Gaius Julius Caesar- ancient Roman statesman and politician (consul, dictator, great pontiff), commander, writer. Based on his works “Notes on the Gallic War” and “Notes on civil war» Latin is being studied.
Brief biography of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (lat. Gaius Iulius Caesar) born 12 or July 13 at 100(according to some sources - in 101 or 102) BC.
The house where Caesar grew up was in Subure- an area of Rome that had a reputation for being troubled. As a child, he studied Greek, literature, and rhetoric at home. He also did physical activities: swimming, horse riding.
Among the teachers of young Guy, a great rhetorician is known Gniphon, who was also one of the teachers Cicero. Around 85 BC. e. Caesar lost his father: according to Pliny the Elder, he died bending down to put on his shoes.
After the death of his father, Caesar, who had undergone the initiation rite, actually headed the entire Julian family, since all his closest male relatives older than him had died.
Caesar's career
Soon Guy became engaged to Cossucia, a girl from a wealthy family from the equestrian class. Coming from an ancient patrician family, Caesar consistently achieved all ordinary Roman positions and made a name for himself in the fight against conservative senators (optimates).
First triumvirate
In 60 BC. e. organized first triumvirate together with two influential politicians - Gnaeus Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus. Having passed the agrarian laws, Julius Caesar acquired a large number of followers who received land. Strengthening the triumvirate, he married his daughter to Pompey.
Gallic War
From 58 BC e. spent more than eight years in the territory of modern Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain in Gallic War, annexing a vast territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rhine to the Roman Republic and gaining fame as a talented commander.
Civil War
After the death of Crassus in 53 BC. e. the triumvirate fell apart. Pompey, in his rivalry with Julius Caesar, led the supporters of traditional Senate republican rule. The Senate, fearing Caesar, refused to extend his powers in Gaul.
At the beginning of 49 BC. e. began civil war due to irreconcilable differences with senators on the details of his return to Rome and on guarantees of judicial immunity for official crimes (bribery in elections, bribes to officials, violation of treaties, violent acts and other violations).
Within four years, the supporters of the Senate, grouped around Pompey, were defeated by Caesar in Italy, Spain (twice), Greece and Africa, and he also defeated the troops of the rulers of Egypt and Pontus.
Stick to the policy mercy, but at the same time executed a number of his key opponents. Having achieved complete victory over his opponents, he concentrated in his hands the power of the consul and the emergency powers of the dictator (eventually in the form of a lifelong position), and carried out a number of reforms in all spheres of society.
Attitude to the personality of Julius Caesar
During Caesar's lifetime, his deification began, the honorary title of a victorious commander "emperor" became part of his name, but he refused the power of the ancient Roman kings. After the assassination of Caesar, a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus great-nephew of Caesar Guy Octavius took his name and received most of the inheritance under the will, subsequently becoming the first emperor.
Caesar was treated differently during his lifetime, and this tradition was preserved in the Roman Empire: his name was whitewashed in every possible way by supporters of the rulers, and oppositionists praised his victims and conspirators. The personality of Caesar was very popular in Middle Ages And New time.
In addition to his political and military activities, Caesar is also known as writer. Due to the simplicity and clarity of his style, his works are considered classics of ancient Roman literature and are used in teaching the Latin language. Titles go back to the name of Julius Caesar Kaiser and Tsar, as well as the name of the seventh month of the year in many languages of the world - July.
Crisis of the Roman Republic
In the 1st century BC. The Roman Republic was in a long and deep crisis, caused primarily by the inconsistency of the management system with the level of the tasks facing it. The laws and traditions in force at that time were created at a time when Rome was a relatively small polis, surrounded by rural territories under its control. As it turned out, they were poorly adapted to the needs of a state that included all of Italy and owned vast lands of the Mediterranean.
The system of government in the Roman Republic from the very beginning was dual - it was based on two poorly compatible principles: on the one hand, the widespread use of self-government and direct democracy, on the other, the preservation of the dominance of the hereditary aristocracy, from which the Senate was formed (de facto - the highest authority). power in the state). In principle, in Rome during the republic there was a well-thought-out and quite effective system of checks and balances, which, as a rule, did not allow either the Senate or other administrative institutions to monopolize power and at the same time established clear and clear rules of the game. However, it lost its force when Rome became the center of a huge empire with numerous subjects, and its population, a significant proportion of which was a destructive lumpen stratum, numbered in the hundreds of thousands of people.
Direct democracy simply could not work with such a large population, and the Romans did not think of representative democracy. The masses became a crowd that could be easily manipulated. Elections became a competition of purses - candidates for government positions (and almost all of them in the Roman Republic were elected) spent huge amounts of money on gifts and bribing voters. Moreover, it was possible to count on covering expenses only if one got to the highest levels of power, for which it was necessary to go through all the career steps, and there were obviously fewer such lucrative positions than the number of ambitious people willing to take them. Intrigues within the ruling elite turned into a fierce struggle between parties recruiting followers from among the declassed elements. Sometimes necessary decisions were pushed through with the help of armed force, while others were canceled with reference to heavenly signs.
Civil wars of unprecedented severity befell Rome. In the 80s BC. The Italian cities allies of Rome rebelled, dissatisfied with their secondary position. Through a series of bloody battles, the Romans put out this fire, and residents of the union cities received full citizenship, but immediately the struggle of parties split the republic itself. Their leaders - Sulla and Marius (and after his death in 84 BC - Cinna) - had already openly turned their weapons against each other, and the victors dealt with the vanquished, using the mechanism of executions, confiscations and exiles. In 82, Sulla, who won the battle, received dictatorial powers with the sanction of the popular assembly.
One of the victims of this war almost became young Julius Caesar, a native of an old noble family, connected by family ties with the leaders of the losing party (his aunt was married to Marius, and he himself married Cinna’s daughter). Only the intercession of his relatives before the dictator helped him stay alive, but the career of a priest, for which Caesar was prepared from childhood, was interrupted at the very beginning. To avoid arrest and execution, young Caesar, forced to flee Rome, violated the ban imposed on the priests of Jupiter, according to which they were not allowed to leave the city.
The beginning of Caesar's political activity
It is obvious that Caesar began his political career as the leader of a democracy. According to Mommsen, Caesar, as the head of the popular party, “held its banner high for thirty years, never changing or hiding his convictions; he remained a democrat even when he became a monarch.” However, Caesar's main support was still the army.
“Democracy,” writes Mommsen, “has already been striving for a number of years to transfer the highest magistracy into the hands of one of its adherents, in order to thereby acquire its own military strength.” Relying on the army, Caesar managed to achieve fame and wealth and seize power in the state.
The popularity of Caesar, a talented strategist and generous commander, was extraordinary among the legions. Mommsen's opinion that the military machine in Rome did not serve any party, but its commander, seems fair. That is why, the historian believes, Caesar matured “the fatal plan to put this military machine at the service of his ideals and to create through violence the civil society that seemed to his mental gaze; he wanted to introduce the army into the sphere of the civil state and subordinate it to the civil state.”
According to Plutarch, Caesar instilled courage and love of glory in his soldiers by “the fact that he generously distributed honors and gifts.” He convinced the soldiers that the captured wealth “he does not collect for his own luxury,” but “keeps this wealth as a reward for military merit,” “distributes it to the most distinguished of the soldiers.”
Suetonius testifies: “When frightening rumors about the enemy spread, he did not deny or minimize the enemy forces to encourage the soldiers, but, on the contrary, exaggerated them with his own inventions.”
“He did not always notice the soldiers’ misdeeds and did not always punish them properly. He pursued and punished fugitives and rebels cruelly.” “With all this, he achieved rare devotion and courage from the soldiers.” The centurions offered him their savings, “the soldiers promised to serve him voluntarily, without pay or rations.”
There were also mutinies among his troops, says Suetonius. "Caesar never yielded to the rebels, but always resolutely went against them." “When the soldiers of the tenth legion with violent threats demanded dismissal and rewards, Caesar without hesitation went to the soldiers and gave them dismissal.” But when the commander addressed them “Citizens!” (instead of the usual “Warriors!”), this changed the mood of the soldiers, and they voluntarily followed Caesar to Africa, where the war was going on. “But even here he punished all the main rebels, reducing their promised share of booty and land by a third.”
There are known riots of legionnaires in 48 and 47. BC. In 48 BC, in Spain, the rebels never returned to Caesar, they joined other commanders, and in 45 BC. (in the civil war) fought against Caesar. In 47 BC. Caesar decided to get rid of the rebels: he sent many to dangerous posts - to death.
The power of Julius CaesarOver the long period of his political activity, Julius Caesar clearly understood that one of the main evils causing the serious illness of the Roman political system, is the instability, impotence and purely urban character of the executive power, the selfish and narrow party and class character of the power of the Senate.
From the early moments of his career, he openly and definitely struggled with both. And in the era of the Catiline conspiracy, and in the era of the extraordinary powers of Pompey, and in the era of the triumvirate, Caesar consciously pursued the idea of centralization of power and the need to destroy the prestige and importance of the Senate. Individuality, as far as one can judge, did not seem necessary to him: the agrarian commission, the triumvirate, then the duumvirate with Pompey, to which Julius Caesar clung so tenaciously, show that he was not against collegiality or the division of power.
It is impossible to think that all these forms were for him only a political necessity. With the death of Pompey, Caesar effectively remained the sole leader of the state; the power of the Senate was broken and power was concentrated in one hand, as it once was in the hands of Sulla. In order to carry out all the plans that Caesar had in mind, his power had to be as strong as possible, as unconstrained as possible, as complete as possible, but at the same time, at least at first, it should not formally go beyond the framework of the constitution. The most natural thing (since the constitution did not know a ready-made form of monarchical power and treated royal power with horror and disgust) was to combine in one person powers of an ordinary and extraordinary nature around one center.
The consulate, weakened by the entire evolution of Rome, could not be such a center: a magistracy was needed, not subject to intercession and veto of the tribunes, combining military and civil functions, not limited by collegiality. The only magistracy of this kind was the dictatorship. Its inconvenience compared to the form invented by Pompey - the combination of a sole consulate with a proconsulate - was that it was too vague and, while giving everything in general, did not give anything in particular. Its extraordinaryness and urgency could be eliminated, as Sulla did, by pointing out its permanence (dictator pegrètuus), while the uncertainty of powers - which Sulla did not take into account, since he saw in the dictatorship only a temporary means for carrying out his reforms - was eliminated only through the above connection .
Dictatorship as a basis, and next to this a series of special powers, are, therefore, the framework within which Julius Caesar wanted to place and placed his power. Within these limits, his power developed as follows.
In 49 (the year the civil war began), during his stay in Spain, the people, at the suggestion of the praetor Lepidus, elected him dictator. Returning to Rome, Caesar passed several laws, assembled a comitia, at which he was elected consul for the second time (in 48), and abandoned the dictatorship.
The next year 48 (October-November) he received dictatorship for the 2nd time, in 47. In the same year, after the victory over Pompey, during his absence he received a number of powers: in addition to the dictatorship - a consulate for 5 years (from 47 g) and tribunician power, that is, the right to sit together with the tribunes and carry out investigations with them - in addition, the right to name to the people their candidate for magistracy, with the exception of plebeian ones, the right to distribute provinces without drawing lots to former praetors and the right to declare war and make peace. Caesar's representative this year in Rome is his magister quitum - assistant to the dictator M. Antony, in whose hands, despite the existence of April) for the third time, and consul; Second Consuls, all power is concentrated.
In 46, Caesar was also a dictator (finally Lepidus was consul and magister equitum. This year, after the African War, his powers expanded significantly. He was elected dictator for 10 years and at the same time the head of morals (praefectus morum), with unlimited powers. Moreover, he receives the right to be the first to vote in the Senate and occupy a special seat in it, between the seats of both consuls. At the same time, his right to recommend candidates for magistrates to the people was confirmed, which was tantamount to the right to appoint them.
In 45 he was dictator for the 4th time and at the same time consul; his assistant was the same Lepidus. After the Spanish War (January 44), he was elected dictator for life and consul for 10 years. He refused the latter, as well as, probably, the 5-year consulate last year. The immunity of the tribunes is added to the tribunician power; the right to appoint magistrates and pro-magistrates is extended by the right to appoint consuls, distribute provinces among proconsuls and appoint plebeian magistrates. In the same year, Caesar was given exclusive authority to dispose of the army and money of the state.
Finally, in the same year 44, he was granted lifelong censorship and all his orders were approved in advance by the Senate and the people. In this way, Caesar became a sovereign monarch, remaining within the limits of constitutional forms. All aspects of the life of the state were concentrated in his hands. He disposed of the army and provinces through his agents - pro-magistrates appointed by him, who were made magistrates only on his recommendation. The movable and immovable property of the community was in his hands as a lifelong censor and by virtue of special powers. The Senate was finally removed from financial management. The activity of the tribunes was paralyzed by his participation in the meetings of their collegium and the tribunician power and tribunician sacrosanctitas granted to him. And yet he was not a colleague of the tribunes; having their power, he did not have their name. Since he recommended them to the people, he was the highest authority in relation to them. He disposes of the Senate arbitrarily both as its chairman (for which he mainly needed the consulate), and as the first to answer the question of the presiding officer: since the opinion of the almighty dictator was known, it is unlikely that any of the senators would dare to contradict him .
Finally, the spiritual life of Rome was in his hands, since already at the beginning of his career he was elected great pontiff and now the power of the censor and the leadership of morals were added to this. Caesar did not have special powers that would give him judicial power, but the consulate, the censorship, and the pontificate had judicial functions. Moreover, we also hear about constant court negotiations at Caesar’s home, mainly on issues of a political nature.
Caesar sought to give the newly created power a new name: this was the honorary cry with which the army greeted the winner - imperator. Julius Caesar put this name at the head of his name and title, replacing his personal name Guy with it. With this he gave expression not only to the breadth of his power, his imperium, but also to the fact that from now on he leaves the ranks of ordinary people, replacing his name with a designation of his power and at the same time eliminating from it the indication of belonging to one family: the head of state cannot be called like any other Roman S. Iulius Caesar - he is Imp (erator) Caesar p (ater) p (atriae) dict (ator) pegr (etuus), as his title says in the inscriptions and on coins.
Foreign policy. Roman Empire at the end of the reign of Julius CaesarThe guiding idea foreign policy Caesar was the creation of a strong and integral state, with natural, if possible, borders. Caesar pursued this idea in the north, south, and east.
His wars in Gaul, Germany and Britain were caused by the need he realized to push the border of Rome to the ocean on one side, to the Rhine, at least on the other. His plan for a campaign against the Getae and Dacians proves that the Danube border lay within the limits of his plans. Within the border that united Greece and Italy by land, Greco-Roman culture was to reign; the countries between the Danube and Italy and Greece were supposed to be the same buffer against the peoples of the north and east as the Gauls were against the Germans.
Caesar's policy in the East is closely related to this. Death overtook him on the eve of the campaign to Parthia. His eastern policy, including the actual annexation of Egypt to the Roman state, was aimed at rounding out the Roman Empire in the East. The only serious opponent of Rome here were the Parthians; their affair with Crassus showed that they had a broad expansive policy in mind. The revival of the Persian kingdom ran counter to the objectives of Rome, the successor to the monarchy of Alexander, and threatened to undermine the economic well-being of the state, which rested entirely on the factory, money-laden East. A decisive victory over the Parthians would have made Caesar, in the eyes of the East, the direct successor of Alexander the Great, the legitimate monarch.
Finally, in Africa, Yu. Caesar continued a purely colonial policy. Africa had no political significance; Its economic importance, as a country capable of producing huge quantities of natural products, depended to a large extent on regular administration, stopping the raids of nomadic tribes and re-establishing the best harbor in northern Africa, the natural center of the province and the central point for exchange with Italy - Carthage. The division of the country into two provinces satisfied the first two requests, the final restoration of Carthage satisfied the third.
Reforms of Julius CaesarIn all reform activities Caesar clearly points out two main ideas. One is the need to unite the Roman state into one whole, the need to smooth out the difference between the citizen-master and the provincial-slave, to smooth out the differences between nationalities; the other, closely related to the first, is the streamlining of administration, close communication between the state and its subjects, the elimination of intermediaries, and a strong central government. Both of these ideas are reflected in all of Caesar’s reforms, despite the fact that he carried them out quickly and hastily, trying to take advantage of the short periods of his stay in Rome. Because of this, the sequence of individual measures is random; Caesar each time took on what seemed most necessary to him, and only a comparison of everything he did, regardless of chronology, makes it possible to grasp the essence of his reforms and notice a harmonious system in their implementation.
Caesar's unifying tendencies were reflected primarily in his policy towards parties among the ruling classes. His policy of mercy towards his opponents, with the exception of irreconcilable ones, his desire to attract everyone to public life, without distinction of party or mood, his admission of his former opponents among his close associates, undoubtedly testifies to the desire to merge all differences of opinion about his personality and his regime . This unifying policy explains the widespread trust in everyone, which was the reason for his death.
The unifying trend is also clearly evident in relation to Italy. One of Caesar's laws concerning the regulation of certain parts of municipal life in Italy has reached us. True, it is now impossible to assert that this law was the general municipal law of Yu. Caesar (lex Iulia municipalis), but it is still certain that it immediately supplemented the statutes of individual Italian communities for all municipalities and served as a corrective for all of them. On the other hand, the combination in the law of norms regulating the urban life of Rome and municipal norms, and the significant likelihood that the norms of urban improvement of Rome were mandatory for municipalities, clearly indicates a tendency to reduce Rome to municipalities, to elevate municipalities to Rome, which from now on should was only the first of the Italian cities, the seat of central power and a model for all similar centers of life. A general municipal law for all of Italy with local differences was unthinkable, but some general norms were desirable and useful and clearly indicated that, in the end, Italy and its cities represent one whole united with Rome.
Evaluation of Julius Caesar's management systemCaesar's work remained unfinished, and this must be kept in mind when considering reforms in the field of lawmaking and government. One of the sources gives an assessment of everything that was done, but perhaps it would be correct to single out from the whole list of measures taken by Caesar those that were subsequently of great importance and indicated that Caesar had a keen sense of the problems of the empire and knew how to solve them.
The allied war led to the extension of the right of Roman citizenship to the territory of Italy up to the Po River (now Padus). All that remained was to grant this right to the inhabitants of Transpadan Italy, to establish a unified system of local administration and to create representative institutions. As a result, the interests of all Italian citizens will be represented in the government of Rome by at least several votes. Caesar never reached a final understanding of the importance of this step, like other statesmen of antiquity. But the first measure to establish control over Italy was to grant civil rights to the inhabitants of Transpadania, whose claims Caesar consistently defended. In 45 BC. he enforced the Lex Iulia Municipalis (Julius' law on municipalities), a piece of legislation, some important fragments of which are written on two bronze tablets found at Heraclea, near Tarentum.
This law also applies to the law enforcement and sanitary conditions of Rome. Based on this, Mommsen argued that the assertion that Caesar intended to reduce the status of Rome to a municipal city was incorrect. It is unlikely that this was the case; Caesar did not make any far-reaching changes in the management of the capital. They were made later by Augustus. But the presence of the mentioned articles in the Lex Iulia Municipalis can be considered as an amendment to the bill. The law stipulates the structure of local senates; their members had to be at least thirty years old and perform military service. People sentenced to punishment for various crimes, insolvents or those who discredited themselves by immoral behavior did not have the right to be elected senators. The law obliged local magistrates to conduct a census at the same time as in Rome, and within sixty days to send the census data to the capital. Existing excerpts from the law say little about the decentralization of government functions, but from the Lex Rubria (Rubrian law), which was written for the transpadan areas, whose inhabitants Caesar gave the right to Roman citizenship (at the same time it must be remembered that Cisalpine Gaul remained a province until 42 BC), we can conclude that municipal magistrates retained the right to act independently in many cases.
However, Caesar was dissatisfied with the unified system of local authorities that took shape in Italy. He was the first to carry out large-scale colonization of lands that extended beyond the sea. This began with the people's tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. As consul, in 59 BC. Caesar established veteran colonies in Campania, enacting the Lex Iulia Agraria (Julian Agrarian Law), and even established rules for the founding of such settlements.
Having become dictator, he created numerous colonies in both the eastern and western provinces, in particular in Corinth and Carthage. Explaining this policy of Caesar, Mommsen emphasized that “the dominance of the urban communities of Rome on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea was coming to an end,” and said that the first step of the “new Mediterranean state” was “to atone for the two gross violations of the law that this urban community committed over civilization." However, we cannot agree with this point of view. The sites for the founding of Caesar's colonies were chosen based on the location of trade routes, and the idea that the citizens of Rome should cease to occupy a dominant position in the Mediterranean basin could not occur to the dictator. Many residents of the colonies were veterans who fought under Caesar. The majority also consisted of the urban proletariat. There is a document establishing a colony at Urso in southern Spain. This colony was called Colonia Iulia Genetiva Urbanorum. The penultimate word in the name comes from Venus the Mother, the ancestor of the house of Julia, the last word indicates that the colonists came from ordinary townspeople. Accordingly, for municipalities, freedom at birth is not a necessary condition, as in Italy.
By founding colonies, Caesar spread Roman civilization to them. During the Republic, it existed only within the borders of the Apennine Peninsula. Lack of time prevented Caesar from implementing other projects, such as digging a canal across the Isthmian (Corinthian) Isthmus. The purpose of this plan was to establish trade and communication between all Roman dominions. Caesar's contemporaries said that before his death, the dictator planned to restore the empire within its natural borders and was going to start a war with the Parthian kingdom. If victorious, the Roman army would reach the Euphrates.
Among other acts of Caesar, one should highlight the decision to ensure that the empire was governed in the true sense of the word and was no longer exploited by the rulers. The dictator exercised strict control over his governors (legati), who, due to military subordination, were responsible to him for the administration of their provinces
Gaius Julius Caesar is probably the most famous historical figure in Italy. Few people do not know the name of this great ancient Roman political and statesman and outstanding commander. His phrases become catchphrases; just remember the famous “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). We know a lot about him from chronicles, memories of his friends and enemies, and his own stories. But we don’t know the exact answer to the question of when Gaius Julius Caesar was born.
When was Gaius Julius Caesar born?
He was born on July 13 in 100 BC (according to other biographical sources this is 102 BC). He came from the noble Julius family, his father was the proconsul of Asia, and his mother came from the Aurelian family. Thanks to his origin and good education, Caesar could make a brilliant military and political career. Guy was interested in the history of the great campaigns, especially Alexander the Great. Caesar studied Greek, philosophy and literature, but most of all he wanted to study oratory. The young man sought to convince and influence the audience through his speech. Caesar quickly realized how he could win over the people. He knew that support among ordinary people would help him reach heights faster. Caesar organized theatrical performances and distributed money. The people quickly responded to such attention from Caesar.
Caesar receives, under the patronage of his mother, the position of priest of Jupiter in 84 BC. e. However, the dictator Sulla was against this appointment and did everything to ensure that Caesar left and lost all his fortune. He goes to Asia Minor, where he does military service.
In 78 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar returns back to Rome and begins to actively engage in public activities. To become an excellent speaker, he took lessons from the Rhetor Molon. He soon received the position of military tribune and priest-pontiff. Caesar becomes popular and is elected aedile in 65 BC. e., and in 52 BC. e. becomes praetor and governor of one of the provinces of Spain. Caesar proved himself to be an excellent leader and military strategist.
However, Gaius Julius aspired to rule, he had grandiose plans for his future political career. He concludes a triumvirate with Crassus and the general Pompey, they opposed the Senate. However, people from the Senate understood the degree of the threat and offered Caesar a position as ruler in Gaul, while the other two participants in the alliance were offered positions in Syria, Africa and Spain.
As proconsul of Gaul, Caesar carried out military operations. So, he conquered the trans-Alpine territory of Gaul and reached the Rhine, pushing back the German troops. Gaius Julius proved himself to be an excellent strategist and diplomat. Caesar was a great commander, he had a huge influence on his charges, he inspired them with his speeches, in any weather, at any time he led the army.
After the death of Crassus, Caesar decides to seize power in Rome. In 49 BC, the commander and his army crossed the Rubicon River. This battle becomes victorious and one of the most famous in Italian history. Pompey flees the country, fearing persecution. Caesar returns to Rome victorious and proclaims himself autocratic dictator.
Caesar spent government reforms, tried to improve the country. However, not everyone was happy with the autocracy of the dictator. A conspiracy was brewing against Gaius Julius. The organizers were Cassius and Brutus, who supported the republic. Caesar heard rumors of an impending threat, but he ignored them and refused to strengthen his guard. As a result, on March 15, 44 BC. e. the conspirators fulfilled their plan. In the Senate, Caesar was surrounded and the first blow was dealt to him. The dictator tried to fight back, but, unfortunately, he failed and died on the spot.
His life radically changed not only the history of Rome, but also world history. Gaius Julius Caesar was born under the republic, and after his death a monarchy was established.
A courageous man and seducer of women, Gaius Julius Caesar is a great Roman commander and emperor, famous for his military exploits, as well as for his character, because of which the name of the ruler became a household name. Julius is one of the most famous rulers who was in power in Ancient Rome.
The exact date of birth of this man is unknown; historians generally believe that Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC. At least, this is the date used by historians in most countries, although in France it is generally accepted that Julius was born in 101. A German historian who lived in the early 19th century was confident that Caesar was born in 102 BC, but Theodor Mommsen's assumptions are not used in modern historical literature.
Such disagreements among biographers are caused by ancient primary sources: ancient Roman scholars also disagreed about the true date of Caesar’s birth.
The Roman emperor and commander came from a noble family of patrician Julians. Legends say that this dynasty began with Aeneas, who, according to ancient Greek mythology, became famous in the Trojan War. And Aeneas’s parents are Anchises, a descendant of the Dardanian kings, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love (according to Roman mythology, Venus). The story of the divine origin of Julius was known to the Roman nobility, because this legend was successfully spread by the relatives of the ruler. Caesar himself, whenever the opportunity presented itself, liked to remember that there were Gods in his family. Scientists hypothesize that the Roman ruler comes from the Julian family, who were the ruling class at the beginning of the founding of the Roman Republic in the 5th-4th centuries BC.
Scientists also put forward various assumptions about the emperor's nickname “Caesar”. Perhaps one of the Julius dynasty was born through caesarean section. The name of the procedure comes from the word caesarea, which means “royal”. According to another opinion, someone from a Roman family was born with long and unkempt hair, which was denoted by the word “caeserius”.
The family of the future politician lived in prosperity. Caesar's father Gaius Julius served in a government position, and his mother came from the noble Cotta family.
Although the commander's family was wealthy, Caesar spent his childhood in the Roman region of Subura. This area was full of women of easy virtue, and also mostly poor people lived there. Ancient historians describe Suburu as a dirty and damp area, devoid of intelligentsia.
Caesar's parents sought to give their son an excellent education: the boy studied philosophy, poetry, oratory, and also developed physically and learned equestrianism. The learned Gaul Mark Antony Gniphon taught the young Caesar literature and etiquette. Whether the young man studied serious and exact sciences, such as mathematics and geometry, or history and jurisprudence, biographers do not know. Guy Julius Caesar received a Roman education; from childhood, the future ruler was a patriot and was not influenced by fashionable Greek culture.
Around 85 BC. Julius lost his father, so Caesar, as the only man, became the main breadwinner.
Policy
When the boy was 13 years old, the future commander was elected priest of the main God in Roman mythology, Jupiter - this title was one of the main posts of the then hierarchy. However, this fact cannot be called the pure merits of the young man, because Caesar’s sister, Julia, was married to Marius, an ancient Roman commander and politician.
But in order to become a flamen, according to the law, Julius had to get married, and the military commander Cornelius Cinna (he offered the boy the role of priest) chose Caesar’s chosen one - his own daughter Cornelia Cinilla.
In 82, Caesar had to flee Rome. The reason for this was the inauguration of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, who began a dictatorial and bloody policy. Sulla Felix asked Caesar to divorce his wife Cornelia, but the future emperor refused, which provoked the anger of the current commander. Also, Gaius Julius was expelled from Rome because he was a relative of Lucius Cornelius' opponent.
Caesar was deprived of the title of flamen, as well as his wife and his own property. Julius, dressed in poor clothes, had to escape from the Great Empire.
Friends and relatives asked Sulla to have mercy on Julius, and because of their petition, Caesar was returned to his homeland. In addition, the Roman emperor did not see the danger in the person of Julius and said that Caesar was the same as Mari.
But life under the leadership of Sulla Felix was unbearable for the Romans, so Gaius Julius Caesar went to the Roman province located in Asia Minor to learn military skills. There he became an ally of Marcus Minucius Thermus, lived in Bithynia and Cilicia, and also participated in the war against the Greek city of Metilene. Participating in the capture of the city, Caesar saved the soldier, for which he received the second most important award - the civil crown (oak wreath).
In 78 BC. Residents of Italy who disagreed with Sulla’s activities tried to organize a rebellion against the bloody dictator. The initiator was the military leader and consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Mark invited Caesar to take part in the uprising against the emperor, but Julius refused.
After the death of the Roman dictator, in 77 BC, Caesar tries to bring to justice two of Felix's henchmen: Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella and Gaius Antonius Gabrida. Julius appeared before the judges with a brilliant oratorical speech, but the Sullans managed to avoid punishment. Caesar's accusations were written down in manuscripts and circulated throughout Ancient Rome. However, Julius considered it necessary to improve his oratory skills and went to Rhodes: A teacher, rhetorician Apollonius Molon lived on the island.
On his way to Rhodes, Caesar was captured by local pirates who demanded a ransom for the future emperor. While in captivity, Julius was not afraid of the robbers, but, on the contrary, joked with them and told poems. After freeing the hostages, Julius equipped a squadron and set off to capture the pirates. Caesar was unable to bring the robbers to trial, so he decided to execute the offenders. But due to the gentleness of their character, Julius initially ordered them to be killed, and then crucified on the cross, so that the robbers would not suffer.
In 73 BC. Julius became a member of the highest college of priests, which was previously ruled by the brother of Caesar's mother, Gaius Aurelius Cotta.
In 68 BC, Caesar married Pompey, a relative of Gaius Julius Caesar's comrade-in-arms and then bitter enemy, Gnaeus Pompey. Two years later, the future emperor receives the position of Roman magistrate and is engaged in the improvement of the capital of Italy, organizing celebrations, and helping the poor. And also, having received the title of senator, he appears at political intrigues, which is how he gains popularity. Caesar participated in the Leges frumentariae ("corn laws"), under which the population purchased grain at a reduced price or received it for free, and also in 49-44 BC. Julius carried out a number of reforms
Wars
The Gallic War is the most famous event in the history of Ancient Rome and the biography of Gaius Julius Caesar.
Caesar became proconsul, by this time Italy owned the province of Narbonese Gaul (the territory of present-day France). Julius went to negotiate with the leader of the Celtic tribe in Geneva, since the Helvetii began to move due to the invasion of the Germans.
Thanks to his oratory, Caesar managed to persuade the leader of the tribe not to set foot on the territory of the Roman Empire. However, the Helvetii went to Central Gaul, where the Aedui, allies of Rome, lived. Caesar, who was pursuing the Celtic tribe, defeated their army. At the same time, Julius defeated the German Suevi, who attacked the Gallic lands located on the territory of the Rhine River. After the war, the emperor wrote an essay on the conquest of Gaul, “Notes on the Gallic War.”
In 55 BC, the Roman military commander defeated the incoming Germanic tribes, and later Caesar himself decided to visit the territory of the Germans.
Caesar was the first commander of Ancient Rome who made a military campaign on the territory of the Rhine: Julius’s detachment moved along a specially built 400-meter bridge. However, the army of the Roman commander did not stay on the territory of Germany, and he attempted to make a campaign against the possessions of Britain. There, the military leader won a series of crushing victories, but the position of the Roman army was unstable, and Caesar had to retreat. Moreover, in 54 BC. Julius is forced to return to Gaul in order to suppress the uprising: the Gauls outnumbered the Roman army, but were defeated. By 50 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar had restored territories belonging to the Roman Empire.
During military operations, Caesar showed both strategic qualities and diplomatic skill; he knew how to manipulate the Gallic leaders and instill contradictions in them.
Dictatorship
After seizing Roman power, Julius became a dictator and took advantage of his position. Caesar changed the composition of the Senate, and also transformed the social structure of the empire: the lower classes stopped being driven to Rome, because the dictator canceled subsidies and reduced bread distributions.
Also, while in office, Caesar was engaged in construction: a new building named after Caesar was erected in Rome, where the Senate meeting was held, and an idol of the patroness of love and the Julian family, the Goddess of Venus, was erected in the central square of the capital of Italy. Caesar was named emperor, and his images and sculptures adorned the temples and streets of Rome. Every word of the Roman commander was equated to law.
Personal life
In addition to Cornelia Zinilla and Pompeii Sulla, the Roman emperor had other women. Julia's third wife was Calpurnia Pizonis, who came from a noble plebeian family and was a distant relative of Caesar's mother. The girl was married to the commander in 59 BC, the reason for this marriage is explained by political goals, after the marriage of his daughter, Calpurnia's father becomes consul.
If we talk about Caesar’s sex life, the Roman dictator was loving and had relationships with women on the side.
Women of Gaius Julius Caesar: Cornelia Cinilla, Calpurnia Pisonis and Servilia There are also rumors that Julius Caesar was bisexual and engaged in carnal pleasures with men, for example, historians recall his youthful relationship with Nicomedes. Perhaps such stories took place only because they tried to slander Caesar.
If we talk about the famous mistresses of the politician, then one of the women on the side of the military leader was Servilia - the wife of Marcus Junius Brutus and the second bride of the consul Junius Silanus.
Caesar was condescending towards Servilia's love, so he tried to fulfill the wishes of her son Brutus, making him one of the first persons in Rome.
But the most famous woman Roman Emperor – Egyptian Queen. At the time of the meeting with the ruler, who was 21 years old, Caesar was over fifty: a laurel wreath covered his bald head, and there were wrinkles on his face. Despite his age, the Roman emperor conquered the young beauty, the happy existence of the lovers lasted 2.5 years and ended when Caesar was killed.
It is known that Julius Caesar had two children: a daughter from his first marriage, Julia, and a son, born from Cleopatra, Ptolemy Caesarion.
Death
The Roman emperor died on March 15, 44 BC. The cause of death was a conspiracy of senators who were indignant over the dictator's four-year rule. 14 people took part in the conspiracy, but the main one is considered to be Marcus Junius Brutus, the son of Servilia, the emperor’s mistress. Caesar loved Brutus infinitely and trusted him, placing the young man in highest position and protecting from difficulties. However, the devoted republican Marcus Junius, for the sake of political goals, was ready to kill the one who endlessly supported him.
Some ancient historians believed that Brutus was the son of Caesar, since Servilia had a love relationship with the commander at the time of the future conspirator’s conception, but this theory cannot be confirmed by reliable sources.
According to legend, the day before the conspiracy against Caesar, his wife Calpurnia had a terrible dream, but the Roman emperor was too trusting, and also recognized himself as a fatalist - he believed in the predetermination of events.
The conspirators gathered in the building where the Senate meetings were held, near the Theater of Pompeii. No one wanted to become the sole killer of Julius, so the criminals decided that each would inflict one single blow on the dictator.
The ancient Roman historian Suetonius wrote that when Julius Caesar saw Brutus, he asked: “And you, my child?”, and in his book he writes the famous quote: “And you, Brutus?”
Caesar's death hastened the fall of the Roman Empire: the people of Italy, who valued Caesar's government, were furious that a group of Romans had killed the great emperor. To the surprise of the conspirators, the only heir was named Caesar - Guy Octavian.
The life of Julius Caesar, as well as stories about the commander, abound interesting facts and riddles:
- The month of July is named after the Roman emperor;
- Caesar's contemporaries claimed that the emperor suffered from epileptic seizures;
- During gladiator fights, Caesar constantly wrote something on pieces of paper. One day the ruler was asked how he manages to do two things at once? To which he replied: “Caesar can do three things at the same time: write, watch, and listen.”. This expression has become popular; sometimes Caesar is jokingly called a person who takes on several tasks at the same time;
- In almost all photographic portraits, Gaius Julius Caesar appears before the audience wearing a laurel wreath. Indeed, in life the commander often wore this triumphal headdress, because he began to go bald early;
- About 10 films were made about the great commander, but not all are biographical in nature. For example, in the series "Rome" the ruler remembers the uprising of Spartacus, but some scholars believe that the only connection between the two commanders is that they were contemporaries;
- Phrase "I came, I saw, I conquered" belongs to Gaius Julius Caesar: the commander pronounced it after the capture of Turkey;
- Caesar used a code for secret correspondence with generals. Although the “Caesar cipher” is primitive: the letter in the word was replaced by the symbol that was to the left or to the right in the alphabet;
- The famous Caesar salad is named not after the Roman ruler, but after the cook who came up with the recipe.
Quotes
- "Victory depends on the valor of the legions."
- “When one loves, call it what you want: slavery, affection, respect... But this is not love - love is always reciprocated!”
- “Live in such a way that your friends will be bored when you die.”
- “No victory can bring as much as one defeat can take away.”
- “War gives the conquerors the right to dictate any conditions to the conquered.”
State: The Roman Empire
Field of activity: Politics, army
Greatest Achievement: He became the founder and emperor of the Roman Empire, thanks to his military and political successes.
Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), Roman commander, statesman and writer who created the conditions for the formation of the Roman Empire.
The Early Years of Julius Caesar
12 or 13 July 100 BC e. In Rome, a son was born into one of the most worthy Roman families of the Julius family. His uncle, Gaius Marius, was a distinguished general and popular leader, through whom he met Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who was known to be a fierce opponent of the optimate leader Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In 84 BC. e. he married Cornelia's daughter, who bore him a daughter, and in the same year was appointed to the priesthood, which was the prerogative of the patricians.
After Sulla was appointed dictator (82 BC), he demanded that Caesar divorce his wife. However, Caesar managed to avoid fulfilling this requirement. He was later pardoned through the intercession of Sulla's influential friends. Caesar returned to Rome only after participating in several military campaigns in the East in Cilicia and Asia Minor in 78 BC. e., after the resignation of Sulla. Then he tried to refrain from direct political participation, but he had to act as a prosecutor against several followers of Sulla who were accused of extortion.
Since Julius failed to obtain a political appointment, he left Rome and went to Rhodes, where he studied rhetoric. In 74 BC. e. he interrupted his studies to go to fight in Asia Minor against Mithridates. In 73 BC. e. he returned to Rome and became pontiff of the college of priests, since he was competent in matters of religion of the Roman State he was able to exert significant political influence there.
Triumvirate
In 71 BC. e. Pompey returned in triumph to Rome, with numerous military achievements and victory over the rebels led by Sertor in Spain. A year earlier, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a wealthy patrician, was accused of inciting the slave rebels of Spartacus in Italy.
In 70 BC they were both elected consuls. In 68 BC. e Caesar was a quaestor and in 65 after him there was Adil, who knew how to gain popularity among ordinary people by organizing expensive gladiatorial games. To spend them, he borrowed money from Crassus. After the failure of Catiline's plot, he advocated gentle treatment of the conspirators. In 60 BC. e. when Caesar returned from Spain to Rome, an alliance was formed with Pompey and Crassus to secure common interests: the first triumvirate (from the Latin "three men"). To further strengthen his position, Pompey married the daughter of Julius Caesar.
With the support of the triumvirate, Caesar crushed resistance to the Optimatus party in 59 BC. The following year he was appointed consul by special law. He served as proconsul for five years, governing the Gaul provinces of Cisalpina, Illyricum and Narbonese Gaul, which allowed him to expand his power against the Senate. In the following years he led the Gallic Wars, during which he conquered all of Gaul, crossed the Rhine twice and entered Britain. These wars were described by himself in his autobiographical work “Notes on the Gallic War.”
Alliance dissolution
In 56 BC. e. The triumvirate was resumed, despite the cooling that had meanwhile appeared between Pompey and Crassus. At the same time, it was decided that Caesar should remain for another five years in Gaul, and Pompey and Crassus became consul and proconsul.
After this, Caesar left to quell the uprising in Gaul. In 53 BC. e. the ambitious Crassus, who had to fight in Syria, was defeated in a military campaign against the Parthians and was killed at the Battle of Carrhae, and a year before that the daughter of Julius Caesar, the wife of Pompey, died. After their family relationship was severed, the break between Caesar and Pompey was sealed, the final estrangement occurred, and the triumvirate disintegrated.
Civil War
In 52 BC. e. Pompey was elected consul and received exclusive powers. This became necessary due to the exceptional situation in Rome, which was caused by the excesses of Emperor Claudius.
While Caesar was busy with the war in Gaul, his political opponents openly tried to discredit him and put him on trial in Rome. Pompey tried to take advantage of favorable circumstances to eliminate his rival and ensure his personal rule, and to do this he addressed a political proposal to the Senate. Finally, the Senate decided to depose Caesar after being asked in vain to disband his army. In addition, the Senate gave Pompey unlimited powers to fight Caesar. The civil war began at the beginning of 49 BC. e., when Caesar, according to legend, with the words: Alea iacta est (“the die is cast”), crossed the Rubicon, a small border river that separated him from Italy, the province of Gallic Cisalpina, and within three months he took control of almost all of Italy . Then, having conquered six Spanish provinces, virtually without the support of Pompey, and finally, after a six-month siege, he captured the port city of Massilia (Marseille).
Meanwhile, Caesar returned victorious to Rome, and in 48 BC. e. was elected consul. At the beginning of the same year, he pursued Pompey and finally defeated him at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey fled, where he was killed. Caesar captured Alexandria and settled the dispute over the Egyptian throne in favor of Cleopatra, daughter of the late king Ptolemy XI, who later bore him a son (Caesarion). In 47 BC. he captured Asia Minor and returned to Rome victorious. His decisive victory over Pompey's minions occurred in 48 BC. In 46 BC. e. Caesar's troops concentrated their forces in the African provinces, he won the Battle of Thapsus. Then he returned to Rome, where he celebrated several triumphs and received due honors. After he was killed in 45 BC. e. with the sons of Pompey under Mand in Spain, he became an absolute autocrat.
Caesar's dictatorship and death
Caesar's power came from his position as dictator. This calling accompanied his life (dictator perpetuus), although, according to the constitution of the republic, his power was limited to exceptional situations. Although Caesar abandoned the title of emperor, who was especially hated by the republican forces, his reign bore strong monarchical features. In 45 BC. e. he was elected consul, and for ten years had the following powers: he was the supreme commander of the army, he was allowed to wear the golden wreath of a victorious general, and he was recognized as the pontiff with authority to decide on all religious matters.
His reign included a broad reform program to reorganize the state and provinces. Among other things, he reformed the calendar, granted land to his veterans, and simplified the conditions for acquiring Roman citizenship.
Caesar's rule faced opposition, especially among the opposition families of the Senate. In 44 BC. e. A group of Republican senators, including Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, planned a coup and attacked and killed Caesar on March 15 as he was about to enter the Senate building.
Personal life
After his death in 68 BC. First wife Cornelia, Caesar married Pompey, granddaughter of Sulla, who belonged to the secret fertility cult of the Good Goddess, in which men were prohibited under the strictest conditions. When in Caesar's house, where there was a holiday in her honor, the dogmas of the cult of the Goddess were violated because Clodius saw Pompeia in women's clothing, a public scandal occurred, as a result of which Caesar broke up with Pompeia.
Since he had not produced any boys after his third marriage to Calpurnia (59 BC), he made his grandson Octavian his heir, who later became the first Roman Emperor.
Caesar, a man of extensive literary education, is also known as a gifted writer who used a simple style and a classical style. He wrote seven books on the Gallic War, Notes on the Gallic War, in which he described his victory in Gaul, an important source of information about the early Celtic and Germanic tribes, as well as a three-volume work on the civil war (Notes on the Civil War).
Results of the life of Gaius Julius Caesar
Assessments and ideas about Caesar's personality are very contradictory. Some position him as a ruthless tyrant seeking to cause certain problems, others recognize and evaluate precisely his intransigence, bearing in mind that the Republic at that time was already on the verge of destruction, and Caesar was faced with the need to find a new form of government in order to bring Rome to at least some -stability and protect from chaos.
In addition, he was clearly an excellent commander who knew how to motivate his soldiers and was particularly loyal. As one of the most powerful images of antiquity, he has been immortalized in numerous works of world literature, including the dramas Julius Caesar (1599) and Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) by George Bernard Shaw or the novel The Ides of March (1948) by Thornton Wilder Brecht.