father of the Fatherland").<ref>Alternate title: ''Parens patriae''</ref> He was appointed dictator a third time, and then nominated for nine consecutive one-year terms as dictator, effectually making him dictator for ten years. He was also given censorial authority as ''praefectus morum'' (prefect of morals) for three years.
Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title {{lang|la|dictator perpetuo}} in February 44&nbsp;BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49&nbsp;BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to a year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|p=309}} The task he was assigned revived that of Sulla's dictatorship: {{Lang|la|rei publicae constituendae}}.{{sfn|Badian|2012}} These appointments, however, were not the source of legal power themselves; in the eyes of the literary sources, they were instead honours and titles which reflected Caesar's dominant position in the state, secured not by extraordinary magistracy or legal powers, but by personal status as victor over other Romans.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|pp=311–13. "In the view of the ancient historians and biographers self-tasked with assessing Caesar's rule, his dictatorships, and indeed his consulships... were incidental to the authority he possessed on account of being himself"}}


Through the period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours,<ref>See {{harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=313 n. 46}}. {{harvnb|Meier|1995|pp=474–75|ps=&nbsp;notes that senators may have wanted to curry favour or otherwise, by giving him excessive honours, show the public Caesar's tyrannical ambitions}}.</ref> including the title {{lang|la|praefectus moribus}} ({{lit|prefect of morals}}) which historically was associated with the ] power to revise the Senate rolls. He was also granted power over war and peace,{{sfn|Wilson|2021|p=314}} usurping a power traditionally held by the ].<ref>{{harvnb|Lintott|1999|p=21}}; eg {{Cite wikisource |author=Livy |author-link=Livy |title=From the Founding of the City |translator-last=Roberts |translator-first=Canon |year=1905 |wslink=From the Founding of the City |orig-date=1st century AD |wslanguage=en |ref={{harvid|Livy}} |at=31.5–7 }}</ref> These powers attached to Caesar personally.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|pp=314–15}} Similarly extraordinary were a number of symbolic honours which saw Caesar's portrait placed on coins in Rome – the first for a living Roman<ref>] was the first Roman to appear on coinage, specifically on a ''stater'' minted after the ]. Caesar was the first portrait of a living Roman on coins meant to circulate in Rome. {{Cite book |last=Sellars |first=Ian J |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_Y-CgAAQBAJ |title=The monetary system of the Romans |date=2013 |page=33 |quote=Though technically not the first living Roman to appear on coinage... Caesar was the first to appear on the coins of Rome. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=West |first=R |chapter=The chronological development of Roman provincial coin iconography |title=Coinage and identity in the Roman provinces |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-926526-7 |editor-last=Howgego |editor-first=Christopher |display-editors=etal |page=44 |quote=As far as the Roman republican coinage is concerned, a major change occurred when Caesar became the first living Roman to have his portrait depicted on Roman coins. }}</ref> – with special rights to wear royal dress, sit atop a golden chair in the Senate, and have his statues erected in public temples. The month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed {{lang|la|Julius}} (now July).{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=473–74}} These were symbols of divine monarchy and, later, objects of resentment.
The Senate named Caesar '']'' ("dictator in perpetuity"). Roman mints printed a ] coin with this title and his profile on one side, and with an image of the goddess ] and Caesar's title of ''Augur ]'' on the reverse. While printing the title of dictator was significant, Caesar's image was not, as it was customary to print consuls and other public officials on coins during the Republic.


The decisions on the normal operation of the state – justice, legislation, administration, and public works – were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=448. "He acted as he saw fit. Others had no right even to be informed of his intentions... Rome still had a Senate and magistrates, but they were not free in their decision-making... in all matters the decisive authority lay with Caesar alone"}} Caesar's domination over public affairs and his competitive instinct to preclude all others alienated the political class and led eventually to the conspiracy against his life.{{sfnm|Badian|2012|Meier|1995|2pp=447–48}}
According to ], a senatorial delegation went to inform Caesar of new honours they had bestowed upon him in 44 BC. Caesar received them while sitting in the ], rather than rising to meet them. According to Dio, this was a chief excuse for the offended senators to plot his assassination. He wrote that a few of Caesar's supporters blamed his failure to rise on a sudden attack of diarrhoea, but his enemies discounted this in observing that he had walked home unaided.


=== Legislation ===
] wrote that Caesar failed to rise in the temple either because he was restrained by Cornelius Balbus or that he balked at the suggestion he should rise.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Suetonius also gave the account of a crowd assembled to greet Caesar upon his return to Rome. A member of the crowd placed a ] on the statue of Caesar on the ]. The ]s ] and ] ordered that the wreath be removed as it was a symbol of Jupiter and royalty. Caesar had the tribunes censored from office through his official powers.<ref name=Plu61>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> According to Suetonius, he was unable to dissociate himself from the royal title from this point forward.<ref name=Sue79.2>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Suetonius also gives the story that a crowd shouted to him "''rex''", the Latin word for king. Caesar replied, "I am Caesar, not Rex".<ref name=Sue79.2/> Also, at the ] of the ], while he gave a speech from the Rostra, ], who had been elected co-consul with Caesar, attempted to place a crown on his head several times. Caesar put it aside to be used as a sacrifice to ''] Opitimus Maximus''.<ref name=Plu61/>
Caesar, as far as is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', noted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him... merely grafted him as an ill-fitting head on to the body of the traditional structure".{{sfn|Badian|2012}}<ref>Similarly, {{harvnb|Meier|1995|p=470}}, "However restlessly active was, we still hear of nothing that could be construed as a move towards the consolidation of the commonwealth... We have no evidence that he intended to set up a monarchy".</ref>


The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the ] and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the ].{{sfnm|Wilson|2021|1p=318|Badian|2012|Meier|1995|3p=447}} He also increased the number of magistrates and senators (from 600 to 900) to better administer the empire and reward his supporters with offices. Colonies also were founded outside Italy – notably on the sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests – to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest.<ref>{{harvnb|Badian|2012}} for administration and colonial activity. {{harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=318|ps=, noting Suetonius viewing the expansion of the magistracies and Senate as constitutional reform with Dio believing it a means to reward followers.}} {{harvnb|Meier|1995|p=464}} notes "such a large membership would certainly make the house incapable of functioning properly, but it enabled Caesar to show favour to many".</ref> The royal power of naming patricians was revived to benefit the families of his men{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=464}} and the ] jury pools were also altered to remove the {{lang|la|]}}, leaving only the equestrians and senators.{{sfnm|Wilson|2021|1p=318|Lintott|1999|2p=160}}
Plutarch and Suetonius are similar in their depiction of these events, but Dio combines the stories writing that the tribunes arrested the citizens who placed diadems or wreaths on statues of Caesar. He then places the crowd shouting ''"rex"'' on the Alban Hill with the tribunes arresting a member of this crowd as well. The plebeian protested that he was unable to speak his mind freely. Caesar then brought the tribunes before the senate and put the matter to a vote, thereafter removing them from office and erasing their names from the records.


He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of the state.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|p=318}} Caesar reduced the size of the grain dole from 320,000 down to around 150,000 by tightening the qualifications; special bonuses were offered to families with many children to stall depopulation.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=447}} Plans were drawn for the conduct of a census. Citizenship was extended to a number of communities in Cisalpine Gaul and to ].{{sfn|Wilson|2021|pp=319, 321}} During the civil wars, Caesar had also instituted a novel debt repayment programme (no debts would be forgiven but they could be paid in kind), remitted rents up to a certain amount, and thrown games distributing food.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|p=319}} Many of his enemies during the civil wars were pardoned – Caesar's clemency was exalted in his propaganda and temple works – with the intent to cultivate gratitude and draw a contrast between himself and the vengeful dictatorship of Sulla.{{sfn|Wilson|2021|pp=321–22}}
Suetonius adds that Lucius Cotta proposed to the Senate that Caesar should be granted the title of "king" for it was prophesied that only a king would conquer ].<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Caesar intended to invade Parthia, a task which would later give considerable trouble to Mark Antony during the second triumvirate.


The building programmes, started prior to his expedition to Spain, continued, with the construction of the ] and the ] therein. Other public works, including an expansion of Ostia's port and a canal through the ], were also planned.{{cn |date=July 2023}} Very busy with this work, the heavy-handedness with which he ignored the Senate, magistrates, and those who came to visit him also alienated many in Rome.{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=447–49}}
] began to conspire against Caesar with his friend and brother-in-law ] and other men, calling themselves the '']'' ("Liberators"). Many plans were discussed by the group, as documented by ]:


The {{lang|la|collegia}}, civic associations restored by Clodius in 58&nbsp;BC, were again abolished.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=447}} His actions to reward his supporters saw him allow his subordinates illegal triumphal processions and resign the consulship so that allies could take it up for the rest of the year. On the last day of 45&nbsp;BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ] elected as replacement for a single day.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=462}} Corruption on the part of his partisans was also overlooked to ensure their support; provincial cities and client kingdoms were extorted for favours to pay his bills.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=322 n. 92}} on favours for clients. {{harvnb|Wilson|2021|p=322 n. 94}}, noting {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=54.1–3}} reporting on Caesar looting and extorting client states and {{harvnb|Dio|loc=42.49–50, 43.24}} on Caesar's forced loans to pay soldiers.</ref>
{{cquote|The conspirators never met openly, but they assembled a few at a time in each other's homes. There were many discussions and proposals, as might be expected, while they investigated how and where to execute their design. Some suggested that they should make the attempt as he was going along the ], which was one of his favorite walks. Another idea was for it to be done at the elections during which he had to cross a bridge to appoint the magistrates in the ]; they should draw lots for some to push him from the bridge and for others to run up and kill him. A third plan was to wait for a coming gladiatorial show. The advantage of that would be that, because of the show, no suspicion would be aroused if arms were seen prepared for the attempt. But the majority opinion favoured killing him while he sat in the ], where he would be by himself since only Senators would be admitted, and where the many conspirators could hide their ]s beneath their ]s. This plan won the day.}}


=== Conspiracy and death ===
Nicolaus also writes that in the days leading up to the assassination, Caesar was told by doctors, friends, and even his wife, Calpurnia, not to attend the Senate on the Ides for various reasons, including medical concerns and troubling dreams had by Calpurnia:
{{see also|Assassination of Julius Caesar}}
[[File:Iulius Caesar denarius 44 BC 851830.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|
This also shows Caesar's laurelled head with the inscription {{lang|la|CAESAR DICT PERPETVO}}. The reverse, however, shows the name of the moneyer – one Publius Sepullius Macer – along with the goddess Venus, with which Caesar identified, holding Victory in her right hand and a sceptre in the left.{{sfn|Crawford|1974|loc=480/10 (= pp. 487–90, 494)}}
]]
] (42&nbsp;BC) of Cassius and ], depicting the crowned head of ] and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and '']''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Michael Hewson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0pmAAAAMAAJ |title=Roman republican coinage |date=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-07492-6 |page=514}}</ref> ]]
]'' by ].]]


Attempts in January 44&nbsp;BC to call Caesar {{lang|la|rex}} ({{lit|king}}) – a title associated with arbitrary oppression against citizens – were shut down by two tribunes before a supportive crowd. Caesar, claiming that the two tribunes infringed on his honour by doing so, had them deposed from office and ejected from the Senate.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=476}} The incident both undermined Caesar's original arguments for pursuing the civil war (protecting the tribunes) and angered a public which still revered the tribunes as protectors of popular freedom.{{sfnm|Morstein-Marx|2021|1p=522 (noting attempts to restore the tribunes to office after Caesar's death)|Tempest|2017|2p=81}} Shortly before 15 February 44&nbsp;BC, he assumed the dictatorship for life, putting an end to any hopes that his powers would be merely temporary.{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=474, 476}} Transforming his dictatorship, even with a decadal appointment, into one for life clearly showed to all contemporaries that Caesar had no intention to restore a free republic and that no free republic could be restored so long as he was in power.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Badian |first=Ernst |date=1990 |title=Review of "Caesar" |jstor=27690364 |journal=Gnomon |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=35 |issn=0017-1417 |quote=At this point, some time in early February 44, no one could persuade himself that the ''res publica'' would ever be restored as long as Caesar lived. }}</ref>
{{cquote
|...his friends were alarmed at certain rumors and tried to stop him going to the Senate-house, as did his doctors, for he was suffering from one of his occasional dizzy spells. His wife, Calpurnia, especially, who was frightened by some visions in her dreams, clung to him and said that she would not let him go out that day. But Brutus, one of the conspirators who was then thought of as a firm friend, came up and said, 'What is this, Caesar? Are you a man to pay attention to a woman's dreams and the idle gossip of stupid men, and to insult the Senate by not going out, although it has honoured you and has been specially summoned by you? But listen to me, cast aside the forebodings of all these people, and come. The Senate has been in session waiting for you since early this morning.' This swayed Caesar and he left.}}


Just days after his assumption of the life dictatorship, he publicly rejected a ] from Antony at celebrations for the ]. Interpretations of the episode vary: he may have been rejecting the diadem publicly only because the crowd was insufficiently supportive; he could have done it performatively to signal he was no monarch; alternatively, Antony could have acted on his own initiative. By this point, however, rumour was rife that Caesar – already wearing the dress of a monarch – sought a formal crown and the episode did little to reassure.{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=476–77}}
Caesar planned to leave Rome for the East in the latter half of March, which forced a timetable onto the conspirators. Two days before the actual assassination, Cassius met with the conspirators and told them that, should anyone discover the plan, they were to turn their knives on themselves.


The plan to assassinate Caesar had started by the summer of 45&nbsp;BC. An attempt to recruit Antony was made around that time, though he declined and gave Caesar no warning. By February 44&nbsp;BC, there were some sixty conspirators.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=479}} It is clear that by this time, the victorious Caesarian coalition from the civil war had broken apart.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=561–62}} While most of the conspirators were former Pompeians, they were joined by a substantial number of Caesarians.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=556}} Among their leaders were ] (consul in 45), Decimus Brutus (consul designate for 42), as well as ] and ] (both praetors in 44&nbsp;BC).{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=480}} Trebonius and Decimus had joined Caesar during the war while Brutus and Cassius had joined Pompey; other Caesarians involved included ], ], ], and ].{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=556, noting Basilus and Cimber as praetors in 45 and Casca as plebeian tribune in 44 or 43.}} Many of the conspirators would have been candidates in the consular elections for 43 to 41&nbsp;BC,{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=560}} likely dismayed by Caesar's sham elections in early 44&nbsp;BC that produced advance results for the years 43–41&nbsp;BC. Those electoral results came from the grace of the dictator and not that of the people; for the republican elite this was no substitute for actual popular support.{{sfnm|Tempest|2017|1p=93|Meier|1995|2p=465 ("their dignity would have been spurious")|Morstein-Marx|2021|3pp=547–48, 549–50 ("{{lang|la|honores}} obtained as a personal favour rather than by a judgment of the People were in fact no 'honour' at all")}} Nor is it likely that the subordination of the normal magistrates to Caesar's masters of horse ({{langx|la|magistri equitum}}) was appreciated.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=553}}
===Assassination===
{{see also|Assassination of Julius Caesar}}
On the ] (March 15; see ]) of 44 BC, a group of senators called Caesar to the forum for the purpose of reading a petition, written by the senators, asking him to hand power back to the Senate. However, the petition was a fake.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/web/webpages.nsf/WebFiles/ASPG+2007+-+Palmieri/$FILE/Palmieri.pdf|title=Petition effectiveness: improving citizens’ direct access to parliament|format=PDF|publisher=Parliament of Western Australia|accessdate=2008-08-28}}</ref> ], having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a terrified ''Liberator'' named ], and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off at the steps of the forum. However, the group of senators intercepted Caesar just as he was passing the ], located in the ], and directed him to a room adjoining the east portico.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Theatrum_Pompei.html|title=Theatrum Pompei|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=2008-08-28}}</ref>
] bust of Caesar.]]


Brutus, who claimed descent from the ] who had ] and the ] who had freed Rome from incipient tyranny, was the main leader of the conspiracy.{{sfnm|Tempest|2017|1p=41|Meier|1995|2pp=480–81}} By late autumn 45&nbsp;BC, graffiti<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=524–25}} gives a number of examples:
As Caesar began to read the false petition, ], who had handed him the petition, pulled down Caesar's ]. According to ], Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("''Ista quidem vis est!''").<ref name = "suetonius">Suetonius, ''Life of the Caesars, Julius'' trans. J C Rolfe </ref> At the same time, the aforementioned ] produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm. According to ], he said in Latin, "Casca, you ], what are you doing?"<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Caesar'', ch. 66: "{{polytonic|ὁ μεν πληγείς, Ῥωμαιστί· 'Μιαρώτατε Κάσκα, τί ποιεῖς;}}'"</ref> Casca, frightened, shouted "Help, brother!" in Greek ("{{polytonic|ἀδελφέ, βοήθει!}}", "''adelphe, boethei!''"). Within moments, the entire group, including Brutus, was striking out at the dictator. Caesar attempted to get away, but, blinded by blood, he tripped and fell; the men continued stabbing him as he lay defenceless on the lower steps of the portico. According to ], around sixty or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.<ref>Woolf Greg (2006), ''Et Tu Brute? - The Murder of Caesar and Political Assassination'', 199 pages - ISBN 1-8619-7741-7 </ref> According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'', c. 82.</ref>
* {{harvnb|Plut. ''Brut.''|loc=9.6}}: "If only you lived now, Brutus", on the Capitoline statue of Lucius Brutus.
* {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=80.3}}: "If only you were alive".
* {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.112}}: " your descendants are unworthy of you", challenging Marcus Brutus to act.
* {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=80.3}}: "Brutus became the first consul, since he had expelled the kings; This man at last became king, since he had expelled the consuls", on a statue of Caesar.
* {{harvnb|Plut. ''Brut.''|loc=9.7}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=62.7}}; {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.112}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=44.12.3}}: graffiti at Marcus Brutus' praetorian seat in the forum challenging him as asleep, corrupt, or not a true descendant of the Lucius Brutus who founded the republic.</ref> and some public comments at Rome were condemning Caesar as a tyrant and insinuating the need for a Brutus to remove the dictator. The ancient sources, excepting ], are unanimous that this reflected a genuine turn in public opinion against Caesar.{{sfnm|Morstein-Marx|2021|1pp=523, 526–27, 528 (calling the belief in modern scholarship that Caesar remained "the darling of the People" unsupported by the evidence and "infantilising")|Tempest|2017|2pp=86–87}} Popular indignation at Caesar was likely rooted in his debt policies (too friendly to lenders), use of lethal force to suppress protests for debt relief, his reduction in the grain dole, his abolition of the {{lang|la|collegia}} restored by Clodius, his abolition of the poorest panel of jurors in the permanent courts, and his abolition of open elections which deprived the people of their ancient right of decision.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=528 (debts), 529 (lethal force, corn dole, {{lang|la|collegia}}), 530 (juries, elections)}} A popular turn against Caesar is also observed with reports that the two deposed tribunes were written-in on ballots at Caesar's advance consular elections in place of Caesar's candidates.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=548 (the two candidates for the consulship of 43&nbsp;BC were the only two men allowed to stand), 550}} Whether the Romans thought they had a tradition of tyrannicide is unclear;{{efn|The ] and the ] were overthrown, not killed; ] and ] were executed after trials, as was ] in an ostensibly legal process; ] was killed in a riot; ] and ] were each killed after a '']''; ] had been allowed to leave Rome.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=575}} }} Cicero wrote in private as if the duty to kill tyrants was already given, but he made no public speeches to that effect and there is little evidence that the public accepted the logic of preventive tyrannicide.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=318, 573–75}} The philosophical tradition of the ]nic ] was also a factor driving Brutus to action due to its emphasis on a duty to free the state from tyranny.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=95–99}}


While some news of the conspiracy did leak, Caesar refused to take precautions and rejected escort by a bodyguard. The date decided upon by the conspirators was 15 March, the ], three days before Caesar intended to leave for his Parthian campaign.{{sfn|Meier|1995|p=485}} News of his imminent departure forced the conspirators to move up their plans; the Senate meeting on the 15th would be the last before his departure.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=563}} They had decided that a Senate meeting was the best place to frame the killing as political, rejecting the alternatives at games, elections, or on the road.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=99–100}} That only the conspirators would be armed at the Senate meeting, per Dio, also would have been an advantage. The day, 15 March, was also symbolically important as it was the day on which consuls took office until the mid-2nd century BC.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}}
The dictator's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. Suetonius reports that others have said Caesar's last words were the ] phrase "{{polytonic|καὶ σύ, τέκνον;}}"<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> (transliterated as "''Kai su, teknon?''": "You too, child?" in English). However, Suetonius himself says Caesar said nothing.<ref name = "suetonius" /> Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> The version best known in the English-speaking world is the ] phrase "'']''" ("And you, Brutus?", commonly rendered as "You too, Brutus");<ref>{{cite book|last=Stone|first=Jon R.|title=The Routledge Dictionary of Latin Quotations|publisher=Routledge|location=London|date=2005|pages=250|isbn=0415969093}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Morwood|first=James|title=The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Latin-English)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|date=1994|chapter=|isbn=0198602839 }}</ref> this derives from Shakespeare's '']'', where it actually forms the first half of a ] line: "''Et tu, Brute?'' Then fall, Caesar." It has no basis in historical fact and Shakespeare's use of Latin here is not from any assumption that Caesar would have been using the language, but because the phrase was already popular at the time the play was written.<ref> It appears, for example, in Richard Eedes' Latin play ''Caesar Interfectus'' of 1582 and ''The True Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke &tc'' of 1595, Shakespeare's source work for other plays. {{cite book |title=The Works of William Shakespeare |last=Dyce |first=Alexander |authorlink= Alexander Dyce|coauthors=(quoting ]) |year= 1866|publisher=Chapman and Hall |location= London|isbn= |pages= p&nbsp;648|url= }}</ref>
<!-- Greek and Latin translation by J C Rolfe of Harvard University Press. Et can also mean too, when it is used as an adverb. see Lewis & Short Latin dictionary-->


], minted in 42&nbsp;BC, depicts ]. The reverse depicts daggers and a ] symbolising their use to win back freedom.]]
According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'', 67</ref> Brutus and his companions then marched to the Capitol while crying out to their beloved city: "People of Rome, we are once again free!". They were met with silence, as the citizens of Rome had locked themselves inside their houses as soon as the rumour of what had taken place had begun to spread.
Various stories purport that Caesar was on the cusp of not attending or otherwise being warned about the plot.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}}{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=485–86, noting three: Caesar felt unwell and had to be persuaded by a conspirator to attend the Senate; one ] gave Caesar a scroll informing on the conspiracy; the augur Spurinna allegedly prophesied misfortune for Caesar on the Ides}} Approached on his golden chair at the foot of the statue of Pompey, the conspirators attacked him with daggers. Whether he fell in silence, per Suetonius, or after reply to Brutus' appearance – {{lang|grc|kai su teknon?}} ("you too, child?") – is ].{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=101–3, citing {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=81–82}} }} He was stabbed at least twenty-three times and died at once.{{sfnm|Tempest|2017|1p=3–4, 261 n. 1|Meier|1995|2p=486 (reporting 23 wounds)}}<ref>{{harvnb|Tempest|2017|p=261 n. 1}} cites all ancient accounts: Nic. Dam., 58–106; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=60–68}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Brut.''|loc=8–20}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=76–85}}; {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.106–147}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=44.9–19}}.</ref>


=== Aftermath of the assassination ===
A wax statue of Caesar was erected in the forum displaying the 23 stab wounds. A crowd who had amassed there started a fire, which badly damaged the forum and neighbouring buildings. In the ensuing chaos ], ], and others fought a series of five civil wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire.
{{anchor|funeral}}
{{further|War of Mutina|Second Triumvirate|Liberators' civil war}}
] (late 19th or early 20th century)]]


The assassins seized the Capitoline hill after killing the dictator. They then summoned a public meeting in the Forum where they were coldly received by the population. They were also unable to fully secure the city, as Lepidus – Caesar's ] – moved troops from the ] into the city proper. Antony, the consul who escaped the assassination, urged an illogical compromise position in the Senate:{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=316}} Caesar was not declared a tyrant and the conspirators were not punished.<ref>{{harvnb|Rawson|1994b|p=469|ps=. "Antony pointed out that logically, if Caesar was a tyrant, his body should be thrown into the Tiber and all his measures ; if he was not, his murderers should be punished".}}</ref> Caesar's funeral was then approved. At the funeral, Antony inflamed the public against the assassins, which triggered mob violence that lasted for some months before the assassins were forced to flee the capital and Antony then finally acted to suppress it by force.{{sfn|Rawson|1994b|p=470}}
===Aftermath of the assassination===
] of Julius Caesar'' as represented in a 16th century ].]]
The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic.<ref>Florus, ''Epitome'' </ref> The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of high-browed aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony did not give the speech that Shakespeare penned for him more than 1600 years later ("]"), but he did give a dramatic eulogy that appealed to the common people, a reflection of public opinion following Caesar's murder. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the ], perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. But, to his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius ] his sole heir, bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name as well as making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> Gaius Octavian became, for all intents and purposes, the son of the great Caesar, and consequently also inherited the loyalty of much of the Roman populace. Octavian, aged only 19 at the time of Caesar's death, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with ] in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position.


In 44 BC, there was a seven-day ] that the Romans believe to represent the deification of Caeser, giving it the name ]. On the site of his cremation, the ] was begun by the triumvirs in 42&nbsp;BC at the east side of the main square of the ]. Only its altar now remains.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Richardson |first=L |title=Iulius, Divus, Aedes |encyclopedia=A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome |year=1992 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=0-8018-4300-6 |pages=213–14}}</ref> The terms of the will were also read to the public: it gave a generous donative to the plebs at large and left as principal heir one ], Caesar's great-nephew then at ], and adopted him in the will.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1pp=318–19|Rawson|1994b|2p=471}}
In order to combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against. With the passage of the ''lex Titia'' on November 27, 43 BC,<ref>{{cite book | title = Caesar's Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire | author = Osgood, Josiah | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006 | page = 60}}</ref> the ] was officially formed, comprised of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander ].<ref>Suetonius, ''Augustus'' ; Florus, ''Epitome'' </ref> It formally ] Caesar as ] in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became ''Divi filius'' ("Son of a god").<ref>{{cite book | title = Roman Religion | author = Warrior, Valerie M. | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2006 | page = 110 | isbn = 0521825113}}</ref> Seeing that Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate brought back the horror of ], abandoned since ].<ref>Florus, ''Epitome'' </ref> It engaged in the legally-sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents in order to secure funding for its forty-five legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius.<ref>{{cite book | title = Ancient Rome: An Introductory History | author = Zoch, Paul A. | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | year = 200 | page = 217-218| isbn = 0806132876}}</ref> Antony and Octavius defeated them at ].<ref>Florus, ''Epitome'' ; Appian, ''The Civil Wars'' </ref>


Resumption of the pre-existing republic proved impossible as various actors appealed in the aftermath of Caesar's death to liberty or to vengeance to mobilise huge armies that led to a series of civil wars.{{sfn|Mackay|2009|pp=315–16}} The ] was between Antony in 43&nbsp;BC and the Senate (including senators of both Caesarian and Pompeian persuasion) which resulted in Octavian – Caesar's heir – exploiting the chaos to seize the consulship and join with Antony and Lepidus to form the ].{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|pp=270–72}} After purging their political enemies in a ],{{sfn|Mackay|2009|p=332}} the triumvirs secured the deification of Caesar – the Senate declared on 1 January 42&nbsp;BC that Caesar would be placed among the Roman gods<ref>{{harvnb|Mackay|2009|p=334|ps=. Caesar's heir then took the style {{lang|la|divi filius}}, meaning "son of the deified one".}}</ref> – and marched on the east where a ] saw the triumvirs defeat the tyrannicides in ],{{sfn|Boatwright|2004|p=273}} resulting in a final death of the republican cause and a three-way division of much of the Roman world.{{sfnm|Mackay|2009|1p=335|Boatwright|2004|2p=274}} By 31&nbsp;BC, Caesar's heir had taken sole control of the empire, ejecting his triumviral rivals after two decades of civil war. Pretending to restore the republic, his masked autocracy was acceptable to the war-weary Romans and marked the establishment of a ].{{sfn|Meier|1995|pp=494, 496}}
Afterward, Mark Antony married Caesar's lover, Cleopatra, intending to use the fabulously wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome. A third civil war broke out between Octavian on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil war, culminating in the latter's defeat at ], resulted in the permanent ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name that raised him to status of a deity.<ref>Florus, ''Epitome'' </ref>
<!-- Detailed material from the War of Mutina through to Augustus' first settlement (or beyond) should not be in this article; it should be in those respective articles. -->


==Personal life==
Julius Caesar had been preparing to invade ], the ] and ], and then swing back onto ] through Eastern Europe. These plans were thwarted by his assassination.<ref>Plutarch, ''Caesar'' </ref> His successors did attempt the conquests of Parthia and Germania, but without lasting results.
===Health and physical appearance===
] bust, a posthumous portrait in marble, 44–30 BC, ], ]]]


Based on remarks by Plutarch,<ref>{{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=17, 45, 60}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=45}}.</ref> Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from ]. Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ridley |first=Ronald T. |date=2000 |title=The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436576 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=211–29 |jstor=4436576 |issn=0018-2311}} Ridley cites:
==Literary works==
* {{cite journal |last=Kanngiesser |first=F |title=Notes on the pathology of the Julian dynasty |year=1912 |journal=Glasgow Medical Journal |volume=77 |pages=428–32 |ref=none }}
Caesar was considered during his lifetime to be one of the best orators and authors of prose in Rome&mdash;even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style.<ref>Cicero, ''Brutus'', 252.</ref> Among his most famous works were his funeral oration for his paternal aunt ] and his '']'', a document written to blacken ] reputation and respond to Cicero's ''Cato'' memorial. Unfortunately, the majority of his works and speeches have been lost.
* {{Cite journal |last=Cawthorne |first=Terence |date=1958 |title=Julius caesar and the falling sickness |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1288/00005537-195808000-00005 |journal=The Laryngoscope |volume=68 |issue=8 |pages=1442–1450 |doi=10.1288/00005537-195808000-00005|pmid=13576900 |s2cid=34788441 |ref=none | issn=0023-852X}}
* {{Cite book |last=Temkin |first=Owsei |title=The falling sickness: a history of epilepsy from the Greeks to the beginnings of modern neurology |date=1971 |orig-date=1945 |isbn=0-8018-1211-9 |edition=Revised |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |oclc=208839 |page=162 |ref=none }}</ref> Other scholars contend his epileptic seizures were due to a ] by a tapeworm.<ref name="bruschi">{{Cite journal |last=Bruschi |first=Fabrizio |date=2011 |title=Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1471492211001139 |journal=Trends in Parasitology |volume=27 |issue=9 |pages=373–74 |doi=10.1016/j.pt.2011.06.001|pmid=21757405 }}</ref><ref name="mclachlan">{{Cite journal |last=McLachlan |first=Richard S |date=2010 |title=Julius Caesar's late onset epilepsy: a case of historic proportions |journal=Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences |volume=37 |issue=5 |pages=557–561 |doi=10.1017/S0317167100010696 |pmid=21059498 |s2cid=24082872 |issn=0317-1671|doi-access=free }}</ref>


Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had ]s in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of ], which can cause epileptoid seizures.<ref name="Hughes2004Caesar">{{cite journal |last=Hughes |first=John R |display-authors=etal |title=Dictator perpetuus: Julius Caesar – Did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S152550500400160X |journal=Epilepsy & Behavior |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=756–64 |date=2004 |doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.05.006|pmid=15380131 |s2cid=34640921 }}</ref><ref name="Gomez1995">{{cite journal |last=Gomez |first=J G |display-authors=etal |date=1995 |title=Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor? |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7738524 |journal=Journal of the Florida Medical Association |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=199–201 |issn=0015-4148 |pmid=7738524}}</ref>
===Memoirs===
]'', an account written by Julius Caesar about his nine years of war in Gaul.]]
* The '']'' (''Commentaries on the ]''), campaigns in Gallia and Britannia during his term as ]; and
* The '']'' (''Commentaries on the ]''), events of the Civil War until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.


A line from ] has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf."<ref>William Shakespeare, ''Julius Caesar'' I.ii.209.</ref> No classical source mentions hearing impairment in connection with Caesar. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence.{{sfn|Paterson|2009|p=}}
Other works historically attributed to Caesar, but whose authorship is doubted, are:
* '']'' (''On the Alexandrine War''), campaign in Alexandria;
* '']'' (''On the African War''), campaigns in North Africa; and
* '']'' (''On the Hispanic War''), campaigns in the Iberian peninsula.


Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioural manifestations{{snd}}headaches, vertigo, falls (possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damage), sensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility{{snd}}and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his '']'' that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes.<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'', </ref> These events can be more readily associated with cardiovascular complications from a stroke episode or lethal heart attack. Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Galassi |first1=Francesco M. |last2=Ashrafian |first2=Hutan |date=2015 |title=Has the diagnosis of a stroke been overlooked in the symptoms of Julius Caesar? |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25820216 |journal=Neurological Sciences |volume=36 |issue=8 |pages=1521–22 |doi=10.1007/s10072-015-2191-4 |issn=1590-3478 |pmid=25820216|s2cid=11730078 }}</ref>
These narratives were written and published on a yearly basis during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". Apparently simple and direct in style&mdash;to the point that Caesar's ''Commentarii'' are commonly studied by first and second year Latin students&mdash;they are in fact highly sophisticated and subtly slanted advertisements for his political agenda, aimed most particularly at the middle-brow readership of minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.


], writing more than a century after Caesar's death, describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes".<ref>{{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=45}}. ''excelsa statura, colore candido, teretibus membris, ore paulo pleniore, nigris vegetisque oculis''.</ref> He adds that the ] Caesar was sensitive to teasing on the subject, and therefore had a ]. Suetonius reports that Caesar was thus especially pleased to be granted the honour of wearing a wreath at all times.<ref>{{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=45}} ''"Circa corporis... laureae coronae perpetuo gestandae."''</ref>
==Name==
{{main|Etymology of the name of Julius Caesar}}


===Name and family===
Using the ] as it existed in the day of Caesar (i.e., without lower case letters, "J", or "U"), Caesar's name is properly rendered "GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR". The form "CAIVS" is also attested using the old Roman pronunciation of letter C as G; it is an antique form of the more common "GAIVS". It is often seen abbreviated to "C. IVLIVS CAESAR". (The letterform "Æ" is a ], which is often encountered in Latin ]s where it was used to save space, and is nothing more than the letters "ae".) In Classical Latin, it was {{pronounced|ˈgaːius ˈjuːlius ˈkaisar}}.<ref>Note that the first name, like the second, is properly pronounced in three syllables, not two. See ].</ref> In the days of the late ], many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to ] for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, ]. In ], during Caesar's time, his family name was written ''Καίσαρ'', reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German ]. This German name was phonemically but not phonetically derived from the ] ], in which the familiar part "Caesar" is {{IPA|}}, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived, as well as the title of ]. His name is also remembered in ], where he is manifested as the legendary king ].<ref name="carlaz">{{PDFlink||308&nbsp;KB}}</ref>


====The name Gaius Julius Caesar====
==Family==
{{main|Gaius Julius Caesar (name)}}
Using the ] of the period, which lacked the letters ''J'' and ''U'', Caesar's name would be rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR; the form CAIVS is also attested, using the older Roman representation of ''G'' by ''C''. The standard abbreviation was C.&nbsp;IVLIVS CÆSAR, reflecting the older spelling. (The letterform ''Æ'' is a ] of the letters ''A'' and ''E'', and is often used in Latin ]s to save space.){{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In Classical Latin, it was ] {{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈɡaːi.ʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar|}}. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, ]. In ], during Caesar's time, his family name was written {{lang|grc|Καίσαρ}} (''Kaísar''), reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German '']'' {{IPA|de|ˈkaɪzɐ|}} or Dutch '']'' {{IPA|nl|ˈkɛizər|}}.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In ], the original ] {{IPA|}} first began to be pronounced as a simple long vowel {{IPAblink|ɛː}}. Then, the ] {{IPAslink|k}} before ]s began, due to ], to be pronounced as an ], hence renderings like {{IPA|it|ˈtʃɛːzar|}} in ] and {{IPA|de|ˈtseːzaʁ|}} in ] ], as well as the title of ]. With the evolution of the ], the affricate {{IPAblink|ts}} became a ] {{IPAblink|s}} (thus, {{IPA|}} and the like) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Caesar's ] itself became a ]; it was promulgated by the ], which contains the famous verse "] the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". The title became, from the late first millennium, '']'' in ] and (through ] ''cěsarĭ'') ] or Czar in the ]. The last Tsar in nominal power was ], whose reign ended in 1946, but is still alive in 2023. This means that for approximately two thousand years, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. As a term for the highest ruler, the word Caesar constitutes one of the earliest, best attested and most widespread Latin loanwords in the Germanic languages, being found in the ] of ] (''keisar''), ] (''kēsur''), ] (''cāsere''), ] (''keisari''), ] (''keisere'') and (through ]) ] (''kaisar'').<ref>M. Philippa, F. Debrabandere, A. Quak, T. Schoonheim en N. van der Sijs (2003–2009) Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, Amsterdam</ref>

====Posterity====
{{main|Julio-Claudian family tree}} {{main|Julio-Claudian family tree}}
] {{wide image|Roman families 4 Nov 08.png|1000px|Julio-Claudian family tree}}
;Wives{{anchor|Wives}}
* First marriage to ], from 84&nbsp;BC until her death in 69 BC
* Second marriage to ], from 67&nbsp;BC until he divorced her around 61&nbsp;BC over the ]
* Third marriage to ], from 59&nbsp;BC until Caesar's death


] and her son by Julius Caesar, ], at the ]]]
===Parents===
] from the House of Giuseppe II, ], early 1st century AD, most likely depicting ], wearing her royal ], ], while her son ], also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her<ref>{{cite book |last=Roller |first=Duane W |author-link=Duane W. Roller |title=Cleopatra: a biography |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-536553-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/cleopatrabiograp00roll_0/ |pages=}}</ref>]]
* Father ]
* Mother ] (related to the ])


;Children
===Sisters===
*] (the elder) * ], by Cornelia, born in 83 or 82 BC
* ], by ], born 47 BC, and killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus.
*] (the younger)
* ''Posthumously adopted'': ], his great-nephew by blood (grandson of ]), who later became Emperor Augustus.


; Suspected children
===Wives===
Some ancient sources refer to the possibility of the tyrannicide, ], being one of Julius Caesar's illegitimate children.<ref>Eg {{harvnb|Plut. ''Brut.''|loc=5.2}}</ref> Caesar, at the time Brutus was born, was 15. Most ancient historians were sceptical of this and "on the whole, scholars have rejected the possibility that Brutus was the love-child of Servilia and Caesar on the grounds of chronology".<ref>{{harvnb|Tempest|2017|p=102}}, noting the "almost universally accepted" treatment rejecting Caesar's parentage at {{cite wikisource |last=Fluß |first=Max |wslink=RE:Servilius 101 |title=Servilius 101 |encyclopedia=Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft |year=1923 |volume=II A,2 |publisher=Butcher |location=Stuttgart |wslanguage=de |at=cols. 1817–21}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Syme|first=Ronald|date=1960|title=Bastards in the Roman Aristocracy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/985248|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=104|issue=3 |issn=0003-049X |page=326 |jstor=985248|quote=Chronology is against Caesar's paternity.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Syme|first=Ronald|date=1980|title=No Son for Caesar?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435732|journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|volume=29|issue=4|page=426|jstor=4435732|issn=0018-2311 |quote=Caesar is excluded by plain fact}}.</ref>
* First marriage to ], from 83 BC until her death in childbirth in 69 or 68 BC
* Second marriage to ], from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC
* Third marriage to ], from 59 BC until Caesar's death


;Grandchildren
===Children===
* ] with Cornelia Cinnilla, born in 83 or 82 BC Grandchild from ] and ], dead at several days, unnamed.<ref name="Jimenez2000">{{harvnb|Jiménez|2000|p=55}}.</ref>
* ], with ], born 47 BC. He was killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus.
* ''adopted'': ], his great-nephew by blood, who later became Emperor Augustus.
* ]: The historian Plutarch notes that Caesar believed Brutus to have been his illegitimate son, as his mother Servilia had been Caesar's lover during their youth.<ref>"Considering that Brutus was
born about that time in which their loves were at the highest, Caesar had a belief that he was his own child": {{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/plivs10.txt|title=Marcus Brutus|last=Plutarch|coauthors=Translated A. H. Clough|date=1996|work=The Project Gutenberg Etext of Plutarch's Lives|publisher=Project Gutenberg|accessdate=2008-07-14}}</ref>


;Lovers
===Grandchildren===
* ], mother of ]
* Grandson from ] and ], dead at several days, unnamed.
* ], mother of Brutus
* ], queen of ] and wife of ]es


===Rumors of passive homosexuality===
===Lovers===
Roman society viewed the passive role during ], regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar."<ref name="Suet.1.49">{{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=49}}.</ref> According to Cicero, ], ], and others – mainly Caesar's enemies – he had an affair with ] early in his career. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the "]", by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to ], even under oath on one occasion.<ref name="Suet.1.2">{{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=49}}; {{harvnb|Dio|loc=43.20}}.</ref> This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents.
* ]
* ] mother of Brutus
* Eunoë, queen of ] and wife of ]es


] wrote a poem suggesting that Caesar and his engineer ] were lovers,<ref>], ''Carmina'' {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420062543/http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/029x.html |date=20 April 2008}}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304045130/http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/057x.html |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> but later apologised.{{sfn|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=73}}
===Notable relatives===
* ] (married to his Aunt Julia)
* ]
* ]
* ], a ] of the ] at the time of the ] of AD 69, claimed to be the great-grandson of Caesar on the grounds that his great-grandmother had been Caesar's lover during the Gallic war.<ref>], '']'' ]</ref>


] charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political ]. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus.<ref name="Suet.2.68">{{harvnb|Suet. ''Aug.''|loc=68, 71}}.</ref>
===Political rivals and rumours of homosexual activity===
Roman society viewed the passive role during sex, regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar."<ref name=""Seut.1.49>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref> According to Cicero, ], ], and others (mainly Caesar's enemies), he had an affair with ] early in his career. The tales were repeated, referring to Caesar as the Queen of Bithynia, by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate and degrade him. It is possible that the rumors were spread only as a form of character assassination. Caesar himself, according to ], denied the accusations under oath.<ref name="Seut.1.2">Suetonius, ''Julius'' ; Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' </ref> This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents. A favorite tactic used by the opposition was to accuse a popular political rival as living a Hellenistic lifestyle based on Greek and Eastern culture, where homosexuality and a lavish lifestyle were more acceptable than in Roman tradition.{{Fact|date=February 2009}}


==Literary works==
] wrote two poems suggesting that Caesar and his engineer ] were lovers,<ref>], ''Carmina'' , </ref> but later apologised.<ref>Suetonius, ''Julius'' </ref>
]
]
During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin{{snd}}even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style.<ref>Cic. ''Brut.'', .</ref> Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are ] for his paternal aunt ] and his "]", a document attacking ] in response to Cicero's eulogy. ] are also mentioned in ancient sources.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Courtney |editor-first=Edward |title=The fragmentary Latin poets |date=1993 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-814775-9 |oclc=25628739 |pages=153–55, 187–88}}</ref>


===Memoirs===
] charged that ] had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political ]. The boy Octavian was to become the first Roman emperor following Caesar's death.<ref name="Seut.2.68">Suetonius, ''Augustus'' , </ref>
* The '']'', usually known in English as ''The Gallic Wars'', seven books each covering one year of his campaigns in Gaul and southern Britain in the 50s BC, with the eighth book written by ] on the last two years.
* The '']'' (''The Civil War''), events of the Civil War from Caesar's perspective, until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.


Other works historically have been attributed to Caesar, but their authorship is in doubt:
==Chronology of his life==
* '']'' (''On the Alexandrine War''), campaign in Alexandria;
{{Timeline Julius Caesar}}
* '']'' (''On the African War''), campaigns in North Africa; and
* '']'' (''On the Hispanic War''), campaigns in the ].


These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiseman |first=T P |chapter=The publication of ''De bello Gallico'' |title=Julius Caesar as artful reporter: the war commentaries as political instruments |date=2009 |editor-last=Welch |editor-first=Kathryn |editor-last2=Powell |editor-first2=Anton |publisher=Classical Press of Wales |isbn=978-1-905125-28-9 }}</ref> As a model of clear and direct Latin style, ''The Gallic Wars'' traditionally has been studied by first- or second-year Latin students.
==Honours and titles==
As a young man he was awarded the Corona Civica (]) for valour while fighting in ] and went on to receive many honours. These included titles such as ] (Father of the Fatherland), and ]. He was also elected ] in ]. The many titles bestowed on him by the Senate are sometimes cited as a cause of his assassination, as it seemed inappropriate to many contemporaries for a man to be awarded so many honours.


==Legacy==
He was voted the title ] ("god") after his death. He was included as one of the ] by Jacques de Longuyon in his Voeux du Paon (1312). These were nine historical, scriptural, mythological or semi-legendary figures who, in the Middle Ages, were believed to personify the ideals of chivalry.


===Historiography===
Caesar's ] would become a title; it was greatly promulgated by the ], by the famous verse "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s". The title became the German ] and Slavic ]/Czar. The last tsar in nominal power was ] whose reign ended in 1946; for two thousand years after Julius Caesar's assassination, there was at least one head of state bearing his name.
] in the ] of Rome, Italy]]
The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete ] for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind.<ref>{{harvnb|Canfora|2006|pp=10–11}}</ref> Julius Caesar is also considered one of the first historical figures to fold his message scrolls into a concertina form, which made them easier to read.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The library: an illustrated history |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |oclc=277203534}}</ref> The Roman emperor ] began a ] of Caesar, which described Augustus as Caesar's political heir. The modern historiography is influenced by this tradition.<ref>{{harvnb|Canfora|2006|p=10}}</ref>


Many rulers in history became interested in the ]. ] wrote the scholarly work '']'', which was not finished. The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. ] ordered a monk to prepare a translation of the ''Gallic Wars'' in 1480. ] ordered a topographic study in France, to place the Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan ] catalogued the surviving editions of the ''Commentaries'', and translated them to Turkish language. ] and ] of France translated the first two commentaries and the last two respectively; ] re-translated the first one afterwards.<ref>{{harvnb|Canfora|2006|pp=11–12}}</ref>
==Depictions==

The remains of ] are a pilgrimage site for visitors from across Italy and the world. Flowers and other items are left there daily and special commemorations take place on 15 March to commemorate Caesar's death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicoletti |first=Gianluca |date=22 July 2014 |title=Il mondo in fila |url=https://www.lastampa.it/topnews/tempi-moderni/2014/07/22/news/il-mondo-in-fila-1.35735596/ |access-date=24 May 2024 |website=] |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Quaglia |first=Lucilla |date=15 March 2019 |title=Sempre più fiori e monetine sull'Ara di Cesare: la tradizione si rinnova il 15 marzo |url=https://www.ilmessaggero.it/roma/news/cesare_ara_fiori_monetine_idi_marzo-4364039.html |access-date=24 May 2024 |website=] |language=it}}</ref>

===Politics===
{{main|Caesarism}}
Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of '']'', a form of political rule led by a ]tic ] whose rule is based upon a ], whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent ], and being a regime involving prominence of the ] in the government.<ref name="Weber, 34" >{{harvnb|Weber|2008|p=34}}.</ref> Other people in history, such as the French ] and the Italian ], have defined themselves as Caesarists.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Napoleon Bonaparte, Political Prodigy |journal=History Compass |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=1382–98 |first=Howard G. |last=Brown |date=29 June 2007 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00451.x |publisher=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Hartfield |title=Unpatriotic History of the Second World War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gALtBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |publisher=John Hunt Publishing |year= 2012 |page=77 |isbn=978-1-78099-379-9 |access-date=20 August 2019 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228125816/https://books.google.com/books?id=gALtBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |url-status=live}}</ref> Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to ].<ref>{{harvnb|Canfora|2006|pp=12–13}}</ref> The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule.

===Depictions===
{{main|Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar}} {{main|Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar}}
''For the marble bust from Arles discovered in 2007-8 alleged to be Caesar's likeness, and the ensuing controversy, see ].''
<gallery> <gallery>
Image:Hw-caesar.jpg|Bust in ], photograph published in 1902 File:Giulio-cesare-enhanced 1-800x1450.jpg|Bust in the ]
Image:C. Julius-Caesar (British Museum).gif|Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum File:Rimini083.jpg|Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy
File:Portrait of Julius Caesar (1st cent. B.C.) at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta on 15 May 2019.jpg|Portrait at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta
Image:Rimini083.jpg|Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, ], Italy
File:Porta palatina, statue.jpg|Bronze statue at the Porta Palatina in Turin
File:Portrait head of Julius Caesar (1st cent. A.D.) at the Archaeological Museum of Corinth on 10 January 2020.jpg|Bust in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth
File:Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC).JPG|Bust in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples, photograph published in 1902
</gallery> </gallery>

===Battle record===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%; margin:1em auto 1em auto;"
|-
!style="width:20%;| Date
! War
! Action
! Opponents
! Type
! Present-day areas
! Outcome
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">58 BC</span> 58 BC
| rowspan="12" |]
|<span style="display:none">Arar</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">58 BC</span> 58 BC
|<span style="display:none">Mount Haemus</span> ]
|], ], ], ]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">58 BC</span> 58 BC
|<span style="display:none">Vosges</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">57 BC</span> 57 BC
|]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">57 BC</span> 57 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of the Sabis</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>], ],
], ]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">56 BC</span>56 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Morbihan</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">55 and 54 BC</span>55 and 54 BC
|<span style="display:none">Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Campaign
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">54 BC–53 BC</span> 54 BC–53 BC
|<span style="display:none">Ambiorix's revolt</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
| Campaign
| Belgium, ]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">52 BC</span> 52 BC
|<span style="display:none">Avaricum</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>], ]
|Siege
|]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">52 BC</span> 52 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Gergovia</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
| Battle
| ]
| Defeat
|-
!scope="row"|September 52 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Alesia</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>] Confederation
|Siege and Battle
|], ]
|Decisive victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">51 BC</span> 51 BC
|<span style="display:none">Siege of Uxellodunum</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Siege
|], France
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">June–August 49 BC</span> June–August 49 BC
| rowspan="8" |]
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Ilerda</span> ]
|]<span style="display:none">.</span>
|Battle
|], ]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">10 July 48 BC</span> 10 July 48 BC
|]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
| ], ]
|Defeat
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">9 August 48 BC</span> 9 August 48 BC
| ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|]
|Decisive Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">47 BC</span> 47 BC
| ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|], ]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">2 August 47 BC</span> 2 August 47 BC
| ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|], ]
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">4 January 46 BC</span> 4 January 46 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Ruspina</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>], ]
|Battle
| Ruspina Africa
|Defeat
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">6 April 46 BC</span> 6 April 46 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Thapsus</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>], ]
|Battle
|]
|Decisive Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|-
!scope="row"|<span style="display:none">17 March 45 BC</span> 17 March 45 BC
|<span style="display:none">Battle of Munda</span> ]
|<span style="display:none">.</span>]
|Battle
|Andalusia Spain
|Victory
<span style="display:none">⁂</span>
|}

==Chronology==

{{Timeline Julius Caesar}}

==See also==
* ]
* ]
* '']''
* '']'' – 1724 opera by ]

==Notes==
{{noteslist}}


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|2}} {{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

===Primary sources=== ===Primary sources===

{{sisterlinks}}
====Own writings==== ====Own writings====
{{refbegin|30em}}
<div class="references-small">
* {{cite wikisource |author=Julius Caesar |author-link=Julius Caesar |title=Commentarii de Bello Civili |wslink=Commentaries on the Civil War |year=1859 |orig-year=1st century BC |translator1-last=McDevitte |translator1-first=WA |translator2-last=Bohn |translator2-first=WS |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |series=Harper's New Classical Library |ref={{harvid|Caes. ''BCiv.''}}}}
* in Latin and translation
* {{cite book |author=Caesar |author-link=Julius Caesar |title=Gallic War |year=1917 |orig-year=1st century BC |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/caesar/gallic_war/home.html |translator-last=Edwards |translator-first=Henry John |publisher=] |series=Loeb Classical Library |isbn=978-0-674-99080-7 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Caes. ''BGall.''}}}}
* Hypertext of Caesar's De Bello Gallico
{{refend}}
* {{gutenberg author|id=Julius+Caesar | name=Julius Caesar}}
</div>


{{refbegin}}
====Ancient historians' writings====
* {{usurped|1=}} in Latin and translation
<div class="references-small">
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/julius-caesar}}
* (English translation)
* {{gutenberg author|id=Julius+Caesar|name=Julius Caesar}}
* (English translation)
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Julius Caesar}}
* (English translation, Dryden edition)
* {{Librivox author|id=2012}}
* (English translation)
{{refend}}
* (English translation)
* . (Latin and English, cross-linked: the English translation by J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Rolfe)
* (J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Rolfe English translation, modified)


====Ancient historians' writings====
</div>
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |author=Appian |title=Civil Wars |year=1913 |orig-year=2nd century AD |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |location=Cambridge |translator-last=White |translator-first=Horace |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/home.html |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|App. ''BCiv.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Cassius Dio |author-link=Cassius Dio |year=1914–1927 |orig-year={{circa|AD 230}} |title=Roman History |url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |translator-last=Cary |translator-first=Earnest |ref={{harvid|Dio}} |via=LacusCurtius}} Published in nine volumes.
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |chapter=Life of Antony |title=Parallel Lives |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Antony*.html |publisher= |series=Loeb Classical Library |year=1920 |orig-year=2nd century AD |volume=9 |translator-first=Bernadotte |translator-last=Perrin |oclc=40115288 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Ant.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |chapter=Life of Brutus |title=Parallel Lives |chapter-url=http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg061.perseus-eng1 |publisher= |series=Loeb Classical Library |year=1918 |orig-year=2nd century AD |volume=6 |translator-first=Bernadotte |translator-last=Perrin |oclc=40115288 |via=Perseus Digital Library |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Brut.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |author-link=Plutarch |chapter=The Life of Cato the Younger |title=Plutarch Lives: Sertorius and Eumenes; Phocion and Cato |translator-last=Perrin |translator-first=Bernadotte |year=1919 |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Minor*.html |volume=8 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Cat. Min.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |chapter=Life of Caesar |title=Parallel Lives |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html |publisher= |series=Loeb Classical Library |year=1919 |orig-year=2nd century AD |volume=7 |translator-first=Bernadotte |translator-last=Perrin |oclc=40115288 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Caes.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |chapter=Life of Crassus |title=Parallel Lives |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Crassus*.html |publisher= |series=Loeb Classical Library |year=1916 |orig-year=2nd century AD |volume=3 |translator-first=Bernadotte |translator-last=Perrin |oclc=40115288 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Crass.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |chapter=Life of Pompey |title=Parallel Lives |chapter-url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey*.html |publisher= |series=Loeb Classical Library |year=1917 |orig-year=2nd century AD |volume=5 |translator-first=Bernadotte |translator-last=Perrin |oclc=40115288 |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Plut. ''Pomp.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Suetonius |author-link=Suetonius |chapter=Life of Augustus |title=Lives of the Twelve Caesars |year=1913–1914 |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=J C |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |location=Cambridge |chapter-url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Suet. ''Aug.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Suetonius |author-link=Suetonius |chapter=Life of Caesar |title=Lives of the Twelve Caesars |year=1913–1914 |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=J C |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |location=Cambridge |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Suet. ''Iul.''}}}}
* {{cite book |author=Velleius Paterculus |title=Roman History |year=1924 |translator-last=Shipley |translator-first=Frederick W |series=Loeb Classical Library |publisher= |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/home.html |via=LacusCurtius |ref={{harvid|Vell. Pat.}}}}
{{refend}}


===Secondary sources=== ===Secondary sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
<div class="references-small">
* {{cite book |last=Alexander |first=Michael Charles |title=Trials in the late Roman Republic, 149 BC to 50 BC |date=1990 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0-8020-5787-X |location=Toronto |oclc=41156621}}
*{{citebook|author=Canfora, Luciano|title=Julius Caesar: The People's Dictator|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-748-61936-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Badian |first=Ernst |chapter=Iulius Caesar, C (2) |title=The Oxford classical dictionary |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ |editor-last1=Hornblower |editor-first1=Simon |display-editors=etal |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |edition=4th |oclc=959667246 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3394 }}
*{{citebook |title=Julius Caesar |author=Freeman, Philip |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008 |isbn=0-743-28953-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Broughton |first=Thomas Robert Shannon |year=1952 |title=The magistrates of the Roman republic |location=New York |publisher=American Philological Association |author-link=Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton |volume=2}}
*{{citebook|author=Goldsworthy, Adrian|title=Caesar: Life of a Colossus|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-300-12048-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Boatwright |first=M T |display-authors=etal |title=The Romans, from village to empire |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-511875-8 |location=New York |oclc=52728992}}
*{{citebook|author=Holland, Tom|title=Rubicon: The Last Years Of The Roman Republic|publisher=Anchor Books|year=2003|isbn=1-4000-7897-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Canfora |first=Luciano |title=Julius Caesar: The People's Dictator |publisher=] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7486-1936-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeTEULUngZIC |access-date=2 September 2017 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126111057/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeTEULUngZIC |url-status=live}}
*{{citebook|author=Jiménez, Ramon L.|title=Caesar Against Rome: The Great Roman Civil War|publisher=Praeger|year=2000|isbn=0-275-96620-8}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Crook |editor-first1=John |display-editors=etal |title=The last age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 BC |series=Cambridge Ancient History |volume=9 |edition=2nd |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3yUkzNLiY4oC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-85073-8 |oclc=121060 |ref={{harvid|CAH<sup>2</sup> 9|1994}}}}
*{{citebook|author=Kleiner, Diana E. E.|title=Cleopatra and Rome|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2005|isbn=0-674-01905-9}}
** {{harvc |last=Rawson |first=Elizabeth |c=Caesar: civil war and dictatorship |in=CAH<sup>2</sup> 9 |year=1994 |anchor-year=1994a |pages=424–67}}
*{{citebook|author=Meier, Christian|title=Caesar: A Biography|publisher=Fontana Press|year=1996|isbn=0-006-86349-3}}
** {{harvc |last=Rawson |first=Elizabeth |c=The aftermath of the Ides |in=CAH<sup>2</sup> 9 |year=1994 |anchor-year=1994b |pages=468–90}}
</div>
** {{harvc |last=Wiseman |first=TP |chapter=Caesar, Pompey, and Rome, 59–50 BC |in=CAH<sup>2</sup> 9 |year=1994 |pages=368–423}}
* {{cite book |last=Drogula |first=Fred K |title=Cato the Younger: life and death at the end of the Roman republic |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-086902-1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |oclc=1090168108}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ehrhardt |first=C T H R |date=1995 |title=Crossing the Rubicon |journal=Antichthon |volume=29 |pages=30–41 |doi=10.1017/S0066477400000927 |s2cid=142429003 |issn=0066-4774 }}
* {{cite book |last=Goldsworthy |first=Adrian |title=Caesar: Life of a Colossus |publisher=] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-300-12048-6 |author-link=Adrian Goldsworthy |url=https://archive.org/details/caesarlifeofcolo00gold}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldsworthy |first=Adrian |title=In the name of Rome: the men who won the Roman empire |date=2016 |orig-year=First published 2003 |isbn=978-0-300-22183-1 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |oclc=936322646}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Griffin |editor1-first=Miriam |title=A Companion to Julius Caesar |year=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-1-4443-0845-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzOXLGbIIYwC}}
** {{harvc |last=Badian |first=Ernst |c=From the Iulii to Caesar |in=Griffin |year=2009 |pages=11–22}}
** {{harvc |last=Gruen |first=Erich S |c=Caesar as a politician |in=Griffin |year=2009 |pages=23–36}}
** {{harvc |last=Ramsey |first=John T |c=The proconsular years: politics at a distance |in=Griffin |year=2009 |pages=37–56}}
** {{harvc |last=Paterson |first=Jeremy |c=Caesar the man |in=Griffin |year=2009 |pages=126–40}}
* {{cite book |last=Gruen |first=Erich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8a4wDwAAQBAJ |title=The last generation of the Roman republic |year=1995 |isbn=0-520-02238-6 |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Jiménez |first=Ramon L. |title=Caesar Against Rome: The Great Roman Civil War |publisher=Praeger |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-275-96620-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lintott |first=Andrew |title=Constitution of the Roman republic |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926108-6 }} Reprinted 2009.
* {{cite book |last=Mackay |first=Christopher S |title=The breakdown of the Roman republic |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-51819-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Meier |first=Christian |title=Caesar |publisher=Basic Books |year=1995 |orig-year=First published, in German by Severin und Siedler, 1982 |translator-last=McLintock |translator-first=David |isbn=0-465-00895-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Morstein-Marx |first=Robert |title=Julius Caesar and the Roman People |year=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108943260 |isbn=978-1-108-83784-2 |s2cid=242729962 |lccn=2021024626}}
* {{cite book |last=Tempest |year=2017 |first=Kathryn |title=Brutus: the noble conspirator |publisher=Yale University Press |place=London |isbn=978-0-300-18009-1 |url={{googlebooks|mmo3DwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |author-link=Max Weber |title=Caesarism, Charisma, and Fate: Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber |year=2008 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-1214-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Mark B |title=Dictator: the evolution of the Roman dictatorship |date=2021 |publisher=Michigan University Press |isbn=978-0-472-13266-9 |location=Ann Arbor, MI |oclc=1197561102}}
{{refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages-3|2007-01-10|Jcaesar-pt1.ogg|Jcaesar-pt2.ogg|Jcaesar-pt3.ogg}} {{Spoken Misplaced Pages|date=10 January 2007|Jcaesar-pt1.ogg|Jcaesar-pt2.ogg|Jcaesar-pt3.ogg}}
* {{DPRR |id=1957 |name=C. Iulius (131) C. f. C. n. Fab. Caesar}}
* Jona Lendering's in‑depth history of Caesar (Livius. Org)
* {{Wikisource author-inline|Gaius Julius Caesar}}
*
* {{Wikisource inline|Julius Caesar}}
*
* {{Library resources about |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |label=Caesar}}
* at
* {{Library resources by |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |label=Caesar}}
{{clear}}
*


{{S-start}}
==Succession table==
{{start box}} {{S-off}}
{{succession box|title=] of the ]|before=] and <br />]||after=] and ]|years=''with ]''<br />59 BC {{S-bef | before = ] | before2 = ]}}
{{s-ttl | title = ] | years = 59 BC | with = ]}}
}} <!-- End of 8th up/ 1st counting down
{{s-aft | after = ] | after2 = ]}}
--->
{{succession box|title=] of the ]|before=] and<br>]||after=] and<br>]|years=''with ]''<br/>48 BC
}} <!-- End of 7th up/ 2nd down
--->
{{succession box|title=] of the ]|before=] and<br>]||after=Gaius Julius Caesar <br /></b>''alone without colleague<b>''|years=''with ]''<br />46 BC
}} <!-- End of 6th up/ 3rd down
--->
{{succession box|title=] of the ]|before=Gaius Julius Caesar and<br>]||after=Gaius Julius Caesar and<br>]|years=''alone without colleague''<br />45 BC
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Latest revision as of 15:51, 13 December 2024

Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC) "Gaius Julius Caesar" and "Caesar" redirect here. For the name, see Gaius Julius Caesar (name). For other uses, see Gaius Julius Caesar (disambiguation), Caesar (disambiguation), and Julius Caesar (disambiguation). For the German politician, see Cajus Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar
The Tusculum portrait, a marble sculpture of Julius CaesarCaesar as portrayed by the Tusculum portrait
Born12 July 100 BC
Suburra, Rome
Died15 March 44 BC (aged 55)
Theatre of Pompey, Rome
Cause of deathAssassination (stab wounds)
Occupations
  • Politician
  • soldier
  • author
Notable work
Office
Pontifex maximus 64–44 BC
Consul 59 BC
Proconsul (Gaul, Illyricum) 58–49 BC
Dictator 49–44 BC
Consul 48, 46–44 BC
Dictator perpetuo 44 BC
Spouse(s)
Cossutia (disputed)
Cornelia m. 84 BC; d. 69 BC
Pompeia m. 67 BC; div. 61 BC
Calpurnia m. 59 BC
PartnerCleopatra
Children
Parents
AwardsCivic Crown
Military service
AllegianceRoman Republic
Branch/serviceRoman Army
Years of service81–45 BC
CommandsXIII Legion
Battles/wars

Gaius Julius Caesar (12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the private support of Cicero. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, which greatly extended Roman territory. During this time he both invaded Britain and built a bridge across the river Rhine. These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. In 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority by crossing the Rubicon and marching towards Rome at the head of an army. This began Caesar's civil war, which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC.

After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reform, including the creation of the Julian calendar. He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reforms to support his veterans and initiated an enormous building programme. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life" (dictator perpetuo). Fearful of his power and domination of the state, a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC. A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the last civil war of the Roman Republic. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.

Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for "Emperor"; the title "Caesar" was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern descendants such as Kaiser and Tsar. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works.

Early life and career

Main article: Early life and career of Julius Caesar
Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle and the husband of Caesar's aunt Julia. He was an enemy of Sulla and took the city with Lucius Cornelius Cinna in 87 BC.

Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia on 12 July 100 BC. The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from Alba Longa during the seventh century BC after the third king of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, took and destroyed their city. The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness. There is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but Caesar's mother lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth.

Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic. The first person known to have had the cognomen Caesar was a praetor in 208 BC during the Second Punic War. The family's first consul was in 157 BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90 BC. Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically. He married Aurelia, a member of the politically influential Aurelii Cottae, producing – along with Caesar – two daughters. Buoyed by his own marriage and his sister's marriage (the dictator's aunt) with the extremely influential Gaius Marius, he also served on the Saturninian land commission in 103 BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85 BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90 BC.

Life under Sulla and military service

Sulla, depicted on a coin minted by Quintus Pompeius Rufus in 54 BC. Sulla took the city in 82 BC, purged his political enemies, and instituted new constitutional reforms.

Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and instead chose retirement. During Cinna's dominance, Caesar was named as flamen Dialis (a priest of Jupiter) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia. The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar. In early 84 BC, Caesar's father died suddenly. After Sulla's victory in the civil war (82 BC), Cinna's acta were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter. Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the proscription lists, though scholars are mixed. Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the Vestal Virgins were able to intercede on his behalf. They then reached a compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in many Mariuses" is apocryphal.

Bust, from the imperial period, of a man – in this case Augustus – wearing the civic crown (Latin: corona civica). Caesar won the civic crown for his bravery at the Siege of Mytilene in 81 BC.

Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, Marcus Minucius Thermus. While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, Nicomedes IV, though later invective connected Caesar to a homosexual relation with the monarch. He then served at the Siege of Mytilene where he won the civic crown for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to the staff of Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78 BC and returning home immediately. He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul Lepidus' revolt that year but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age.

Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella in 77 BC, who had recently returned from a proconsulship in Macedonia. Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting Gaius Antonius Hybrida (later consul in 63 BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf. After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician Apollonius Molon. While travelling, he was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty talents and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per Velleius Paterculus. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War over the winter of 75 and 74 BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces.

Entrance to politics

While absent from Rome, in 73 BC, Caesar was co-opted into the pontifices in place of his deceased relative Gaius Aurelius Cotta. The promotion marked him as a well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career. Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the military tribunes for 71 BC. There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though the war on Spartacus was on-going – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on the plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned. These advocacies were common and uncontroversial. The next year, 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles.

For his quaestorship in 69 BC, Caesar was allotted to serve under Gaius Antistius Vetus in Hispania Ulterior. His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius died and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, Julia. He gave eulogies for both at public funerals. During Julia's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of his aunt's husband Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in the civil war. Some of the Sullan nobles – including Quintus Lutatius Catulus – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common. Contra Plutarch, Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism. Caesar quickly remarried, taking the hand of Sulla's granddaughter Pompeia.

Aedileship and election as pontifex maximus

For much of this period, Caesar was one of Pompey's supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans. Caesar also supported the lex Gabinia in 67 BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in the Mediterranean and also supported the lex Manilia in 66 BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander Lucullus to Pompey.

Denarius of C. Cossutius Maridianus, 44 BC, with the head of Julius Caesar as pontifex maximus on the obverse. The legend on the reverse mentions A. A. A. F. F.

Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65 BC, Caesar served as curule aedile and staged lavish games that won him further attention and popular support. He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over Jugurtha and the Cimbri. According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; however, any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night. It is more likely that Caesar was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of pietas – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate.

In 63 BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of pontifex maximus, who was the head of the College of Pontiffs and the highest ranking state religious official. In the pontifical election before the tribes, Caesar faced two influential senators: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus. Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent. Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating; that no charge was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory. If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy.

Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune Publius Servilius Rullus, however, there are no ancient sources so attesting. Caesar also engaged in a collateral manner in the trial of Gaius Rabirius by one of the plebeian tribunes – Titus Labienus – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a senatus consultum ultimum some forty years earlier. The most famous event of the year was the Catilinarian conspiracy. While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy, the chance that he was a participant is extremely small.

Praetorship

Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63 BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy. Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property. Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the lex Sempronia de capite civis, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by Cato, however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.

Cicero, consul in 63 BC, depicted in an 1889 fresco denouncing Catiline and exposing his conspiracy before the Senate. When conspirators within the city were later arrested, Cicero referred their fate to the Senate, triggering a debate in which Caesar as praetor-elect participated.

During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition. He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune Metellus Nepos to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the comitia tributa in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and Quintus Minucius Thermus, the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority. He also was engaged in the Bona Dea affair, where Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion" – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.

Bronze bust of Cato, Caesar's principal opponent in the Catilinarian debate and also a personal enemy. Cato may have been responsible for the law requiring declarations of candidacy in person within the pomerium.

After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Hispania Ulterior pro consule. Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off. He campaigned against the Callaeci and Lusitani and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts. Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed imperator. When he arrived home in the summer of 60 BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the pomerium (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy. Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.

First consulship and the Gallic Wars

Main articles: Military campaigns of Julius Caesar and First Triumvirate
A denarius depicting Julius Caesar, dated to February–March 44 BC – the goddess Venus is shown on the reverse, holding Victoria and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA.

Caesar stood for the consulship of 59 BC along with two other candidates. His political position at the time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society. With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one Lucius Lucceius, Caesar won. Lucceius, however, did not and the voters returned Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies.

First consulship

Further information: First Triumvirate

After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times. Caesar was still at work in December of 60 BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance was finalised only some time around its start. Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of Pompey's eastern settlement and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans.

Caesar's first act was to publish the minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public. He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains. Referring it to the Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people, there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement. Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened a permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy. The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused.

Caesar also brought and passed a one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements. Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate. Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius moved the lex Vatinia assigning the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul to Caesar for five years. Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the silvae callesque ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60 BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'". The Senate was also persuaded to assign to Caesar Transalpine Gaul as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps.

Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house. There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons. Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through the year. This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy. Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the lex Julia de repetundis to crack down on provincial corruption. When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in the Senate stalled and was regardless dropped. He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March.

Campaigns in Gaul

Main article: Gallic Wars
The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests

During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his Commentaries thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52 BC. Each was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome; the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period.

Gaul in 58 BC was in the midst of some instability. Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years. The first engagement was in April 58 BC when Caesar prevented the migrating Helvetii from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally. Building a wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte before forcing them to return to their original homes. He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the Aedui, for aid against Ariovistus – king of the Suebi and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at the Battle of Vosges. Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the Belgae in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the Battle of the Sabis, Caesar spent much of 56 BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the Veneti in what is now Brittany. At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation.

Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by Lionel Royer in 1899. Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.

Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross the Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier; displaying Roman engineering prowess, he here built a bridge across the Rhine in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power. Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at the time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder". He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the Eburones and Belgae starting in late 54 BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts. Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle. The next year, a greater challenge emerged with the uprising of most of central Gaul, led by Vercingetorix of the Averni. Caesar was initially defeated at Gergovia before besieging Vercingetorix at Alesia. After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51 BC suppressing any remaining resistance.

Politics, Gaul, and Rome

In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59 BC, the three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular Publius Clodius Pulcher, who was plebeian tribune in 58 BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile. When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.

Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving. Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent the Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the lex Vatinia until 54 BC. His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally.

The three allies' relations broke down in 57 BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year. With a real threat to Caesar's command and acta brewing in 56 BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support. Pompey and Crassus too wanted military commands. Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of Appius Claudius Pulcher and his younger brother Clodius for the consulship of 54 BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55 BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command.

Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 BC. During their consulship, Pompey and Crassus passed – with some tribunician support – the lex Pompeia Licinia extending Caesar's command and the lex Trebonia giving them respective commands in Spain and Syria, though Pompey never left for the province and remained politically active at Rome. The opposition again unified against their heavy-handed political tactics – though not against Caesar's activities in Gaul – and defeated the allies in the elections of that year.

The ambush and destruction in Gaul of a legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55–54 BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's Commentaries. The death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia in childbirth c. late August 54 did not create a rift between Caesar and Pompey. At the start of 53 BC, Caesar sought and received reinforcements by recruitment and a private deal with Pompey before two years of largely unsuccessful campaigning against Gallic insurgents. In the same year, Crassus's campaign ended in disaster at the Battle of Carrhae, culminating in his death at the hands of the Parthians. When in 52 BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city, Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with the support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia.

Civil war

Main article: Caesar's civil war Further information: Alexandrine war, Early life of Cleopatra VII, and Reign of Cleopatra VII
A Roman bust of Pompey the Great made during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70 to 60 BC, Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy

From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. In 51 BC, the consul Marcellus proposed recalling Caesar, arguing that his provincia (here meaning "task") in Gaul – due to his victory against Vercingetorix in 52 – was complete; it evidently was incomplete as Caesar was that year fighting the Bellovaci and regardless the proposal was vetoed. That year, it seemed that the conservatives around Cato in the Senate would seek to enlist Pompey to force Caesar to return from Gaul without honours or a second consulship. Cato, Bibulus, and their allies, however, were successful in winning Pompey over to take a hard line against Caesar's continued command.

As 50 BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively. In the autumn, Cicero and others sought disarmament by both Caesar and Pompey, and on 1 December 50 BC this was formally proposed in the Senate. It received overwhelming support – 370 to 22 – but was not passed when one of the consuls dissolved the meeting. That year, when a rumour came to Rome that Caesar was marching into Italy, both consuls instructed Pompey to defend Italy, a charge he accepted as a last resort. At the start of 49 BC, Caesar's renewed offer that he and Pompey disarm was read to the Senate and was rejected by the hardliners. A later compromise given privately to Pompey was also rejected at their insistence. On 7 January, his supportive tribunes were driven from Rome; the Senate then declared Caesar an enemy and it issued its senatus consultum ultimum.

There is scholarly disagreement as to the specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose – when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure – between prosecution, conviction, and exile or civil war in defence of his position. Whether Caesar actually would have been prosecuted and convicted is debated. Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely. Caesar's main objectives were to secure a second consulship – first mooted in 52 as colleague to Pompey's sole consulship – and a triumph. He feared that his opponents – then holding both consulships for 50 BC – would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won. This also was the core of his war justification: that Pompey and his allies were planning, by force if necessary (indicated in the expulsion of the tribunes), to suppress the liberty of the Roman people to elect Caesar and honour his accomplishments.

Italy, Spain, and Greece

Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC, in response to the Senate's "final decree", Caesar crossed the Rubicon – the river defining the northern boundary of Italy – with a single legion, the Legio XIII Gemina, and ignited civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright Menander, in Greek, "let the die be cast". Pompey and many senators fled south, believing that Caesar was marching quickly for Rome. Caesar, after capturing communication routes to Rome, paused and opened negotiations, but they fell apart amid mutual distrust. Caesar responded by advancing south, seeking to capture Pompey to force a conference.

Pompey withdrew to Brundisium and was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit. Caesar stayed near Rome for about two weeks – during his stay his forceful seizure of the treasury over tribunician veto put the lie to his pro-tribunician war justifications – and left Lepidus in charge of Italy while he attacked Pompey's Spanish provinces. He defeated two of Pompey's legates at the Battle of Ilerda before forcing surrender of the third; his legates moved into Sicily and into Africa, though the African expedition failed. Returning to Rome in the autumn, Caesar had Lepidus, as praetor, bring a law appointing Caesar dictator to conduct the elections; he, along with Publius Servilius Isauricus, won the following elections and would serve as consuls for 48 BC. Resigning the dictatorship after eleven days, Caesar then left Italy for Greece to stop Pompey's preparations, arriving in force in early 48 BC.

Caesar besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachium, but Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee. Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, he engaged and decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC. Pompey then fled for Egypt; Cato fled for Africa; others, like Cicero and Marcus Junius Brutus, begged for Caesar's pardon.

Alexandrine war and Asia Minor

See also: Alexandrine war
Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme
This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii is probably a depiction of Cleopatra VII as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as Cupid. Its owner Marcus Fabius Rufus most likely ordered its concealment behind a wall in reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Octavian in 30 BC.

Pompey was killed when he arrived in Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48 BC. Prevented from leaving the city by Etesian winds, Caesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Cleopatra, his sister, wife, and co-regent queen. In late October 48 BC, Caesar was appointed in absentia to a year-long dictatorship, after news of his victory at Pharsalus arrived to Rome. While in Alexandria, he started an affair with Cleopatra and withstood a siege by Ptolemy and his other sister Arsinoe until March 47 BC. Reinforced by eastern client allies under Mithridates of Pergamum, he then defeated Ptolemy at the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated the victory with a triumphal procession on the Nile. He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called Caesarion.

When Caesar landed at Antioch, he learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, Pharnaces, had attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across the Black Sea in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at Zela and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories. He then left quickly for Italy.

Italy, Africa, and Spain

Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as magister equitum, in charge. His rule was unpopular: Publius Cornelius Dolabella, serving as plebeian tribune in 47 BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity. Cato had marched to Africa and there Metellus Scipio was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with Juba of Numidia; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side.

Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence before overseeing the election of the rest of the magistrates for 47 BC – no elections had yet been held – and also for those of 46 BC. Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47 BC. Caesar's landing in Africa was marked with some difficulties establishing a beachhead and logistically. He was defeated by Titus Labienus at Ruspina on 4 January 46 BC and thereafter took a rather cautious approach. After inducing some desertions from the republicans, Caesar ended up surrounded at Thapsus. His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46 BC, starting a battle; they then won it and massacred the republican forces without quarter. Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency. Many of the remaining anti-Caesarian leaders, including Metellus Scipio and Juba, also committed suicide shortly thereafter. Labienus and two of Pompey's sons, however, had moved to the Spanish provinces in revolt. Caesar started a process of annexing parts of Numidia and then returned to Italy via Sardinia in June 46 BC.

Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces (Asia), and Juba (Africa). He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix was executed. According to Appian, in some of the triumphs, Caesar paraded pictures and models of his victories over fellow Romans in the civil wars, to popular dismay. The soldiers were each given 24,000 sesterces (a lifetime's worth of pay); further games and celebrations were put on for the plebs. Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as magister equitum.

At a bloody battle at Munda on 17 March 45 BC, Caesar narrowly found victory; his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred. Labienus died on the field. While one of Pompey's sons, Sextus, escaped, the war was effectively over. Caesar remained in the province until June before setting out for Rome, arriving in October of the same year, and celebrated an unseemly triumph over fellow Romans. By this point he had started preparations for war on the Parthians to avenge Crassus' death at Carrhae in 53 BC, with wide-ranging objectives that would take him into Dacia for three or more years. It was set to start on 18 March 44 BC.

Dictatorship and assassination

The Green Caesar, posthumous portrait from the 1st century AD, now located at the Altes Museum in Berlin
This coin, minted c. 44 BC, shows Caesar's laurelled head surrounded by the CAESAR DICT PERPETVO. The reverse shows symbols of victory, internal harmony, and liberty.

Dictatorships and honours

Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title dictator perpetuo in February 44 BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49 BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to a year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually. The task he was assigned revived that of Sulla's dictatorship: rei publicae constituendae. These appointments, however, were not the source of legal power themselves; in the eyes of the literary sources, they were instead honours and titles which reflected Caesar's dominant position in the state, secured not by extraordinary magistracy or legal powers, but by personal status as victor over other Romans.

Through the period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours, including the title praefectus moribus (lit. 'prefect of morals') which historically was associated with the censorial power to revise the Senate rolls. He was also granted power over war and peace, usurping a power traditionally held by the comitia centuriata. These powers attached to Caesar personally. Similarly extraordinary were a number of symbolic honours which saw Caesar's portrait placed on coins in Rome – the first for a living Roman – with special rights to wear royal dress, sit atop a golden chair in the Senate, and have his statues erected in public temples. The month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed Julius (now July). These were symbols of divine monarchy and, later, objects of resentment.

The decisions on the normal operation of the state – justice, legislation, administration, and public works – were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic. Caesar's domination over public affairs and his competitive instinct to preclude all others alienated the political class and led eventually to the conspiracy against his life.

Legislation

Caesar, as far as is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, noted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him... merely grafted him as an ill-fitting head on to the body of the traditional structure".

The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the traditional republican lunisolar calendar and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the Julian calendar. He also increased the number of magistrates and senators (from 600 to 900) to better administer the empire and reward his supporters with offices. Colonies also were founded outside Italy – notably on the sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests – to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest. The royal power of naming patricians was revived to benefit the families of his men and the permanent courts jury pools were also altered to remove the tribuni aerarii, leaving only the equestrians and senators.

He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of the state. Caesar reduced the size of the grain dole from 320,000 down to around 150,000 by tightening the qualifications; special bonuses were offered to families with many children to stall depopulation. Plans were drawn for the conduct of a census. Citizenship was extended to a number of communities in Cisalpine Gaul and to Cádiz. During the civil wars, Caesar had also instituted a novel debt repayment programme (no debts would be forgiven but they could be paid in kind), remitted rents up to a certain amount, and thrown games distributing food. Many of his enemies during the civil wars were pardoned – Caesar's clemency was exalted in his propaganda and temple works – with the intent to cultivate gratitude and draw a contrast between himself and the vengeful dictatorship of Sulla.

The building programmes, started prior to his expedition to Spain, continued, with the construction of the Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix therein. Other public works, including an expansion of Ostia's port and a canal through the Corinthian Isthmus, were also planned. Very busy with this work, the heavy-handedness with which he ignored the Senate, magistrates, and those who came to visit him also alienated many in Rome.

The collegia, civic associations restored by Clodius in 58 BC, were again abolished. His actions to reward his supporters saw him allow his subordinates illegal triumphal processions and resign the consulship so that allies could take it up for the rest of the year. On the last day of 45 BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ally elected as replacement for a single day. Corruption on the part of his partisans was also overlooked to ensure their support; provincial cities and client kingdoms were extorted for favours to pay his bills.

Conspiracy and death

See also: Assassination of Julius Caesar
This also shows Caesar's laurelled head with the inscription CAESAR DICT PERPETVO. The reverse, however, shows the name of the moneyer – one Publius Sepullius Macer – along with the goddess Venus, with which Caesar identified, holding Victory in her right hand and a sceptre in the left.
Denarius (42 BC) of Cassius and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus
An 1867 depiction of Caesar's death. The Death of Caesar by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

Attempts in January 44 BC to call Caesar rex (lit. 'king') – a title associated with arbitrary oppression against citizens – were shut down by two tribunes before a supportive crowd. Caesar, claiming that the two tribunes infringed on his honour by doing so, had them deposed from office and ejected from the Senate. The incident both undermined Caesar's original arguments for pursuing the civil war (protecting the tribunes) and angered a public which still revered the tribunes as protectors of popular freedom. Shortly before 15 February 44 BC, he assumed the dictatorship for life, putting an end to any hopes that his powers would be merely temporary. Transforming his dictatorship, even with a decadal appointment, into one for life clearly showed to all contemporaries that Caesar had no intention to restore a free republic and that no free republic could be restored so long as he was in power.

Just days after his assumption of the life dictatorship, he publicly rejected a diadem from Antony at celebrations for the Lupercalia. Interpretations of the episode vary: he may have been rejecting the diadem publicly only because the crowd was insufficiently supportive; he could have done it performatively to signal he was no monarch; alternatively, Antony could have acted on his own initiative. By this point, however, rumour was rife that Caesar – already wearing the dress of a monarch – sought a formal crown and the episode did little to reassure.

The plan to assassinate Caesar had started by the summer of 45 BC. An attempt to recruit Antony was made around that time, though he declined and gave Caesar no warning. By February 44 BC, there were some sixty conspirators. It is clear that by this time, the victorious Caesarian coalition from the civil war had broken apart. While most of the conspirators were former Pompeians, they were joined by a substantial number of Caesarians. Among their leaders were Gaius Trebonius (consul in 45), Decimus Brutus (consul designate for 42), as well as Cassius and Brutus (both praetors in 44 BC). Trebonius and Decimus had joined Caesar during the war while Brutus and Cassius had joined Pompey; other Caesarians involved included Servius Sulpicius Galba, Lucius Minucius Basilus, Lucius Tullius Cimber, and Gaius Servilius Casca. Many of the conspirators would have been candidates in the consular elections for 43 to 41 BC, likely dismayed by Caesar's sham elections in early 44 BC that produced advance results for the years 43–41 BC. Those electoral results came from the grace of the dictator and not that of the people; for the republican elite this was no substitute for actual popular support. Nor is it likely that the subordination of the normal magistrates to Caesar's masters of horse (Latin: magistri equitum) was appreciated.

Brutus, who claimed descent from the Lucius Junius Brutus who had driven out the kings and the Gaius Servilius Ahala who had freed Rome from incipient tyranny, was the main leader of the conspiracy. By late autumn 45 BC, graffiti and some public comments at Rome were condemning Caesar as a tyrant and insinuating the need for a Brutus to remove the dictator. The ancient sources, excepting Nicolaus of Damascus, are unanimous that this reflected a genuine turn in public opinion against Caesar. Popular indignation at Caesar was likely rooted in his debt policies (too friendly to lenders), use of lethal force to suppress protests for debt relief, his reduction in the grain dole, his abolition of the collegia restored by Clodius, his abolition of the poorest panel of jurors in the permanent courts, and his abolition of open elections which deprived the people of their ancient right of decision. A popular turn against Caesar is also observed with reports that the two deposed tribunes were written-in on ballots at Caesar's advance consular elections in place of Caesar's candidates. Whether the Romans thought they had a tradition of tyrannicide is unclear; Cicero wrote in private as if the duty to kill tyrants was already given, but he made no public speeches to that effect and there is little evidence that the public accepted the logic of preventive tyrannicide. The philosophical tradition of the Platonic Old Academy was also a factor driving Brutus to action due to its emphasis on a duty to free the state from tyranny.

While some news of the conspiracy did leak, Caesar refused to take precautions and rejected escort by a bodyguard. The date decided upon by the conspirators was 15 March, the Ides of March, three days before Caesar intended to leave for his Parthian campaign. News of his imminent departure forced the conspirators to move up their plans; the Senate meeting on the 15th would be the last before his departure. They had decided that a Senate meeting was the best place to frame the killing as political, rejecting the alternatives at games, elections, or on the road. That only the conspirators would be armed at the Senate meeting, per Dio, also would have been an advantage. The day, 15 March, was also symbolically important as it was the day on which consuls took office until the mid-2nd century BC.

The Ides of March coin, minted in 42 BC, depicts Marcus Junius Brutus. The reverse depicts daggers and a pileus symbolising their use to win back freedom.

Various stories purport that Caesar was on the cusp of not attending or otherwise being warned about the plot. Approached on his golden chair at the foot of the statue of Pompey, the conspirators attacked him with daggers. Whether he fell in silence, per Suetonius, or after reply to Brutus' appearance – kai su teknon? ("you too, child?") – is variantly recorded. He was stabbed at least twenty-three times and died at once.

Aftermath of the assassination

Further information: War of Mutina, Second Triumvirate, and Liberators' civil war
Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral by George Edward Robertson (late 19th or early 20th century)

The assassins seized the Capitoline hill after killing the dictator. They then summoned a public meeting in the Forum where they were coldly received by the population. They were also unable to fully secure the city, as Lepidus – Caesar's lieutenant in the dictatorship – moved troops from the Tiber Island into the city proper. Antony, the consul who escaped the assassination, urged an illogical compromise position in the Senate: Caesar was not declared a tyrant and the conspirators were not punished. Caesar's funeral was then approved. At the funeral, Antony inflamed the public against the assassins, which triggered mob violence that lasted for some months before the assassins were forced to flee the capital and Antony then finally acted to suppress it by force.

In 44 BC, there was a seven-day cometary outburst that the Romans believe to represent the deification of Caeser, giving it the name Caesar's Comet. On the site of his cremation, the Temple of Caesar was begun by the triumvirs in 42 BC at the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum. Only its altar now remains. The terms of the will were also read to the public: it gave a generous donative to the plebs at large and left as principal heir one Gaius Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew then at Apollonia, and adopted him in the will.

Resumption of the pre-existing republic proved impossible as various actors appealed in the aftermath of Caesar's death to liberty or to vengeance to mobilise huge armies that led to a series of civil wars. The first war was between Antony in 43 BC and the Senate (including senators of both Caesarian and Pompeian persuasion) which resulted in Octavian – Caesar's heir – exploiting the chaos to seize the consulship and join with Antony and Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate. After purging their political enemies in a series of proscriptions, the triumvirs secured the deification of Caesar – the Senate declared on 1 January 42 BC that Caesar would be placed among the Roman gods – and marched on the east where a second war saw the triumvirs defeat the tyrannicides in battle, resulting in a final death of the republican cause and a three-way division of much of the Roman world. By 31 BC, Caesar's heir had taken sole control of the empire, ejecting his triumviral rivals after two decades of civil war. Pretending to restore the republic, his masked autocracy was acceptable to the war-weary Romans and marked the establishment of a new Roman monarchy.

Personal life

Health and physical appearance

The Chiaramonti Caesar bust, a posthumous portrait in marble, 44–30 BC, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums

Based on remarks by Plutarch, Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from epilepsy. Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s BC. Other scholars contend his epileptic seizures were due to a parasitic infection in the brain by a tapeworm.

Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had absence seizures in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of hypoglycemia, which can cause epileptoid seizures.

A line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf." No classical source mentions hearing impairment in connection with Caesar. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence.

Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioural manifestations – headaches, vertigo, falls (possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damage), sensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility – and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his Natural History that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes. These events can be more readily associated with cardiovascular complications from a stroke episode or lethal heart attack. Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease.

Suetonius, writing more than a century after Caesar's death, describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes". He adds that the balding Caesar was sensitive to teasing on the subject, and therefore had a combover. Suetonius reports that Caesar was thus especially pleased to be granted the honour of wearing a wreath at all times.

Name and family

The name Gaius Julius Caesar

Main article: Gaius Julius Caesar (name)

Using the Latin alphabet of the period, which lacked the letters J and U, Caesar's name would be rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR; the form CAIVS is also attested, using the older Roman representation of G by C. The standard abbreviation was C. IVLIVS CÆSAR, reflecting the older spelling. (The letterform Æ is a ligature of the letters A and E, and is often used in Latin inscriptions to save space.)

In Classical Latin, it was pronounced [ˈɡaːi.ʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, Brutus. In Greek, during Caesar's time, his family name was written Καίσαρ (Kaísar), reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German Kaiser [ˈkaɪzɐ] or Dutch keizer [ˈkɛizər].

In Vulgar Latin, the original diphthong first began to be pronounced as a simple long vowel [ɛː]. Then, the plosive /k/ before front vowels began, due to palatalization, to be pronounced as an affricate, hence renderings like [ˈtʃɛːzar] in Italian and [ˈtseːzaʁ] in German regional pronunciations of Latin, as well as the title of Tsar. With the evolution of the Romance languages, the affricate [ts] became a fricative [s] (thus, and the like) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived.

Caesar's cognomen itself became a title; it was promulgated by the Bible, which contains the famous verse "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". The title became, from the late first millennium, Kaiser in German and (through Old Church Slavic cěsarĭ) Tsar or Czar in the Slavic languages. The last Tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgaria, whose reign ended in 1946, but is still alive in 2023. This means that for approximately two thousand years, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. As a term for the highest ruler, the word Caesar constitutes one of the earliest, best attested and most widespread Latin loanwords in the Germanic languages, being found in the text corpora of Old High German (keisar), Old Saxon (kēsur), Old English (cāsere), Old Norse (keisari), Old Dutch (keisere) and (through Greek) Gothic (kaisar).

Posterity

Main article: Julio-Claudian family tree Julio-Claudian family tree
Wives
  • First marriage to Cornelia, from 84 BC until her death in 69 BC
  • Second marriage to Pompeia, from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC over the Bona Dea scandal
  • Third marriage to Calpurnia, from 59 BC until Caesar's death
Reliefs of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, at the Temple of Dendera
Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting Cleopatra VII, wearing her royal diadem, consuming poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her
Children
Suspected children

Some ancient sources refer to the possibility of the tyrannicide, Marcus Junius Brutus, being one of Julius Caesar's illegitimate children. Caesar, at the time Brutus was born, was 15. Most ancient historians were sceptical of this and "on the whole, scholars have rejected the possibility that Brutus was the love-child of Servilia and Caesar on the grounds of chronology".

Grandchildren

Grandchild from Julia and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed.

Lovers

Rumors of passive homosexuality

Roman society viewed the passive role during sexual activity, regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar." According to Cicero, Bibulus, Gaius Memmius, and others – mainly Caesar's enemies – he had an affair with Nicomedes IV of Bithynia early in his career. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the "Queen of Bithynia", by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to Cassius Dio, even under oath on one occasion. This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents.

Catullus wrote a poem suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers, but later apologised.

Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political slander. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus.

Literary works

Julii Caesaris quae exstant (1678)
A 1783 edition of The Gallic Wars

During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin – even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his "Anticato", a document attacking Cato in response to Cicero's eulogy. Poems by Julius Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources.

Memoirs

  • The Commentarii de Bello Gallico, usually known in English as The Gallic Wars, seven books each covering one year of his campaigns in Gaul and southern Britain in the 50s BC, with the eighth book written by Aulus Hirtius on the last two years.
  • The Commentarii de Bello Civili (The Civil War), events of the Civil War from Caesar's perspective, until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.

Other works historically have been attributed to Caesar, but their authorship is in doubt:

These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings. As a model of clear and direct Latin style, The Gallic Wars traditionally has been studied by first- or second-year Latin students.

Legacy

Historiography

Flowers on the remains of the altar of Caesar in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy

The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete primary source for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind. Julius Caesar is also considered one of the first historical figures to fold his message scrolls into a concertina form, which made them easier to read. The Roman emperor Augustus began a cult of personality of Caesar, which described Augustus as Caesar's political heir. The modern historiography is influenced by this tradition.

Many rulers in history became interested in the historiography of Caesar. Napoleon III wrote the scholarly work Histoire de Jules César, which was not finished. The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. Charles VIII ordered a monk to prepare a translation of the Gallic Wars in 1480. Charles V ordered a topographic study in France, to place the Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent catalogued the surviving editions of the Commentaries, and translated them to Turkish language. Henry IV and Louis XIII of France translated the first two commentaries and the last two respectively; Louis XIV re-translated the first one afterwards.

The remains of Caesar's altar are a pilgrimage site for visitors from across Italy and the world. Flowers and other items are left there daily and special commemorations take place on 15 March to commemorate Caesar's death.

Politics

Main article: Caesarism

Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of Caesarism, a form of political rule led by a charismatic strongman whose rule is based upon a cult of personality, whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent social order, and being a regime involving prominence of the military in the government. Other people in history, such as the French Napoleon Bonaparte and the Italian Benito Mussolini, have defined themselves as Caesarists. Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to populism. The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule.

Depictions

Main article: Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar
  • Bust in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples Bust in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
  • Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy
  • Portrait at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta Portrait at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta
  • Bronze statue at the Porta Palatina in Turin Bronze statue at the Porta Palatina in Turin
  • Bust in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth Bust in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth
  • Bust in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples, photograph published in 1902 Bust in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples, photograph published in 1902

Battle record

Date War Action Opponents Type Present-day areas Outcome
58 BC 58 BC Gallic Wars Arar Battle of the Arar .Helvetii Battle France Victory

58 BC 58 BC Mount Haemus Battle of Bibracte Helvetii, Boii, Tulingi, Rauraci Battle France Victory

58 BC 58 BC Vosges Battle of Vosges .Suebi Battle France Victory

57 BC 57 BC Battle of the Axona .Belgae Battle France Victory

57 BC 57 BC Battle of the Sabis Battle of the Sabis .Nervii, Viromandui,

Atrebates, Aduatuci

Battle France Victory

56 BC56 BC Battle of Morbihan Battle of Morbihan .Veneti Battle France Victory

55 and 54 BC55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain .Celtic Britons Campaign England Victory

54 BC–53 BC 54 BC–53 BC Ambiorix's revolt Ambiorix's revolt .Eburones Campaign Belgium, France Victory

52 BC 52 BC Avaricum Avaricum .Bituriges, Arverni Siege France Victory

52 BC 52 BC Battle of Gergovia Battle of Gergovia .Gallic tribes Battle France Defeat
September 52 BC Battle of Alesia Battle of Alesia .Gallic Confederation Siege and Battle Alise-Sainte-Reine, France Decisive victory

51 BC 51 BC Siege of Uxellodunum Siege of Uxellodunum .Gallic Siege Vayrac, France Victory

June–August 49 BC June–August 49 BC Caesar's Civil War Battle of Ilerda Battle of Ilerda Optimates. Battle Catalonia, Spain Victory

10 July 48 BC 10 July 48 BC Battle of Dyrrhachium (48 BC) .Optimates Battle Durrës, Albania Defeat

9 August 48 BC 9 August 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus .Pompeians Battle Greece Decisive Victory

47 BC 47 BC Battle of the Nile .Ptolemaic Kingdom Battle Alexandria, Egypt Victory

2 August 47 BC 2 August 47 BC Battle of Zela .Kingdom of Pontus Battle Zile, Turkey Victory

4 January 46 BC 4 January 46 BC Battle of Ruspina Battle of Ruspina .Optimates, Numidia Battle Ruspina Africa Defeat

6 April 46 BC 6 April 46 BC Battle of Thapsus Battle of Thapsus .Optimates, Numidia Battle Tunisia Decisive Victory

17 March 45 BC 17 March 45 BC Battle of Munda Battle of Munda .Pompeians Battle Andalusia Spain Victory

Chronology

ConsulRoman military history


See also

Notes

  1. Pronounced /ˈsiːzər/ SEE-zər, Classical Latin: [ˈɡaːi.ʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar].
  2. The last king and the second decemvirate were overthrown, not killed; Spurius Cassius and Manlius Capitolinus were executed after trials, as was Spurius Maelius in an ostensibly legal process; Tiberius Gracchus was killed in a riot; Gaius Gracchus and Saturninus were each killed after a senatus consultum ultimum; Catiline had been allowed to leave Rome.

References

  1. Badian 2009, p. 16. All ancient sources place his birth in 100 BC. Some historians have argued against this; the "consensus of opinion" places it in 100 BC. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 30.
  2. All offices and years thereof from Broughton 1952, p. 574.
  3. Keppie, Lawrence (1998). "The approach of civil war". The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-8061-3014-9.
  4. Tucker, Spencer (2010). Battles That Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict. ABC-CLIO. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-59884-430-6.
  5. Badian 2009, p. 16, pursuant to Macr. Sat. 1.12.34, quoting a law by Mark Antony noting the date as the fourth day before the Ides of Quintilis. Only Dio gives 13 July. All sources give the year 100 BC.
  6. Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 32–33.
  7. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 35.
  8. Badian 2009, p. 14; Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 31–32. The consul of 157 BC was Sextus Caesar; the consuls of 91 and 90 were Sextus Caesar and Lucius Caesar, respectively.
  9. Badian 2009, p. 15 dates the land commission to 103 per MRR 3.109; Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 33–34; Broughton 1952, p. 22, dating the proconsulship to 91 with praetorship in 92 BC and citing, among others, CIL I, 705 and CIL I, 706.
  10. Badian 2009, p. 16.
  11. Badian 2009, p. 16. Badian cites Suet. Iul., 1.2 arguing that Caesar was actually appointed; because a divorced man could not be flamen Dialis, the assertion that Caesar married one Cossutia then divorced her to marry Cornelia and become flamen in Plut. Caes., 5.3 is incorrect.
  12. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 34.
  13. Badian 2009, pp. 16–17, stating Caesar was placed on the lists. Cf, stating Caesar was only summoned for interrogation, Hinard, François (1985). Les proscriptions de la Rome républicaine (in French). Ecole française de Rome. p. 64. ISBN 978-2-7283-0094-5. OCLC 1006100534.
  14. Badian 2009, pp. 16–17, also rejecting claims that Caesar hid by bribing his pursuers: "this is an example of how the pervades our accounts and makes it difficult to get at the facts... cannot be true, since confiscation of his fortune went with his proscription".
  15. Plut. Caes., 1.4; Suet. Iul., 1.3.
  16. Badian 2009, p. 17, noting also that Sulla never killed any fellow patricians.
  17. Badian 2009, pp. 17–18.
  18. Suet. Iul., 2–3; Plut. Caes., 2–3; Dio, 43.20.
  19. Badian 2009, p. 17.
  20. Badian 2009, p. 18, citing Suet. Iul., 3.
  21. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 35.
  22. Alexander 1990, p. 71 (Trial 140) noting also that Tac. Dial., 34.7 wrongly places the trial in 79 BC; Alexander 1990, pp. 71–72 (Trial 141).
  23. Badian 2009, p. 18.
  24. Pelling, C B R (2011). Plutarch: Caesar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 139–41. ISBN 978-0-19-814904-0. OCLC 772240772. Vell. Pat., 2.42.3 reports that the governor wanted to enslave and sell the pirates but that Caesar returned quickly and had them executed. Pelling believes the second part of Vell. Pat.'s narrative – along with other sources (Plut. Caes., 1.8–2.7; Suet. Iul., 4) – are literary embellishment and that the pirates were enslaved and sold.
  25. Badian 2009, p. 19, calling the story in Suet. Iul., 4.2 that Caesar called up auxiliaries and with them drove Mithridates' prefect from the province of Asia, "a striking example of the Caesar myth... difficult to believe".
  26. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 78.
  27. Badian 2009, p. 19; Broughton 1952, pp. 114, 125; Vell. Pat., 2.43.1 (pontificate); Plut. Caes., 5.1 and Suet. Iul., 5 (military tribunate).
  28. Badian 2009, p. 19, citing Suet. Iul., 5.
  29. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 63.
  30. Badian 2009, pp. 19–20, also noting senatorial support for the pardons; Broughton 1952, pp. 126, 128, 130 n. 4, argues the tribunician law recalling the Lepidan exiles must postdate the consular law in 70 which removed Sulla's suppression of tribunician legislative initiative.
  31. Badian 2009, p. 20; Broughton 1952, p. 132. Badian 2009, p. 21 cites Suet. Iul., 6.1 for the incipit of Caesar's eulogy.
  32. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 43.
  33. Plut. Caes., 5.2–3.
  34. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 43–46.
  35. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 46, noting also that Plutarch omits this detail likely because it "would indeed have been embarrassing for his Marian representation of Caesar" (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).
  36. Gruen 1995, p. 79–80.
  37. Mouritsen, Henrik (2001). Plebs and politics in the late Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-511-04114-4. OCLC 56761502. See also Broughton 1952, p. 158 and Plut. Caes., 6.1–4.
  38. Broughton 1952, p. 158.
  39. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 46–47.
  40. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 48–49.
  41. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 64, 64 n. 129, noting that it is not clear which election was first; it is more likely, however, that elections were late and therefore that the pontifical election occurred first. Dio's claim of elections in December is clearly erroneous. Broughton 1952, p. 172 n. 3.
  42. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 64–65, noting the victory of curule aedile Publius Licinius Crassus in 212 over senior consulars and plebeian tribune Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus over consulars.
  43. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 66, citing Suet. Iul., 13; Plut. Caes., 7.1–4; Dio, 37.37.1–3.
  44. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 67–68.
  45. Gruen 1995, pp. 80–81.
  46. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 69 n. 148.
  47. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 71.
  48. Alexander 1990, p. 110 (Trials 220–21).
  49. Gruen 1995, p. 80, citing Sall. Cat., 49.1–2. See also Suet. Iul., 17.
  50. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 72–77, placing it around 2.5 per cent. Gruen 1995, p. 429 n. 107 calls the view that Caesar was one of the masterminds of the conspiracy "long... discredited and requires no further refutation".
  51. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 85–86, 90.
  52. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 92. Earlier sources being Cic. Cat., 4.8–10 and Sall. Cat., 51.42. Later sources include Plut. Caes., 7.9 and App. BCiv., 2.6.
  53. Gruen 1995, pp. 281–82.
  54. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 102.
  55. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 102–04.
  56. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 107, citing Suet. Iul., 16. Dio reports a senatus consultum ultimum. Broughton 1952, p. 173, citing Dio, 37.41.
  57. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 109.
  58. Plut. Caes., 10.9.
  59. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 110, adding in notes that the affair is usually interpreted as an attempt to destroy Clodius' career and that Caesar may have been a secondary target due to expectations that he would reject political pressure for a divorce.
  60. Drogula 2019, pp. 97–98.
  61. Broughton 1952, pp. 173, 180. Most sources give a proconsular dignity. After the Sullan era, all magistrates were prorogued pro consule. Badian, Ernst; Lintott, Andrew (2016). "pro consule, pro praetore". Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5337. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
  62. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 109–10.
  63. Broughton 1952, p. 180.
  64. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 110–11.
  65. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 111.
  66. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 112–13.
  67. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 114; Plut. Caes., 13; Suet. Iul., 18.2.
  68. Gruen 2009, p. 28.
  69. Gruen 2009, pp. 30–31.
  70. Gruen 2009, p. 28; Broughton 1952, pp. 158, 173. Bibulus was Caesar's colleague both in the curule aedileship and the praetorship. They clashed politically in both magistracies. On credit for the aedilican games, see Suet. Iul., 10, Dio, 37.8.2, and Plut. Caes., 5.5.
  71. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 119. "n alliance which in modern times has come, quite misleadingly, to be called the 'First Triumvirate'... the very phrase... invokes a misleading teleology. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to use without adopting some version of the view that it was a kind of conspiracy against the republic".
  72. Ridley, R (1999). "What's in the Name: the so-called First Triumvirate". Arctos: Acta Philological Fennica. 33: 133–44. The first usage of the term was in 1681.
  73. Gruen 2009, p. 31.
  74. Gruen 2009, p. 31; Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 121–22, noting that the Senate had approved distribution of lands to Pompey's veterans from the Sertorian War all the way back in 70 BC.
  75. ^ Gruen 2009, p. 32.
  76. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 125–29.
  77. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 130, 132.
  78. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 138.
  79. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 139–40.
  80. Wiseman 1994, p. 372.
  81. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 143 (Bibulus), 147 (dating to May).
  82. Wiseman 1994, p. 374.
  83. Drogula 2019, p. 137.
  84. Gruen 2009, p. 33, noting that the lex Vatinia was "no means unprecedented... or even controversial".
  85. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 175, citing Balsdon, J P V D (1939). "Consular provinces under the late Republic – II. Caesar's Gallic command". Journal of Roman Studies. 29: 167–83. doi:10.2307/297143. ISSN 0075-4358. JSTOR 297143. S2CID 163892529. Moreover, Caesar's eventual provinces of Trans- and Cisalpine Gaul had been assigned to the consuls of 60 and therefore would have been unavailable. Rafferty, David (2017). "Cisalpine Gaul as a consular province in the late Republic". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 66 (2): 147–172. doi:10.25162/historia-2017-0008. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 45019257. S2CID 231088284.
  86. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 176–77; Gruen 2009, p. 34.
  87. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 143: Dio, 38.6.5 and Suet. Iul., 20.1 say around late January; Plut. Pomp., 48.5 says in early May; Vell. Pat., 2.44.5 says May.
  88. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 142–44.
  89. Gruen 2009, p. 34, also citing Suet. Iul., 20.2 – the "consulship of Julius and Caesar" – as part of Catonian propaganda.
  90. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 150–51, noting that Bibulus' voluntary seclusion "presented the image of the city dominated by one man ... unchecked by a colleague".
  91. Gruen 2009, p. 34.
  92. Drogula 2019, pp. 138–39, noting Cato's support of Caesar's anti-corruption bill and the possibility that Cato gave input for some of its provisions.
  93. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 182–83, 182 n. 260, citing Suet. Iul., 23.1; pace Ramsey 2009, p. 38.
  94. Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 186–87.
  95. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 188–89.
  96. Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 189–90.
  97. Goldsworthy 2006, p. 204.
  98. Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 205, 208–10.
  99. Goldsworthy 2016, pp. 212–15.
  100. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 217.
  101. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 220.
  102. ^ Boatwright 2004, p. 242.
  103. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 203.
  104. Goldsworthy 2016, pp. 221–22; Boatwright 2004, p. 242.
  105. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 222.
  106. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 223.
  107. Goldsworthy 2016, pp. 229–32, 233–38; Boatwright 2004, p. 242.
  108. Gruen 1995, p. 98. "It should no longer be necessary to refute the older notion that Clodius acted as agent or tool of the triumvirate". Clodius was an independent agent not beholden to the triumvirs or any putative popular party. Gruen, Erich S (1966). "P. Clodius: Instrument or Independent Agent?". Phoenix. 20 (2): 120–30. doi:10.2307/1086053. ISSN 0031-8299. JSTOR 1086053.
  109. Ramsey 2009, pp. 37–38.
  110. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 194, noting Caesar's opposition – in early 58 BC – to Cicero's banishment. Caesar offered Cicero a position on his staff which would have conferred immunity from prosecution but Cicero refused. Ramsey 2009, p. 37.
  111. Ramsey 2009, p. 39.
  112. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 220, citing Gelzer, "this extraordinary honour... cut the ground from under the feet of those who maintained that since 58 Caesar had held his position illegally"; Morstein-Marx also rejects the claim of senatorial duress at Plut. Caes., 21.7–9.
  113. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 196, 220; Ramsey 2009, pp. 39–40.
  114. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 220–21.
  115. Ramsey 2009, pp. 39–40.
  116. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 229.
  117. Ramsey 2009, pp. 41–42; Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 232.
  118. Ramsey 2009, p. 43; Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 232–33.
  119. Ramsey 2009, p. 44; Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 232–33.
  120. Gruen 1995, p. 451.
  121. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 238, citing Cic. Sest., 51, "hardly anyone has lost popularity among the citizens for winning wars".
  122. Ramsey 2009, p. 44.
  123. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 241ff, citing Caes. BGall., 5.26–52.
  124. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 272 n. 42: "Gruen.. and Raaflaub... have effectively disposed of the old idea, too heavily influenced by ", citing Plut. Caes., 28.1 and Plut. Pomp., 53.6–54.2, "that Pompey had now turned against Caesar... since Julia's death in 54".
  125. Ramsey 2009, p. 46: "Despite the fact that Pompey declined Caesar's later offer to form another marriage connection, their political alliance showed no signs of strain for the next several years".
  126. Gruen 1995, pp. 451–52, 453: "Julia's death came in the late summer of 54 if it opened a breach between Pompey and Caesar, there is no sign of it in subsequent months... The evidence indicates no change in the relationship during 53"; "Julia's death provoked no change in the contract Caesar did not cut Pompey out of his will until the outbreak of civil war".
  127. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 243–44.
  128. Ramsey, J T (2016). "How and why was Pompey made sole consul in 52 BC?". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 65 (3): 298–324. doi:10.25162/historia-2016-0017. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 45019234. S2CID 252459421.
  129. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 247–48, 260, 265–66.
  130. Wiseman 1994, p. 412.
  131. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 258. See also Appendix 4 in the same book, analysing the conflict between Caesar and Pompey in terms of a Prisoner's dilemma.
  132. Wiseman 1994, p. 414, citing Caes. BGall., 8.2–16.
  133. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 270; Drogula 2019, p. 223.
  134. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 273.
  135. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 272, 276, 295 (identities of Cato's allies).
  136. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 291.
  137. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 292–93.
  138. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 297.
  139. Wiseman 1994, pp. 412–22, citing App. BCiv., 2.30–31 and Dio, 40.64.1–66.5.
  140. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 304.
  141. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 306.
  142. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 308.
  143. Boatwright 2004, p. 247; Meier 1995, pp. 1, 4; Mackay 2009, pp. 279–81; Wiseman 1994, p. 419.
  144. Ehrhardt 1995, p. 30. "Everyone knows that Caesar crossed the Rubicon because put on trial, found guilty and have his political career ended... Yet over thirty years ago, Shackleton Bailey, in less than two pages of his introduction to Cicero's Letters to Atticus, destroyed the basis for this belief, and... no one has been able to rebuild it".
  145. Morstein-Marx, Robert (2007). "Caesar's alleged fear of prosecution and his "ratio absentis" in the approach to the civil war". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 56 (2): 159–78. doi:10.25162/historia-2007-0013. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 25598386. S2CID 159090397.
  146. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 262–63, explaining:
    • Any prosecution was extremely unlikely to succeed.
    • No contemporary source expresses dissatisfaction with an inability to prosecute.
    • No timely charges could have been brought. The possibility of conviction for irregularities during his consulship in 59 was a fantasy when none of Caesar's actions in 59 were overturned. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 624.
    • Caesar proposed giving up his command – opening himself up to prosecution – in January 49 BC as part of peace negotiations, something he would not have proposed if he were worried about a sure-fire conviction.
    See also Morstein-Marx 2021, Appendix 2, and, contra Morstein-Marx, Girardet, Klaus Martin (2020). Januar 49 v. Chr.: Vorgeschichte, Rechtslage, politische Aspekte (in German). Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH. doi:10.22028/d291-30177. ISBN 978-3-7749-4068-0.
  147. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 247 n. 234, citing Suet. Iul., 26.1; Plut. Pomp., 56.1–3.
  148. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 288. "Caesar feared that the only guarantee of his rights... to stand for election in absentia under the protection of the Law of the Ten Tribunes and to receive a triumph... was his army".
  149. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 309.
  150. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 320.
  151. Beard, Mary (2016). SPQR: a history of ancient Rome. W W Norton. p. 286. ISBN 978-1-84668-381-7. The exact date is unknown.
  152. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 322.
  153. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 331.
  154. Boatwright 2004, p. 246, citing Plut. Caes., 32.8. Rawson 1994a, p. 424 gives the same translation.
  155. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 336.
  156. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 340 (Caesar's pause), 342 (Caesar's offer), 343 (Pompey's counter-offer), 345 (negotiations collapse).
  157. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 347.
  158. Rawson 1994a, pp. 424–25, 427. " was probably justified from a military point of view ... but Cicero was doubtless right in seeing it as politically and psychologically very damaging to abandon the capital and indeed all Italy, intending to starve and then invade it".
  159. Rawson 1994a, p. 430, citing: Cic. Att., 10.4.8; Dio, 41.15–16; App. BCiv., 2.41.
  160. Ehrhardt 1995, p. 36. Caesar's "concern for the 'rights of tribunes' was too obvious a sham... what actually thought about the inviolability of tribunes and their right of veto was unmistakably displayed ".
  161. Boatwright 2004, p. 252.
  162. Rawson 1994a, p. 431, citing Caes. BCiv., 2.17–20.
  163. Rawson 1994a, p. 431. He also passed laws removing civil disabilities from the descendants of those proscribed by Sulla and recalling all exiles on specious claims of unfair trials.
  164. Wilson 2021, p. 309, citing, among others, Caes. BCiv., 3.1.1; Plut. Caes., 37.1–2; App. BCiv., 2.48; Dio, 41.36.1–4. He had no magister equitum.
  165. Rawson 1994a, p. 432; Boatwright 2004, p. 252.
  166. Rawson 1994a, p. 433; Boatwright 2004, pp. 252–53; Plut. Caes., 42–45.
  167. Roller, Duane W (2010). Cleopatra: a biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-19-536553-5. OCLC 405105996.
  168. Walker, Susan (2008). "Cleopatra in Pompeii?". Papers of the British School at Rome. 76: 35–46. doi:10.1017/S0068246200000404. ISSN 2045-239X. S2CID 62829223.
  169. Rawson 1994a, pp. 433–34, noting that both children were left under Roman protection under their father's will. Boatwright 2004.
  170. Wilson 2021, p. 309, citing Plut. Caes., 51.1 and Dio, 42.17.1–22.2.
  171. Rawson 1994a, p. 435, citing Dio, 42.18.
  172. Rawson 1994a, p. 434. At the battle, Ptolemy drowned. Boatwright 2004, p. 253.
  173. Rawson 1994a, p. 434; Boatwright 2004, p. 253.
  174. Rawson 1994a, p. 434, citing Plut. Caes., 50.2 and Suet. Iul., 35.2, 37.2.
  175. Rawson 1994a, p. 435, noting "an epic march through the desert from Cyrenaica to the province of Africa", citing Lucan Pharsalia, 9.
  176. Rawson 1994a, p. 435. Rawson also notes claims – Dio, 42.56.4 – that the republicans were planning a naval invasion of Italy.
  177. Rawson 1994a, p. 435 n. 58, citing Suet. Iul., 70.
  178. Rawson 1994a, p. 435.
  179. Rawson 1994a, pp. 435–36.
  180. Rawson 1994a, p. 436, citing Plut. Cat. Min., 58–70; see also Plut. Caes., 52–54.
  181. Rawson 1994a, p. 436; Boatwright 2004, p. 253.
  182. ^ Rawson 1994a, p. 436.
  183. Rawson 1994a, p. 436, citing App. BCiv., 2.101–2.
  184. Rawson 1994a, pp. 436–37.
  185. Rawson 1994a, p. 436, citing Plut. Caes., 56.
  186. ^ Rawson 1994a, p. 437.
  187. Rawson 1994a, p. 436, noting that Sextus fomented a momentary rebellion and that Quintus Caecilius Bassus led a revolt in Syria which continued until after Caesar's death in 44 BC.
  188. Rawson 1994a, pp. 437–38; Boatwright 2004, pp. 253–54.
  189. Crawford 1974, 480/6 (= pp. 487–89, 494).
  190. Wilson 2021, p. 309.
  191. ^ Badian 2012.
  192. Wilson 2021, pp. 311–13. "In the view of the ancient historians and biographers self-tasked with assessing Caesar's rule, his dictatorships, and indeed his consulships... were incidental to the authority he possessed on account of being himself".
  193. See Wilson 2021, p. 313 n. 46. Meier 1995, pp. 474–75 notes that senators may have wanted to curry favour or otherwise, by giving him excessive honours, show the public Caesar's tyrannical ambitions.
  194. Wilson 2021, p. 314.
  195. Lintott 1999, p. 21; eg Livy (1905) . From the Founding of the City . Translated by Roberts, Canon. 31.5–7 – via Wikisource.
  196. Wilson 2021, pp. 314–15.
  197. Titus Quinctius Flamininus was the first Roman to appear on coinage, specifically on a stater minted after the Second Macedonian War. Caesar was the first portrait of a living Roman on coins meant to circulate in Rome. Sellars, Ian J (2013). The monetary system of the Romans. p. 33. Though technically not the first living Roman to appear on coinage... Caesar was the first to appear on the coins of Rome.
  198. West, R (2005). "The chronological development of Roman provincial coin iconography". In Howgego, Christopher; et al. (eds.). Coinage and identity in the Roman provinces. Oxford University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-19-926526-7. As far as the Roman republican coinage is concerned, a major change occurred when Caesar became the first living Roman to have his portrait depicted on Roman coins.
  199. Meier 1995, pp. 473–74.
  200. Meier 1995, p. 448. "He acted as he saw fit. Others had no right even to be informed of his intentions... Rome still had a Senate and magistrates, but they were not free in their decision-making... in all matters the decisive authority lay with Caesar alone".
  201. Badian 2012; Meier 1995, pp. 447–48.
  202. Similarly, Meier 1995, p. 470, "However restlessly active was, we still hear of nothing that could be construed as a move towards the consolidation of the commonwealth... We have no evidence that he intended to set up a monarchy".
  203. Wilson 2021, p. 318; Badian 2012; Meier 1995, p. 447.
  204. Badian 2012 for administration and colonial activity. Wilson 2021, p. 318, noting Suetonius viewing the expansion of the magistracies and Senate as constitutional reform with Dio believing it a means to reward followers. Meier 1995, p. 464 notes "such a large membership would certainly make the house incapable of functioning properly, but it enabled Caesar to show favour to many".
  205. Meier 1995, p. 464.
  206. Wilson 2021, p. 318; Lintott 1999, p. 160.
  207. Wilson 2021, p. 318.
  208. ^ Meier 1995, p. 447.
  209. Wilson 2021, pp. 319, 321.
  210. Wilson 2021, p. 319.
  211. Wilson 2021, pp. 321–22.
  212. Meier 1995, pp. 447–49.
  213. Meier 1995, p. 462.
  214. Wilson 2021, p. 322 n. 92 on favours for clients. Wilson 2021, p. 322 n. 94, noting Suet. Iul., 54.1–3 reporting on Caesar looting and extorting client states and Dio, 42.49–50, 43.24 on Caesar's forced loans to pay soldiers.
  215. Crawford 1974, 480/10 (= pp. 487–90, 494).
  216. Crawford, Michael Hewson (1974). Roman republican coinage. Cambridge University Press. p. 514. ISBN 978-0-521-07492-6.
  217. Meier 1995, p. 476.
  218. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 522 (noting attempts to restore the tribunes to office after Caesar's death); Tempest 2017, p. 81.
  219. Meier 1995, pp. 474, 476.
  220. Badian, Ernst (1990). "Review of "Caesar"". Gnomon. 62 (1): 35. ISSN 0017-1417. JSTOR 27690364. At this point, some time in early February 44, no one could persuade himself that the res publica would ever be restored as long as Caesar lived.
  221. Meier 1995, pp. 476–77.
  222. Meier 1995, p. 479.
  223. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 561–62.
  224. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 556.
  225. Meier 1995, p. 480.
  226. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 556, noting Basilus and Cimber as praetors in 45 and Casca as plebeian tribune in 44 or 43..
  227. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 560.
  228. Tempest 2017, p. 93; Meier 1995, p. 465 ("their dignity would have been spurious"); Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 547–48, 549–50 ("honores obtained as a personal favour rather than by a judgment of the People were in fact no 'honour' at all").
  229. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 553.
  230. Tempest 2017, p. 41; Meier 1995, pp. 480–81.
  231. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 524–25 gives a number of examples:
    • Plut. Brut., 9.6: "If only you lived now, Brutus", on the Capitoline statue of Lucius Brutus.
    • Suet. Iul., 80.3: "If only you were alive".
    • App. BCiv., 2.112: " your descendants are unworthy of you", challenging Marcus Brutus to act.
    • Suet. Iul., 80.3: "Brutus became the first consul, since he had expelled the kings; This man at last became king, since he had expelled the consuls", on a statue of Caesar.
    • Plut. Brut., 9.7; Plut. Caes., 62.7; App. BCiv., 2.112; Dio, 44.12.3: graffiti at Marcus Brutus' praetorian seat in the forum challenging him as asleep, corrupt, or not a true descendant of the Lucius Brutus who founded the republic.
  232. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 523, 526–27, 528 (calling the belief in modern scholarship that Caesar remained "the darling of the People" unsupported by the evidence and "infantilising"); Tempest 2017, pp. 86–87.
  233. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 528 (debts), 529 (lethal force, corn dole, collegia), 530 (juries, elections).
  234. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 548 (the two candidates for the consulship of 43 BC were the only two men allowed to stand), 550.
  235. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 575.
  236. Morstein-Marx 2021, pp. 318, 573–75.
  237. Tempest 2017, pp. 95–99.
  238. Meier 1995, p. 485.
  239. Morstein-Marx 2021, p. 563.
  240. Tempest 2017, pp. 99–100.
  241. ^ Tempest 2017, p. 100.
  242. Meier 1995, pp. 485–86, noting three: Caesar felt unwell and had to be persuaded by a conspirator to attend the Senate, one Artemidorus of Knidos gave Caesar a scroll informing on the conspiracy, the augur Spurinna allegedly prophesied misfortune for Caesar on the Ides.
  243. Tempest 2017, p. 101–3, citing Suet. Iul., 81–82.
  244. Tempest 2017, p. 3–4, 261 n. 1; Meier 1995, p. 486 (reporting 23 wounds).
  245. Tempest 2017, p. 261 n. 1 cites all ancient accounts: Nic. Dam., 58–106; Plut. Caes., 60–68; Plut. Brut., 8–20; Suet. Iul., 76–85; App. BCiv., 2.106–147; Dio, 44.9–19.
  246. Mackay 2009, p. 316.
  247. Rawson 1994b, p. 469. "Antony pointed out that logically, if Caesar was a tyrant, his body should be thrown into the Tiber and all his measures ; if he was not, his murderers should be punished".
  248. Rawson 1994b, p. 470.
  249. Richardson, L (1992). "Iulius, Divus, Aedes". A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 213–14. ISBN 0-8018-4300-6.
  250. Mackay 2009, pp. 318–19; Rawson 1994b, p. 471.
  251. Mackay 2009, pp. 315–16.
  252. Boatwright 2004, pp. 270–72.
  253. Mackay 2009, p. 332.
  254. Mackay 2009, p. 334. Caesar's heir then took the style divi filius, meaning "son of the deified one".
  255. Boatwright 2004, p. 273.
  256. Mackay 2009, p. 335; Boatwright 2004, p. 274.
  257. Meier 1995, pp. 494, 496.
  258. Plut. Caes., 17, 45, 60; Suet. Iul., 45.
  259. Ridley, Ronald T. (2000). "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 49 (2): 211–29. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 4436576. Ridley cites:
  260. Bruschi, Fabrizio (2011). "Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis?". Trends in Parasitology. 27 (9): 373–74. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2011.06.001. PMID 21757405.
  261. McLachlan, Richard S (2010). "Julius Caesar's late onset epilepsy: a case of historic proportions". Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. 37 (5): 557–561. doi:10.1017/S0317167100010696. ISSN 0317-1671. PMID 21059498. S2CID 24082872.
  262. Hughes, John R; et al. (2004). "Dictator perpetuus: Julius Caesar – Did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology?". Epilepsy & Behavior. 5 (5): 756–64. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.05.006. PMID 15380131. S2CID 34640921.
  263. Gomez, J G; et al. (1995). "Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor?". Journal of the Florida Medical Association. 82 (3): 199–201. ISSN 0015-4148. PMID 7738524.
  264. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I.ii.209.
  265. Paterson 2009, p. 130.
  266. Pliny, Natural History, vii.181
  267. Galassi, Francesco M.; Ashrafian, Hutan (2015). "Has the diagnosis of a stroke been overlooked in the symptoms of Julius Caesar?". Neurological Sciences. 36 (8): 1521–22. doi:10.1007/s10072-015-2191-4. ISSN 1590-3478. PMID 25820216. S2CID 11730078.
  268. Suet. Iul., 45. excelsa statura, colore candido, teretibus membris, ore paulo pleniore, nigris vegetisque oculis.
  269. Suet. Iul., 45 "Circa corporis... laureae coronae perpetuo gestandae."
  270. M. Philippa, F. Debrabandere, A. Quak, T. Schoonheim en N. van der Sijs (2003–2009) Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, Amsterdam
  271. Roller, Duane W (2010). Cleopatra: a biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 178–79. ISBN 978-0-19-536553-5.
  272. Eg Plut. Brut., 5.2
  273. Tempest 2017, p. 102, noting the "almost universally accepted" treatment rejecting Caesar's parentage at Fluß, Max (1923). "Servilius 101" . Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (in German). Vol. II A, 2. Stuttgart: Butcher. cols. 1817–21 – via Wikisource.
  274. Syme, Ronald (1960). "Bastards in the Roman Aristocracy". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 104 (3): 326. ISSN 0003-049X. JSTOR 985248. Chronology is against Caesar's paternity.
  275. Syme, Ronald (1980). "No Son for Caesar?". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 29 (4): 426. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 4435732. Caesar is excluded by plain fact.
  276. Jiménez 2000, p. 55.
  277. Suet. Iul., 49.
  278. Suet. Iul., 49; Dio, 43.20.
  279. Catullus, Carmina 29 Archived 20 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 57 Archived 4 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  280. Suet. Iul., 73.
  281. Suet. Aug., 68, 71.
  282. Cic. Brut., 252.
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Sources

Primary sources

Own writings

Ancient historians' writings

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Secondary sources

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