Map of the Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina), also called Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata,^[1] was a Roman province until 41 BC, when it was merged into the Province of Italy.^[2] It was that part of Gallia, the land of the Gauls, which lay south and east of the Alps, as opposed to Gallia Transalpina.^[3] Its inhabitants were primarily Celtic since the expulsion of the Etruscans.^[4]

The province was bounded on the north and west by the Alps, in the south as far as Placentia by the river Po, and then by the Apennines and the river Rubicon, and in the east by the Adriatic Sea.^[4] In 49 BC all inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul received Roman citizenship,^[5] and eventually the province was divided among four of the eleven regiones of Italy: Regio VIII Gallia Cispadana, Regio IX Liguria, Regio X Venetia et Histria and Regio XI Gallia Transpadana.^[6]

The Roman province[link]

Sometimes referred to as Gallia Citerior ("Hither Gaul"), Provincia Ariminum, or Gallia Togata ("Toga-wearing Gaul", indicating the region's early Romanization). Gallia Transpadana denoted that part of Cisalpine Gaul between the Padus (now the Po River) and the Alps, while Gallia Cispadana was the part to the south of the river.

Probably officially established around 81 B.C., the province was governed from Mutina (modern-day Modena), where, in 73 B.C., forces under Spartacus defeated the legion of Gaius Cassius Longinus, the provincial governor.

The Rubicon River marked its southern boundary with Italia proper. By crossing this river in 49 B.C. with his battle-hardened legions, returning from the conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar precipitated the civil war within the Roman Republic which led, eventually, to the establishment of the Roman Empire. To this day the term "crossing the Rubicon" means, figuratively, "reaching the point of no return".

The province was merged into Italia about 42 B.C., as part of Octavian's "Italicization" program during the Second Triumvirate. The dissolution of the provincia required a new governing law or lex, although its contemporary title is unknown. The parts of it inscribed on a bronze tablet preserved in the museum at Parma are entirely concerned with arranging the judiciary: the law appoints two viri and four viri juri dicundo, and also mentions a Prefect of Mutina.

Virgil, Catullus and Livy,^[7] three famous sons of the province, were born in Gallia Cisalpina.^[8]

Peoples of Cisalpine Gaul[link]

Lands of the Insubres in the Tabula Peuntingeriana

In the first millennium B.C., Cisalpine Gaul was inhabited chiefly by four peoples: the Veneti and Ligurians in Transpadana, the Etruscans (in Emilia), and the Celts, who had conquered the area from the Etruscans and Raetians. These last may have been an Illyrian or Celtic tribe, or Etruscans, which is more likely in view of their linguistic relationship.

Celts and Celtic-Ligurians in Cisalpine Gaul[link]

Polybius, a Greek historian, wrote about co-existence of the Celts in northern Italy with Etruscan nations in the period before the Sack of Rome in 390 B.C. According to Livy, a Roman historian, the Celts arrived in these northern Italian regions around the sixth century B.C. However, archaeological sources, in particular compared with Livy's passage documenting the arrival of Bellovesus and his Insubres during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus (sixth century B.C.), along with the founding of Milan in an area yet "inhabited by Insubres", has led Italian and French archaeologists and scholars to date the Celtic presence in Italy to at least the sixth century B.C. if not before.

The Celtic presence according to Classical sources[link]

Livy (v. 34) describes how around 600 B.C. (Tarquinius Priscus was reigning in Rome), a horde of Gauls led by Bellovesus crossed the Alps and occupied the territory between Milan and Cremona, identifying the local inhabitants of his own time, the Insubres, with these invading Gauls.

In the Periplus of Scylax, Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek traveler and geographer active between 522 and 485 B.C., mentions the presence of Celtic-speaking peoples settled in northeast Italy. The text was rewritten about a century later after the loss of the original by a pseudo-Scylax, and tells of a journey along the shores of the Mediterranean made by a Greek traveler who describes the Celtic tribes on the coast just south of the settlements of the Veneti. Given the known dates in the life of Scylax, the date should be about 490 B.C.

The Canegrate culture[link]

The Canegrate culture (thirteenth century B.C.) was a civilization of prehistoric Italy which developed from the time of the end of the Bronze Age through the beginning of the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana. These areas are now known as western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont and Canton Ticino.

The Canegrate culture testifies to the arrival of a first proto-Celtic^[10] migratory wave of populations from the northwest part of the Alps that, crossing the alpine passes, had not yet infiltrated and settled down in the western Po area between Lake Maggiore and the Lake of Como. They were bearers of a new funerary ideology, which supplanted the old culture of inhumation instead introducing cremation.

The population of Canegrate maintained its own homogeneity for a limited period of time, approximately a century, after which they blended with the Ligurian aboriginal populations to create a new culture called the Golasecca culture.

The Golasecca culture[link]

Bronze Helmet of the
Golasecca culture 480-450 BC

The Culture of Golasecca (ninth to fourth centuries B.C.) spread between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age in the areas of northwestern Lombardy and Piedmont, and the Canton Ticino [1]. At the end of the prehistoric period, this was an area where travelers frequently stopped and had contact with the Hallstatt culture to the west, the Urnfield culture to the north and with the Villanova culture to the south. The Golasecca culture was initially concentrated in the foothills area south of the Alps. It later spread throughout the lakes area, and established many settlements representing this original culture. The oldest remains found thus far can be dated from the ninth century B.C.

The Gallic expansion and defeat[link]

In 391 B.C., Celts "who had their homes beyond the Alps, streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between the Appennine mountains and the Alps" according to Diodorus Siculus. The Roman army was routed in the battle of Allia, and Rome was sacked in 390 BC by the Senones.

The defeat of the combined Samnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the Third Samnite War ending in 290 B.C. sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe. At the Battle of Telamon in 225 B.C., a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed. However, it was not until 192 B.C. that the Roman armies conquered the last remaining independent Celtic kingdoms in Italy.

Language[link]

The Celtic Cisalpine Gaulish inscriptions are frequently combined with the Lepontic inscriptions under the term Celtic language remains in northern Italy. While it is possible that the Lepontians were autochthonous to northern Italy since the end of the second millennium B.C., it is well-known that the Gauls invaded the regions north of the river Po in several waves since the fifth century B.C. They apparently took over the art of writing from the Lepontians, including some of the orthographic peculiarities.

Sources[link]

See also[link]

• Canegrate culture
• Golasecca culture
• Cisalpine Gaulish
• Ancient peoples of Italy
• La Tène culture
• Transalpine Gaul, the other Gallic province
• Padania

Literature[link]

• ARSLAN E. A. 1992 (1995), La Nécropole celtique de Garlasco (Province de Pavie), in L’Europe celtique du Ve au IIIe Siècle avant J.-C. (Hautvillers, 8-10 octobre 1992), Sceaux, pp. 169–188.
• Luigi Bossi, Della istoria d'Italia antica e moderna, Milano, 1819
• Jean Bousquet, La Cisalpine gauloise du IIIe au Ier siècle avant J.-C.
• Corbella, Roberto: "Celti : itinerari storici e turistici tra Lombardia, Piemonte, Svizzera", Macchione, Varese c2000; 119 p., ill.; 20 cm; ISBN 88-8340-030-5; EAN: 9788883400308
• Corbella, Roberto: "Magia e mistero nella terra dei Celti : Como, Varesotto, Ossola"; Macchione, Varese 2004; 159 p. : ill. ; 25 cm; ISBN 88-8340-186-7; EAN: 9788883401862
• D'Aversa, Arnaldo: "La Valle Padana tra Etruschi, Celti e Romani", PAIDEIA, Brescia 1986, 101 p. ill., 21 cm, ISBN 88-394-0381-7
• Raffaele De Marinis and Venceslas Kruta in ‘’Italia, omnium terrarum alumna’’, Garzanti-Scheiwiller, 1990
• Grassi, Maria Teresa: "I Celti in Italia" - 2. ed, Longanesi, Milano 1991 (Biblioteca di Archelogia); 154 p., 32 c. di tav., ill. ; 21 cm; ISBN 88-304-1012-8
• Grassi, Maria Teresa: "La ceramica a vernice nera di Calvatone-Bedriacum", All'Insegna del Giglio, Firenze 2008, pp. 224 brossura, ISSN/ISBN 9788878143692
• GRASSI M. T. 1995, La romanizzazione degli Insubri. Celti e Romani in Transpadana attraverso la documentazione storica e archeologica, Milano.
• GRASSI M. T. 1999, I Celti della Cisalpina Centrale: dall’ager Insubrium alla XI Regio Transpadana, in Insubri e Cenomani tra Sesia e Adige, Seminario di Studi (Milano 27-28.2.1998), “Rassegna di Studi del Civico Museo Archeologico e del Civico Gabinetto Numismatico di Milano”, LXIII-LXIV, pp. 101–108.
• Lawrence Keppie, The Making of the roman army, From Republic to Empire, University of Oklahoma, 1998
• Kruta, Venceslas: "I celti e il Mediterraneo", Jaca Book, 2004, 78 p., ISBN 88-16-43628-X, ISBN 978-88-16-43628-2
• Kruta, Venceslas: "La grande storia dei celti. La nascita, l'affermazione e la decadenza", Newton & Compton, 2003, 512 p., ISBN 88-8289-851-2, ISBN 978-88-8289-851-9
• Kruta, Venceslas & Manfredi, Valerio M.: "I celti d'Italia", Mondadori, 2000 (Collana: Oscar storia), ISBN 88-04-47710-5, ISBN 978-88-04-47710-5
• Giuseppe Micali, L'Italia avanti il dominio dei Romani, Genova, 1830
• Violante, Antonio; introduzione di Venceslas Kruta: "I Celti a sud delle Alpi", Silvana, Milano 1993 (Popoli dell'Italia Antica), 137 p., ill., fot.; 32 cm; ISBN 88-366-0442-0

Titus Atius Labienus (ca. 100 BC – March 17, 45 BC) was a professional Roman soldier in the late Roman Republic. He served as Tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC, and is remembered as one of Julius Caesar's lieutenants, mentioned frequently in the accounts of his military campaigns. He was the father of Quintus Labienus.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Reasoning from the fact that his praetorship was in 60 or 59 BC, Titus Labienus most likely was born in 99 or 98 BC.^[1] Many sources suggest that he came from the town of Cingulum in Picenum. His family was of equestrian status. He most likely had early ties with Pompey during his time as a patron for Picenum and his desire to rise in military rank.^[1] His early service was ca. 78–75 BC in Cilicia under Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus.^[2]

Tribune of the Plebs, Trial of Gaius Rabirius[link]

In 63 BC, Titus Labienus was a Tribune of the Plebs with close ties to Pompey. Gaius Julius Caesar was also working closely with Pompey and therefore he and Labienus occasionally cooperated. These interactions were the seed that eventually developed into a friendship between Labienus and Caesar.

At Caesar’s instigation, Labienus accused Gaius Rabirius of high treason (perduellio) for the murder of the tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and of his uncle Titus Labienus in 100 BC. The purpose of this trial was to discredit the so-called "final decree of the Senate" (senatus consultum ultimum), an emergency measure of the senate commonly used against the Populares and the Roman assemblies. Labienus used the antiquated procedure of the duumviri, used in the early republic, against Rabirius. The procedure bypassed normal criminal law and Rabirius would be tried without defense. Since tribunes were sacrosanct, it was seen as an act against the gods to kill one. Thus punishment of the culprit was seen as more of a cleansing to appease the gods. The killing was seen as a pollution so profound that a normal criminal trial was unnecessary and immediate cleansing was necessary to avoid the wrath of the gods. The duumviri were assigned to accuse under the pretense of obvious guilt and cleanse the culprit through scourging.

Rabirius appealed to the Century Assembly and Cicero spoke in his defense. However, before the assembly could vote, Metellus Celer used his powers as an augur to claim the sightings of bad omens and take down the flag in Janiculum. This postponed the trial. Rabirius was ultimately sentenced to exile, as he was unable to pay an unreasonable fine.^[3]

In the same year Labienus carried a plebiscite returning the elections of the pontifices to the people. This indirectly secured for Caesar the dignity of Pontifex Maximus, by his act of supporting Labienus in this cause (Dio Cassius xxxvii. 37).

Labienus was more a soldier than politician, and primarily used his office as a gateway to secure himself positions of high military command. After his term as tribune, Labienus served as Caesar’s legate in Gaul.

Lieutenant under Caesar in Gaul[link]

Labienus acted as Caesar’s second in command during his campaign in Gaul and was the only legate mentioned by name in Caesar’s writings about his first campaign.^[4] He was a skilled cavalry commander and could be considered a military genius, rivaling Caesar himself in tactical command. However Caesar, as imperator, took credit for many of the accomplishments of his subordinates, especially Labienus.^{[citation needed]}

Labienus commanded the winter quarters in Vesontio in 58 BC. He also had full command of the legions in Gaul during Caesar’s absence, as his legatus pro praetore.^[5] He had this privilege when Caesar was administering justice in Cisalpine Gaul as well as during Caesar’s second campaign in Britain (in 54 BC).^[6]

In 57 BC, during the Belgian campaign, in a battle against the Atrebates and Nervii near Sabis, Labienus, commanding the 9th and 10th legions, defeated the opposing Atrebates force and proceeded to take the enemy camp.^[7] From there he sent the 10th Legion against the rear of the Nervii line while they were engaged with the rest of Caesar’s army, single-handedly turning the tide of battle and securing Caesar the victory.^[8]

Labienus is also credited with the defeat of the Treviri under Indutiomarus. Labienus spent days with his army fortified in their camp, while Indutiomarus harassed him daily in an attempt at intimidation and demoralization. Labienus waited for the right moment, when Indutiomarus and his forces were returning to their camp disorganized, to send out his cavalry through two gates. He gave them the orders to first kill Indutiomarus, then his trailing forces on their return. Labienus’s men were successful, and with the death of their leader, the Treviri army scattered.^[9] The Treviri forces later regrouped under relatives of Indutiomarus and moved upon Labienus, setting up camp across the river from his legions, waiting for reinforcements from the Germans. Labienus feigned a withdrawal, enticing the Treviri to cross the river, after which he turned around and had his men attack. Being in such a disadvantageous position, the Treviri forces were decimated. After hearing this, the German reinforcements turned around.^[10]

Labienus’ victory over the Parisii in Lutetia is another example of his tactical genius. Sending five cohorts back towards Agedincum, and himself crossing the Sequana River with three legions, he tricked the enemy into thinking that he divided his army and was crossing the river in three different locations.^[11] The enemy army split into thirds and pursued Labienus. The main body met Labienus which he subsequently surrounded with the rest of his legions. He then annihilated the reinforcements with his cavalry.^[12]

In September, 51 BC, Caesar made Labienus governor of Cisalpine Gaul.^[13]

Defection from Caesar, command under Pompey in Civil War[link]

Before Caesar took Rome, Labienus left him in Gaul and joined Pompey.^[14] He was rapturously welcomed on the Pompeian side, bringing 3,700 Gallic and German cavalry with him.

In the book, Biography of Titus Labienus, Caesar’s Lieutenant in Gaul, Tyrrell notes that modern historians describe Labienus' actions as defection from Caesar, and do not hesitate to call him a “deserter” or “renegade”, possibly due to their liking for Caesar. Tyrrell recognizes that in the end Labienus can be described as a man who “joined the legitimate government in its struggle against a revolutionary proconsul who placed his own dignitas above his country (Tyrrell, 36). Tyrrell points out, however, that "Labienus had proved on every occasion his capacity for independent command. He could easily have felt himself Caesar’s equal in the field. Although a praetorius since 59 or 58, a consulship with its subsequently provincial army was not forthcoming. The consulship with Caesar, even if seriously planned, would not have altered the balance of power between them. Antonius’ election to the augurate, the first step to the consulship, showed the direction of Caesar’s purposes. Caesar’s enemies held out a new opportunity to gain an army. Three years later he could boast that he had won the loyalty of his troops (BAf. 19.3)." Beyond that, we cannot go.".^[15]

Pompey made Labienus commander of the cavalry. He attempted to convince Pompey to face Caesar in Italy and not retreat to Hispania (Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) to regroup, in his claims that Caesar’s army was thin and weakened after his campaign in Gaul.^[16]

But his ill fortune under Pompey was as marked as his success had been under Caesar. From the defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus, he fled to Corcyra, and after hearing of the death of Pompey, proceeded to Africa. He created confidence in the followers of Pompey by lying to them; he told them that Caesar had received a mortal wound at the Battle of Pharsalus.^[17] He was able by mere force of numbers to inflict a slight check upon Caesar at the Battle of Ruspina in 46 BC.^[18] By condensing his force into dense formations, he tricked Caesar into thinking he had only foot soldiers, was able to rout Caesar’s cavalry and surround Caesar’s army. He was unable to defeat Caesar's army, and was forced to leave the field. After the defeat at the Battle of Thapsus he joined Gnaeus Pompey the Younger in Hispania.

Death came to Labienus in the Battle of Munda, an evenly matched conflict between the armies of Caesar and the sons of Pompey. King Bogud, an ally of Caesar, and his army also approached the Pompeians from the rear. Labienus was commanding the Pompeians’ cavalry unit at the time and saw this and took the cavalry from the front lines to meet him. The Pompeian legions misinterpreted this as a retreat, became disheartened and began to break.^[19] Pompey suffered massive casualties during the rout. This defeat ended the Roman Civil War. Labienus was killed during the rout. He was buried but according to Appian (BC2.105), his head was brought to Caesar.

Fictional accounts[link]

Labienus is featured in The Gods of War, a novel by British author Conn Iggulden. He was also an important minor character in the later Masters of Rome novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough. In these, his first appearance is in the Trial of Rabirius, but this is placed rather later in the political year than it is usually stated as having been, orchestrated by Caesar as a reaction to Cicero's decision to have several Catiline conspirators executed without trial while the "Senatus Consultum Ultimum" is in force - rather than as a prior warning against such an action before the decree was even in place. He then falls on hard times because he had drawn the disfavour of Pompey for having an affair with his Picentine wife Mucia Tertia. He is portrayed latterly as a very capable but fierce and cruel soldier and commander, whose brilliance wins battles in Gaul, but whose brutality went some way towards alienating Caesar's Gallic allies and thus causing the battles in the first place. McCullough takes a somewhat different interpretation of the events, and has Caesar shunning Labienus, instead of Labienus defecting to Pompey. In the novels, Caesar disowns Labienus when it comes to civil war, not wanting him on his side because he is too cruel and unpredictable. Labienus was also featured in the BBC One docudrama Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares
• Caesar’s Bellum Africum
• Caesar’s Bellum Civile
• Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum
• Cassius Dio’s Roman History
• Sextus Julius Frontinus:
• Tyrrell, William B. Biography of Titus Labienus, Caesar's Lieutenant in Gaul. Diss. Michigan State Univ., 1970. 10 May 2007 <http://www.msu.edu/~tyrrell/Labienus.pdf >.

Gaius Julius Caesar
Dictator of the Roman Republic
The "Tusculum portrait", possibly the only surviving bust of Caesar made during his lifetime
Reign	October 49 BC – 15 March 44 BC (as dictator and/or consul)
Full name	Gaius Julius Caesar
Born	July 100 BC
Birthplace	Subura, Rome
Died	15 March 44 BC (aged 55)
Place of death	Curia of Pompey, Rome
Consort	Cornelia Cinna minor 84 – 69 BC Pompeia 68 – 63 BC Calpurnia Pisonis 59 – 44 BC
Offspring	Julia Caesaris c. 73 – 54 BC Caesarion 47 – 30 BC Augustus 63 BC – 14 AD (grand-nephew, posthumously adopted as Caesar's son in 44 BC)
Royal House	Julio-Claudian
Father	Gaius Julius Cæsar
Mother	Aurelia Cotta[1]

These articles cover the Ancient Roman Comitium of the Republican era
Structures-	Rostra, Curia Hostilia, Curia Julia, Lapis Niger
Politicians-	Cicero, Gaius Gracchus, Julius Caesar
Assemblies-	Roman Senate, comitia curiata

Gaius Julius Caesar^[2] (Classical Latin: [ˈɡaː.i.ʊs ˈjuː.lɪ.ʊs ˈkaj.sar],^[3] July 100 BC^[4] – 15 March 44 BC)^[5] was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative elite within the Roman Senate^{[citation needed]}, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse Pompey's standing. The balance of power was further upset by the death of Crassus in 53 BC. Political realignments in Rome finally led to a standoff between Caesar and Pompey, the latter having taken up the cause of the Senate. Ordered by the Senate to stand trial in Rome for various charges, Caesar marched on Rome with one legion—legio XIII—from Gaul to Italy, crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC.^[6] This sparked a civil war from which he emerged as the unrivaled leader of the Roman world.

After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed "dictator in perpetuity". A group of senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated the dictator on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, hoping to restore the constitutional government of the Republic. However, the result was a series of civil wars, which ultimately led to the establishment of the permanent Roman Empire by Caesar's adopted heir Octavius (later known as Augustus). Much of Caesar's life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources.

Early life and career[link]

Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

Bust of Caesar from the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus.^[7] The cognomen "Caesar" originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by caesarean section (from the Latin verb to cut, caedere, caes-).^[8] The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations: 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.^[9]

Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name. Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential. Caesar's father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia,^[10] while his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesar's childhood.^[11]

Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil. There were several wars from 91 BC to 82 BC, although from 82 BC to 80 BC, the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla was purging Rome of his political enemies. Domestically, Roman politics was bitterly divided. In 85 BC, Caesar's father died suddenly^[12] so at sixteen Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was nominated to be the new high priest of Jupiter.^[13]

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 a plebeian girl he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married Lucius Cinna's daughter Cornelia.^[14] Meanwhile, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to Rome and had himself appointed to the revived office of dictator.^[15]

Sulla's proscriptions 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 Vestal Virgins. Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw many a Marius in Caesar.^[11]

Caesar left Rome and joined the army, where he won the Civic Crown for his part in an important siege. On a mission to Bithynia to secure the assistance of King Nicomedes's fleet, he spent so long at his court that rumors of an affair with the king arose, which Caesar would vehemently deny for the rest of his life.^[16] Ironically, the loss of his priesthood had allowed him to pursue a military career, as the high priest of Jupiter was not permitted to touch a horse, sleep three nights outside his own bed or one night outside Rome, or look upon an army.^[17]

Hearing of Sulla's death in 78 BC, Caesar felt safe enough to return to Rome. Lacking means since his inheritance was confiscated, he acquired a modest house in a lower-class neighborhood of Rome.^[18] 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 extortion and corruption.

On the way across the Aegean Sea,^[19] Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and held prisoner.^[20] He maintained an attitude of superiority throughout his captivity. When the pirates thought to demand a ransom of twenty talents of silver, he insisted they ask for fifty.^[21][22] After the ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and imprisoned them. He had them crucified on his own authority, as he had promised while in captivity^[23]—a promise the pirates had taken as a joke. As a sign of leniency, he first had their throats cut. He was soon called back into military action in Asia, raising a band of auxiliaries to repel an incursion from the east.^{[citation needed]}

On his return to Rome, he was elected military tribune, a first step in a political career. He was elected quaestor for 69 BC,^[24] and during that year he delivered the funeral oration for his aunt Julia. His wife, Cornelia, also died that year.^[25] After her funeral, in the spring or early summer of 69 BC, Caesar went to serve his quaestorship in Spain.^[26] While there he is said to have encountered a statue of Alexander the Great, and realized with dissatisfaction he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little. On his return in 67 BC,^[27] he married Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla, whom he later divorced.^[28]

In 63 BC, he ran for election to the post of Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the Roman state religion. He ran against two powerful senators. There were accusations of bribery by all sides. Caesar won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and standing.^[29] When Cicero, who was consul that year, exposed Catiline's conspiracy to seize control of the republic, several senators accused Caesar of involvement in the plot.^[30]

After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Spain, but he was still in considerable debt and needed to satisfy his creditors before he could leave. He turned to Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of Rome's richest men. In return for political support in his opposition to the interests of Pompey, Crassus paid some of Caesar's debts and acted as guarantor for others. Even so, to avoid becoming a private citizen and thus be open to prosecution for his debts, Caesar left for his province before his praetorship had ended. In Spain, he conquered two local tribes and was hailed as imperator by his troops, reformed the law regarding debts, and completed his governorship in high esteem.^[31]

As imperator, Caesar was entitled to a triumph. However, he also wanted to stand for consul, 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.^[32]

Consulship and military campaigns[link]

In 60 BC, Caesar sought election as consul for 59 BC, along with two other candidates. The election was sordid – even Cato, with his reputation for incorruptibility, is said to have resorted to bribery in favor of one of Caesar's opponents. Caesar won, along with conservative Marcus Bibulus.^[33]

Bust of Pompey

Caesar was already in Crassus' political debt, but he also made overtures to Pompey. Pompey and Crassus had been at odds for a decade, so Caesar tried to reconcile them. The three of them had enough money and political influence to control public business. This informal alliance, known as the First Triumvirate ("rule of three men"), was cemented by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daughter Julia.^[34] Caesar also married again, this time Calpurnia, who was the daughter of another powerful senator.^[35]

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, a move which intimidated the triumvirate's opponents. Bibulus attempted to declare the omens unfavorable and thus void the new law, but was driven from the forum by Caesar's armed supporters. His bodyguards had their ceremonial axes broken, two high magistrates accompanying him were wounded, and he 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."^[36]

When Caesar was first elected, the aristocracy tried to limit his future power by allotting the woods and pastures of Italy, rather than the governorship of a province, as his military command duty after his year in office was over.^[37] With the help of political allies, Caesar later overturned this, and was instead appointed to govern Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) and Illyricum (southeastern Europe), with Transalpine Gaul (southern France) later added, giving him command of four legions. The term of his governorship, and thus his immunity from prosecution, was set at five years, rather than the usual one.^[38] When his consulship ended, Caesar narrowly avoided prosecution for the irregularities of his year in office, and quickly left for his province.^[39]

Conquest of Gaul[link]

Caesar was still deeply in debt, but there was money to be made as a governor, whether by extortion^[40] or by military adventurism. Caesar had four legions under his command, two of his provinces bordered on unconquered territory, and parts of Gaul were known to be unstable. Some of Rome's Gallic allies had been defeated by their rivals, with the help of a contingent of Germanic tribes. The Romans feared these tribes were preparing to migrate south, closer to Italy, and that they had warlike intent. Caesar raised two new legions and defeated these tribes.^[41]

In response to Caesar's earlier activities, the tribes in the north-east began to arm themselves. Caesar treated this as an aggressive move and, after an inconclusive engagement against the united tribes, he conquered the tribes piecemeal. Meanwhile, one of his legions began the conquest of the tribes in the far north (directly opposite Britain).^[42] During the spring of 56 BC, the Triumvirate held a conference, as Rome was in turmoil and Caesar's political alliance was coming undone. The meeting renewed the Triumvirate and extended Caesar's governorship for another five years.^[43] The conquest of the north was soon completed, while a few pockets of resistance remained.^[44] Caesar now had a secure base from which to launch an invasion of Britain.

The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests.

In 55 BC, Caesar repelled an incursion into Gaul by two Germanic tribes, 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 two other tribes, he crossed into Britain, claiming that the Britons had aided one of his enemies the previous year possibly the Veneti of Brittany.^[45] His intelligence information was poor, and although he gained a beachhead on the coast, he could not advance further, and returned to Gaul for the winter.^[46] He returned the following year, better prepared and with a larger force, and achieved more. He advanced inland, and established a few alliances. However, poor harvests led to widespread revolt in Gaul, which forced Caesar to leave Britain for the last time.^[47]

While Caesar was in Britain his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, had died in childbirth. Caesar tried to re-secure Pompey's support by offering him his great-niece in marriage, but Pompey declined. In 53 BC Crassus was killed leading a failed invasion of the east. Rome was on the edge of civil war. Pompey was appointed sole consul as an emergency measure, and married the daughter of a political opponent of Caesar. The Triumvirate was dead.^[48]

In 52 BC another, larger revolt erupted in Gaul, led by Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix managed to unite the Gallic tribes and proved an astute commander, defeating Caesar in several engagements, but Caesar's elaborate siege-works at the Battle of Alesia finally forced his surrender.^[49] Despite scattered outbreaks of warfare the following year,^[50] Gaul was effectively conquered. Plutarch claimed that the army had fought against three million men during the Gallic Wars, of whom one million died, and another million were enslaved. The Romans subjugated 300 tribes and destroyed 800 cities.^[51] However, in view of the difficulty in finding accurate counts in the first place, Caesar's propagandistic purposes, and the common exaggeration of numbers in ancient texts, the stated totals of enemy combatants are likely to be too high.

Civil war[link]

In 50 BC, the Senate, led by Pompey, ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term as governor had finished.^[52] Caesar thought he would be prosecuted if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a magistrate. Pompey accused Caesar of insubordination and treason. In January 49 BC, Caesar crossed the Rubicon river (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only one legion 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, "the die is cast".^[53]

Erasmus, however, notes that the more accurate translation of the Greek imperative mood would be "alea icta esto" let the die be cast.^[54] Pompey and much of the Senate fled to the south, having little confidence in his newly raised troops. Despite greatly outnumbering Caesar, who only had his Thirteenth Legion with him, Pompey did not intend to fight. Caesar pursued Pompey, hoping to capture him before his legions could escape.^[55]

Pompey managed to escape before Caesar could capture him. Caesar decided to head for Spain, while leaving Italy under the control of Mark Antony. Caesar made an astonishing 27-day route-march to Spain, where he defeated Pompey's lieutenants. He then returned east, to challenge Pompey in Greece where in July 48 BC at Dyrrhachium Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat. He decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus in an exceedingly short engagement later that year.^[56]

A bust of Cleopatra VII.

In Rome, Caesar was appointed dictator,^[57] with Mark Antony as his Master of the Horse (second in command); Caesar presided over his own election to a second consulship and then, after eleven days, resigned this dictatorship.^[57][58] Caesar then pursued Pompey to Egypt, where Pompey was soon murdered.^[59]

Caesar then became involved with an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh and his sister, wife, and co-regent queen, Cleopatra. Perhaps as a result of the pharaoh's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra; he is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head,^[60] which was offered to him by the pharaoh as a gift. In any event, Caesar withstood the Siege of Alexandria and later he defeated the pharaoh's forces Battle of the Nile in 47 BC and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated their victory with a triumphant procession on the Nile in the spring of 47 BC. The royal barge was accompanied by 400 additional ships, and Caesar was introduced to the luxurious lifestyle of the Egyptian pharaohs.^[61]

Caesar and Cleopatra never married, as Roman law recognized marriages only between two Roman citizens. Caesar continued his relationship with Cleopatra throughout his last marriage, which lasted fourteen years – in Roman eyes, this did not constitute adultery – and may have fathered a son called Caesarion. Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa just outside Rome across the Tiber.^[62]

Late in 48 BC, Caesar was again appointed Dictator, with a term of one year.^[58] After spending the first months of 47 BC in Egypt, Caesar went to the Middle East, where he annihilated the king of Pontus; his victory was so swift and complete that he mocked Pompey's previous victories over such poor enemies.^[63] On his way to Pontus, Caesar visited from May 27 to 29, 47 BC, (May 25-27^greg.) Tarsus, where he met enthusiastic support, but where, according to Cicero, Cassius was planning to kill him at this point.^[64][65][66] Thence, he proceeded to Africa to deal with the remnants of Pompey's senatorial supporters. He quickly gained a significant victory in 46 BC over Cato, who then committed suicide.^[67]

After this victory, he was appointed Dictator for ten years.^[68] Nevertheless, Pompey's sons escaped to Spain; Caesar gave chase and defeated the last remnants of opposition in the Battle of Munda in March 45 BC.^[69] During this time, Caesar was elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC and 45 BC (this last time without a colleague).

Dictatorship and assassination[link]

While he was still campaigning in Spain, the Senate began bestowing honors on Caesar. Caesar had not proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning almost all, and there was no serious public opposition to him. Great games and celebrations were held in April to honor 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.^[70] On Caesar's return to Italy in September 45 BC, he filed his will, naming his grandnephew Gaius Octavius (Octavian) as the heir to everything, including his name. Caesar also wrote that if Octavian died before Caesar did, Marcus Junius Brutus would be the next heir in succession.

During his early career, Caesar had seen how chaotic and dysfunctional the Roman Republic had become. The republican machinery had broken down under the weight of imperialism, the central government had become powerless, the provinces had been transformed into independent principalities under the absolute control of their governors, and the army had replaced the constitution as the means of accomplishing political goals. With a weak central government, political corruption had spiraled out of control, and the status quo had been maintained by a corrupt aristocracy, which saw no need to change a system that had made its members rich.^{[citation needed]}

Between his crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC, and his assassination in 44 BC, Caesar established a new constitution, which was intended to accomplish three separate goals.^[71] First, he wanted to suppress all armed resistance out in the provinces, and thus bring order back to the empire. Second, he wanted to create a strong central government in Rome. Finally, he wanted to knit together the entire empire into a single cohesive unit.^[71]

The first goal was accomplished when Caesar defeated Pompey and his supporters.^[71] To accomplish the other two goals, he needed to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed,^[72] and so he assumed these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions. Finally, he enacted a series of reforms that were meant to address several long neglected issues, the most important of which was his reform of the calendar.^{[citation needed]}

Dictatorship[link]

When Caesar returned to Rome, the Senate granted him triumphs for his victories, ostensibly over Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces and Juba, rather than over his Roman opponents. Not everything went Caesar's way. When Arsinoe IV, Egypt's former queen, was paraded in chains, the spectators admired her dignified bearing and were moved to pity.^[73] Triumphal games were held, with beast-hunts involving 400 lions, and gladiator contests. A naval battle was held on a flooded basin at the Field of Mars.^[74] At the Circus Maximus, two armies of war captives, each of 2,000 people, 200 horse and 20 elephants, fought to the death. Again, some bystanders complained, this time at Caesar's wasteful extravagance. A riot broke out, and only stopped when Caesar had two rioters sacrificed by the priests on the Field of Mars.^[74]

After the triumph, Caesar set forth to passing an unprecedented legislative agenda.^{[74][dubious – discuss]} He ordered a census be taken, which forced a reduction in the grain dole, and that jurors could only come from the Senate or the equestrian ranks. He passed a sumptuary law that restricted the purchase of certain luxuries. After this, he passed a law that rewarded families for having many children, to speed up the repopulation of Italy. Then he outlawed professional guilds, except those of ancient foundation, since many of these were subversive political clubs. He then passed a term limit law applicable to governors. He passed a debt restructuring law, which ultimately eliminated about a fourth of all debts owed.^[74]

The Forum of Caesar, with its Temple of Venus Genetrix, was then built, among many other public works. Caesar also 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.^[75] From 47 to 44 BC he made plans for the distribution of land to about 15,000 of his veterans.^[76]

The most important change, however, was his reform of the calendar. The calendar at the time was regulated by the movement of the moon, and this had resulted in a great deal of disorder. Caesar replaced this calendar with the Egyptian calendar, which was regulated by the sun. He set the length of the year to 365.25 days by adding an intercalary/leap day at the end of February every fourth year.^[77]

To bring the calendar into alignment with the seasons, he decreed that three extra months be inserted into 46 BC (the ordinary intercalary month at the end of February, and two extra months after November). Thus, the Julian calendar opened on 1 January 45 BC.^[74][77] This calendar is almost identical to the current Western calendar.

Shortly before his assassination, he passed a few more reforms.^[74] He established a police force, appointed officials to carry out his land reforms, and ordered the rebuilding of Carthage and Corinth. He also extended Latin rights throughout the Roman world, and then abolished the tax system and reverted to the earlier version that allowed cities to collect tribute however they wanted, rather than needing Roman intermediaries. His assassination prevented further and larger schemes, which included the construction of an unprecedented temple to Mars, a huge theater, and a library on the scale of the Library of Alexandria.^[74]

He also wanted to convert Ostia to a major port, and cut a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth. Militarily, he wanted to conquer the Dacians, Parthians, and avenge the loss at Carrhae. Thus, he instituted a massive mobilization. Shortly before his assassination, the Senate named him censor for life and Father of the Fatherland, and the month of Quintilis was renamed July in his honor.^[74]

He was granted further honors, which were later used to justify his assassination as a would-be divine monarch; coins were issued bearing his image and his statue was placed next to those of the kings. He was granted a golden chair in the Senate, was allowed to wear triumphal dress whenever he chose, and was offered a form of semi-official or popular cult, with Mark Antony as his high priest.^[74]

Political reforms[link]

The history of Caesar's political appointments is complex and uncertain. Caesar held both the dictatorship and the tribunate, but alternated between the consulship and the Proconsulship.^[72] His powers within the state seem to have rested upon these magistracies.^[72] He was first appointed dictator in 49 BC possibly to preside over elections, but resigned his dictatorship within eleven days. In 48 BC, he was re-appointed dictator, only this time for an indefinite period, and in 46 BC, he was appointed dictator for ten years.^[78]

In February 44 BC, one month before his assassination, he was appointed dictator for life. Under Caesar, a significant amount of authority was vested in his lieutenants,^[78] mostly because Caesar was frequently out of Italy.^[78] In October 45 BC, Caesar resigned his position as sole consul, and facilitated the election of two successors for the remainder of the year which theoretically restored the ordinary consulship, since the constitution did not recognize a single consul without a colleague.^[79]

In 48 BC, Caesar was given permanent tribunician powers,^[80] which made his person sacrosanct and allowed him to veto the Senate,^[80] although on at least one occasion, tribunes did attempt to obstruct him. The offending tribunes in this case were brought before the Senate and divested of their office.^[80] This was not the first time that Caesar had violated a tribune's sacrosanctity. After he had first marched on Rome in 49 BC, he forcibly opened the treasury although a tribune had the seal placed on it. After the impeachment of the two obstructive tribunes, Caesar, perhaps unsurprisingly, faced no further opposition from other members of the Tribunician College.^[80]

Denarius (42 BC) issued by Cassius Longinus and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus, from the military mint in Smyrna.

In 46 BC, Caesar gave himself the title of "Prefect of the Morals", which was an office that was new only in name, as its powers were identical to those of the censors.^[80] Thus, he could hold censorial powers, while technically not subjecting himself to the same checks that the ordinary censors were subject to, and he used these powers to fill the Senate with his own partisans. He also set the precedent, which his imperial successors followed, of requiring the Senate to bestow various titles and honors upon him. He was, for example, given the title of "Father of the Fatherland" and "imperator".^[78]

Coins bore his likeness, and he was given the right to speak first during senate meetings.^[78] Caesar then increased the number of magistrates who were elected each year, which created a large pool of experienced magistrates, and allowed Caesar to reward his supporters.^[79]

Caesar even took steps to transform Italy into a province, and to link more tightly the other provinces of the empire into a single cohesive unit. This addressed the underlying problem that had caused the Social War decades earlier, where individuals outside Rome and Italy were not considered "Roman", and thus were not given full citizenship rights. This process, of fusing the entire Roman Empire into a single unit, rather than maintaining it as a network of unequal principalities, would ultimately be completed by Caesar's successor, the emperor Augustus.

When Caesar returned to Rome in 47 BC, the ranks of the Senate had been severely depleted, and so he used his censorial powers to appoint many new senators, which eventually raised the Senate's membership to 900.^[79] All the appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him.^[81] To minimize the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him,^[78] Caesar passed a law that subjected governors to term limits.^[78]

Near the end of his life, Caesar began to prepare for a war against the Parthian Empire. Since his absence from Rome might limit his ability to install his own consuls, he passed a law which allowed him to appoint all magistrates in 43 BC, and all consuls and tribunes in 42 BC.^[79] This, in effect, transformed the magistrates from being representatives of the people to being representatives of the dictator.^[79]

Assassination[link]

The senators encircle Caesar. A 19th century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty.

On the Ides of March (15 March; see Roman calendar) of 44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the Senate. Mark Antony, having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a terrified Liberator named Servilius Casca, and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off. The plotters, however, had anticipated this and, fearing that Antony would come to Caesar's aid, had arranged for Trebonius to intercept him just as he approached the portico of Theatre of Pompey, where the session was to be held, and detain him outside. (Plutarch, however, assigns this action to delay Antony to Brutus Albinus). When he heard the commotion from the senate chamber, Antony fled.^[82]

According to Plutarch, as Caesar arrived at the Senate, Tillius Cimber presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother.^[83] The other conspirators crowded round to offer support. Both Plutarch and Suetonius say that Caesar waved him away, but Cimber grabbed his shoulders and pulled down Caesar's tunic. Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!").^[84]

At the same time, Casca 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 Plutarch, he said in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?"^[85] Casca, frightened, shouted, "Help, brother!" in Greek ("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 Eutropius, around 60 or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.^[86]

According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal.^[87] 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 Greek phrase "καὶ σύ, τέκνον;"^[88] (transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, child?" in English). However, for himself, Suetonius says Caesar said nothing.^[89]

Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.^[90] The version best known in the English-speaking world is the Latin phrase "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", commonly rendered as "You too, Brutus?");^[91][92] this derives from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where it actually forms the first half of a macaronic 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 assertion that Caesar would have been using the language, rather than the Greek reported by Suetonius, but because the phrase was already popular when the play was written.^[93]

According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building.^[94] 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 rumor of what had taken place had begun to spread. Caesar's dead body lay where it fell on the Senate floor for nearly three hours before other officials arrived to remove it.

Caesar's body was cremated, and on the site of his cremation the Temple of Caesar was erected a few years later (at the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum). Nowadays, only its altar remains.^[95][96] A lifesize wax statue of Caesar was later erected in the forum displaying the 23 stab wounds. A crowd who had gathered there started a fire, which badly damaged the forum and neighboring buildings. In the ensuing chaos Mark Antony, Octavian (later Augustus Caesar), and others fought a series of five civil wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire.

Aftermath of the assassination[link]

Mark Antony, Caesar's cousin.

The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic.^[97] 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 aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. To his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius Octavian his sole heir, bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name and making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.^[98]

The crowd at the funeral boiled over, throwing dry branches, furniture and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum. The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the Liberators' civil war, fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against the aristocrats.^[99] Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 18 when Caesar died, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position.

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 them. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC,^[100] the Second Triumvirate was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus.^[101] It formally deified Caesar as Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god").^[102]

Because Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate reinstated the practice of proscription, abandoned since Sulla.^[103] It engaged in the legally-sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents to secure funding for its forty-five legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius.^[104] Antony and Octavius defeated them at Philippi.^[105]

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Caesar's adopted heir.

Afterward, Mark Antony formed an alliance with 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 Actium, resulted in the permanent ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name that raised him to the status of a deity.^[106]

Julius Caesar had been preparing to invade Parthia, the Caucasus and Scythia, and then march back to Germania through Eastern Europe. These plans were thwarted by his assassination.^[107] His successors did attempt the conquests of Parthia and Germania, but without lasting results.

Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be officially deified. He was posthumously granted the title Divus Iulius or Divus Julius (the divine Julius or the deified Julius) by decree of the Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC. Though his temple was not dedicated until after his death, he may have received divine honors during his lifetime:^[108] and shortly before his assassination, Mark Antony had been appointed as his flamen (priest).^[109] Both Octavian and Mark Antony promoted the cult of Divus Iulius. After the death of Antony, Octavian, as the adoptive son of Caesar, assumed the title of Divi Filius (son of a god).

Personal life[link]

Health and physical appearance[link]

Based on remarks by Plutarch,^[110] 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.^[111] Despite the commonly held belief that Caesar suffered from epilepsy, several specialists in headache medicine believe that a more accurate diagnosis would be migraine headache.^[112]

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.^{[113][114][115]}

In 2003, psychiatrist Harbour F. Hodder published what he termed as the "Caesar Complex" theory, arguing that Caesar was a sufferer of temporal lobe epilepsy and the debilitating symptoms of the condition were a factor in Caesar's conscious decision to forgo personal safety in the days leading up to his assassination.^[116]

A line from Shakespeare has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf.^[117] 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 defense.^[118]

The Roman historian Suetonius describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes."^[119]

Name and family[link]

Using the Latin alphabet as it existed in the day of Caesar (i.e., without lower case letters, "J", or "U"), Caesar's name would be rendered "GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR"; the form "CAIVS" is also attested, using the old Roman representation of G by C; it is an antique form of the more common "GAIVS". The standard abbreviation was, and this is not archaic, "C. IVLIVS CAESAR". (The letterform "Æ" is a ligature, which is often encountered in Latin inscriptions where it was used to save space, and is nothing more than the letters "ae".)

In Classical Latin, it was pronounced [ˈɡaːjus ˈjuːljus ˈkajsar]. 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, reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German Kaiser.

In Vulgar Latin, the plosive /k/ before front vowels began, due to palatalization, to be pronounced as an affricate – hence renderings like [ˈtʃeːsar] in Italian and [ˈtseːsar] 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, [ˈseːsar]) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived. The original /k/ is preserved in Norse mythology, where he is manifested as the legendary king Kjárr.^[120]

Caesar's cognomen would itself become a title; it was greatly promulgated by the Bible, 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 Kaiser and Slavic Tsar/Czar. The last tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgaria 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.

Julio-Claudian family tree

Parents[link]

• Father Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder
• Mother Aurelia (related to the Aurelii Cottae)

Sisters[link]

• Julia Caesaris "Major" (the elder)
• Julia Caesaris "Minor" (the younger)

Wives[link]

• First marriage to Cornelia Cinnilla, from 83 BC until her death in childbirth in 69 or 68 BC
• Second marriage to Pompeia, from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC
• Third marriage to Calpurnia Pisonis, from 59 BC until Caesar's death

Children[link]

• Julia with Cornelia Cinnilla, born in 83 or 82 BC
• Caesarion, with Cleopatra VII, born 47 BC. He was killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus.
• adopted: Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, his great-nephew by blood, who later became Emperor Augustus.
• Marcus Junius Brutus: 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.^[121]

Grandchildren[link]

• Grandson from Julia and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed.

Lovers[link]

• Cleopatra VII mother of Caesarion
• Servilia Caepionis mother of Brutus
• Eunoë, queen of Mauretania and wife of Bogudes

Notable relatives[link]

• Gaius Marius (married to his Aunt Julia)
• Mark Antony
• Lucius Julius Caesar
• Julius Sabinus, a Gaul of the Lingones at the time of the Batavian rebellion 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.^[122]

Political rumors[link]

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."^[123] 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 tales were repeated, referring to Caesar as the Queen of Bithynia, by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. It is very likely that the rumors were spread only as a form of character assassination; Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to Cassius Dio, even under oath on one occasion.^[124] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Catullus wrote two poems suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers,^[125] but later apologised.^[126]

Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political slander. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor.^[127]

Literary works[link]

Caesar was considered during his lifetime to be one of the best orators and authors of prose in Rome—even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style.^[128] Among his most famous works were his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his Anticato, a document written to defame Cato and respond to Cicero's Cato memorial. Poems by Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources.^[129] His works other than his war commentaries have been lost, although a few sentences are quoted by other authors.

Memoirs[link]

Commentarii de Bello Gallico, an account written by Julius Caesar about his nine years of war in Gaul.

• The Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War), campaigns in Gallia and Britannia during his term as proconsul; and
• The Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War), events of the Civil War until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.

Other works historically attributed to Caesar, but whose authorship is doubted, are:

• De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War), campaign in Alexandria;
• De Bello Africo (On the African War), campaigns in North Africa; and
• De Bello Hispaniensi (On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula.

These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front." Apparently simple and direct in style—to the point that Caesar's Commentarii are commonly studied by first and second year Latin students—they are in fact highly sophisticated tracts, aimed most particularly at the middle-brow readership of minor aristocrats^{[citation needed]} in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.

Legend and legacy[link]

This section requires expansion.

In the Middle Ages Caesar was created a member of the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes encapsulating all the ideal qualities of chivalry.

Chronology of his life[link]

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Depictions[link]

For the marble bust from Arles discovered in 2007–8 alleged to be Caesar's likeness, and the ensuing controversy, see Arles portrait bust.

• 

  Bust in Naples National Archaeological Museum, photograph published in 1902

• 

  Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum

• 

  Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy

See also[link]

• Caesar's Comet
• Emperor: Young Caesar (film)

References[link]

Primary sources[link]

Own writings[link]

Ancient historians' writings[link]

Secondary sources[link]

External links[link]

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More spoken articles

• C. Julius Caesar Jona Lendering's in‑depth history of Caesar (Livius. Org)
• Guide to online resources
• Julius Caesar in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• History of Julius Caesar
• Julius Caesar at BBC History
• Grey, D. The Assassination of Caesar, Clio History Journal, 2009.

Related information[link]

Succession table[link]

Caesar was acclaimed Imperator in 60 and 45 BC. In the Roman Republic, this was an honorary title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph, where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium.

Other related Information[link]