Gaius Julius Caesar (lat. Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar - Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar)) (July 13, 100 or 102 BC - March 15, 44 BC) - ancient Roman statesman and political figure, commander, writer.
With his conquest of Gaul, Caesar expanded the Roman power to the shores of the North Atlantic and subjugated the territory of modern France to Roman influence, and also began an invasion of the British Isles.
Caesar's activities radically changed the cultural and political face of Western Europe and left an indelible mark on the lives of subsequent generations of Europeans. Gaius Julius Caesar, possessing brilliant abilities as a military strategist and tactician, won the battles of the civil war and became the sole ruler of the Pax Romana.
Along with Gnaeus Pompey, he began the reform of Roman society and the state, which after his death led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Caesar wanted to centralize the government of the republic.
Evil tongues said that he was striving for royal power. However, Caesar, remembering the unsuccessful practice of the rule of the first seven kings (because of them, the Romans could not stand the monarchy), took a different path: he became a dictator for life. He insisted on being called simply Caesar. His murder led to the resumption of civil wars, the decline of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Empire, which was led by Octavian Augustus, his son.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, into a patrician family from the Julius family, which played a significant role in the history of Rome since ancient times.
The Yuliev family traced its ancestry back to Yul, the son of the Trojan elder Aeneas, who, according to mythology, was the son of the goddess Venus. At the height of his glory, in 45 BC. e. Caesar founded the temple of Venus the Progenitor in Rome, thereby hinting at his relationship with the goddess.
The cognomen Caesar had no meaning in Latin; the Soviet historian of Rome A.I. Nemirovsky suggested that it comes from Cisre, the Etruscan name for the city of Caere. The antiquity of the Caesar family itself is difficult to establish (the first known one dates back to the end of the 3rd century BC).
The father of the future dictator, also Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder (proconsul of Asia), stopped in his career as a praetor. On his mother's side, Caesar came from the Cotta family of the Aurelia Aurelius family with an admixture of plebeian blood. Caesar's uncles were consuls: Sextus Julius Caesar (91 BC), Lucius Julius Caesar (90 BC)
Gaius Julius Caesar lost his father at the age of sixteen; He maintained close friendly relations with his mother until her death in 54 BC. e.
A noble and cultured family created favorable conditions for his development; careful physical education later served him considerable service; a thorough education - scientific, literary, grammatical, on Greco-Roman foundations - formed logical thinking, prepared him for practical activity, for literary work. First marriage and service in Asia
Before Caesar, Julia, despite her aristocratic origins, were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility of that time. That is why, until Caesar himself, almost none of his relatives achieved much influence.
Only his paternal aunt, Julia, married Gaius Marius, a talented general and reformer of the Roman army. Marius was the leader of the democratic faction of the populares in the Roman Senate and sharply opposed the conservatives from the optimates faction. Internal political conflicts in Rome at that time reached such severity that they led to a civil war. After the capture of Rome by Marius in 87 BC. e. For a time, the power of the popular was established. The young Caesar was awarded the title of Flaminus of Jupiter. But, in 86 BC. e. Mari died, and in 84 BC. e. During a riot among the troops, Cinna was killed. In 82 BC Rome was taken by the troops of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Sulla himself became dictator. Caesar was connected by double family ties with the party of his opponent - Maria: at the age of seventeen he married Cornelia, the youngest daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, an associate of Marius and the worst enemy of Sulla. This was a kind of demonstration of his commitment to the popular party, which by that time had been humiliated and defeated by the all-powerful Sulla. It is not surprising, therefore, that Sulla almost immediately after the wedding demanded that Caesar divorce his wife, as Marcus Piso, married to Annia, the widow of Lucius Cinna, and others did at his request.
Despite the threat of being included in the proscription lists if he refused, Caesar remained faithful to his wife. The requests of numerous relatives personally connected with Sulla saved him from the wrath of the dictator. Although, in general, it is doubtful that the stubborn youth could seem particularly dangerous to Sulla. The dictator's disfavor, however, forced Julius Caesar to resign as a flamen and leave Rome for Asia Minor, where he served his military service at the headquarters of the propraetor Marcus Minucius Termus. Here he also had to carry out diplomatic assignments at the court of the Bithynian king Nicomedes, thanks to which he was able to master the basics of Hellenistic administration and economy in this center of late Hellenism. He carried out his assignment so brilliantly that his enemies in Rome even spread a rumor that for this he had to become the lover of King Nicomedes. Caesar's sexual exploits were such that, according to Suetonius, one of his opponents once called him "the husband of every woman and the wife of every man."
During the siege and assault of Mytilene, he earned a military distinction - a corona civica, an oak wreath, which he received from the hands of the propraetor Marcus Minucius Terma himself. Subsequently, he was in Cilicia, in the camp of Servilius of Isauria. Three years of stay in the East did not pass without a trace for the young man; when drawing further conclusions about the nature of his policy, one must always keep in mind the first impressions of his youth received in cultural, rich, orderly monarchical Asia.
After the death of Sulla (78 BC), Caesar returned to Rome and joined the political struggle (giving speeches at the Roman Forum against Sulla’s supporters Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella and Gaius Antony, who were accused of extortion in the provinces of Macedonia and Greece, respectively, where they were governors). Caesar lost both trials, but despite this he gained fame as one of the best orators in Rome.
In order to perfectly master the art of oratory, Caesar specifically in 75 BC. e. went to Rhodes to the famous teacher Apollonius Molon. Along the way, he was captured by Cilician pirates, for his release he had to pay a significant ransom of twenty talents, and while his friends collected money, he spent more than a month in captivity, practicing eloquence in front of his captors.
After his release, he immediately assembled a fleet in Miletus, captured the pirate fortress and ordered the captured pirates to be crucified on the cross as a warning to others. But, since they treated him well at one time, Caesar ordered their legs to be broken before the crucifixion in order to alleviate their suffering. Then he often showed condescension towards defeated opponents. This is where “Caesar’s mercy”, so praised by ancient authors, was manifested.
Caesar takes part in the war with King Mithridates at the head of an independent detachment, but does not remain there for long. In 74 BC e. he returns to Rome. In 73 BC e. he was co-opted into the priestly college of pontiffs in place of the deceased Lucius Aurelius Cotta, his uncle.
Subsequently, he wins the election to the military tribunes. Always and everywhere, Caesar never tires of reminding of his democratic beliefs, connections with Gaius Marius and dislike for aristocrats. Actively participates in the struggle for the restoration of the rights of the people's tribunes, curtailed by Sulla, for the rehabilitation of the associates of Gaius Marius, who were persecuted during the dictatorship of Sulla, and seeks the return of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the son of the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and the brother of Caesar's wife. By this time, the beginning of his rapprochement with Gnaeus Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus began, on a close connection with whom he built his future career.
Meanwhile, in 70 BC. e. A struggle for power in Rome begins between Pompey and Crassus. Both of these commanders had just won outstanding victories - Crassus led the army that defeated the rebel slaves led by Spartacus, and Pompey, having suppressed Sertorius's uprising in Spain, returned to Italy and destroyed the remnants of Spartacus's troops. Both competitors claimed to have the entire Roman army under their command.
In 69 BC e. Caesar becomes a widower - Cornelia dies in childbirth. In 68 BC e. His aunt Julia, the widow of Guy Maria, dies. Caesar's funeral speech is full of political allusions and calls for political reform. In the same year, 30-year-old Caesar was elected quaestor. Caesar performs the duties of a quaestor in Farther Spain. The years between the quaestura and the aedilet are occupied by a judicial career and an increasingly close rapprochement between Caesar and Pompey and Crassus. Caesar's new marriage - to Pompey, granddaughter of Sulla, daughter of Quintus Pompey Rufus (65 BC) - seals this rapprochement, according to the Hellenistic custom of political marriages.
Caesar advocates granting Pompey emergency military powers. Pompey gains the upper hand in the fight against Crassus, leads the fleet and army, and in 66 BC. e. begins a campaign to the East, during which the Romans conquer most of Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine.
In 65 BC e. Caesar is elected aedile. Its functions include organizing urban construction, transport, trade, and everyday life in Rome. Caesar organizes expensive spectacles for the Romans, lavish theatrical performances, gladiator fights, and public dinners, gaining popularity among wide circles of Roman citizenship. He spends almost all his money on this. By the end of the year he comes bankrupt. Huge debts (several hundred gold talents) threaten his future career. Caesar's success as aedile, however, allows him to be elected in 63 BC. e. the great pontiff, which gives him the opportunity to get rid of part of his debts. The assumption of a new position was overshadowed by scandal. Caesar's second wife, Pompeia, was responsible as the high priest's wife for organizing the religious festival of the Good Goddess (Bona Dea), in which only women could participate. However, a man (Claudius) dressed in a woman’s dress sneaked into the building intended for the sacred ceremony, which was a monstrous sacrilege. Caesar was forced to file for divorce - while acknowledging that his wife may be innocent, he nevertheless declares: "Caesar's wife, above suspicion."
In 65 BC BC, according to some conflicting contemporary accounts, Caesar is involved in an unsuccessful plot to seize power. Pompey's major successes in the East, the fame he acquired, and the army he created aroused the belief in Rome that Pompey would undoubtedly play the role of dictator Sulla in Rome in the near future. This was especially clearly recognized by those who, like Pompey, sought supremacy in Rome - his recent allies, Crassus and Caesar. To achieve their goals, they tried to organize an anti-state conspiracy, as a result of which Crassus was to be proclaimed a dictator, and Caesar his closest assistant. The plot failed, and the planned murders were not carried out. The conspirators, however, were left unpunished - moreover, the authorities decided not to admit at all that any coup d'etat was being planned (the reason for not stirring up a scandal may have been the significant influence of Caesar and Crassus at that time).
In 64 BC e. Caesar and his supporters are trying to appoint as consul one of the participants in the unsuccessful conspiracy - Lucius Sergius Catilina, who at one time under Sulla made a fortune for himself from proscriptions, and is now an impoverished patrician. This aspiration is prevented from being fulfilled by the Roman Senate and the brilliant orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was later elected consul.
Angered by constant failures and feeling that his political life was over, Catiline tried in 62 BC. e. organize the seizure of power himself, but the new conspiracy also fails, Catiline, after an unsuccessful attempt on Cicero’s life, flees Rome and dies in battle, and five of his supporters are captured and executed without trial by decision of the Senate.
Caesar, being in a difficult position, does not say a word to justify the conspirators, but insists on not subjecting them to the death penalty. His proposal does not pass, and Caesar himself almost dies at the hands of an angry crowd. As Gaius Sallust Crispus reports, Caesar only offers not to execute the caught conspirators without trial. In his speech in the Senate, he draws attention to the fact that “neglect of the law in a seemingly justified situation will lead in the near future to the fact that this very law will be violated constantly and everywhere.”
However, the alarming situation in the Republic did not allow a trial to be held, and keeping Catiline’s accomplices in custody also did not seem safe. Caesar almost manages to win the senators to his side, but through the efforts of Mark Cato, the conspirators are sent to execution. Subsequently, Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was consul that year, was sent into exile for approving this decision. In 62 BC e. Julius Caesar sends a praetor. His plans for independent actions, which would paralyze Pompey, collapse. It is not without difficulty that he manages to avoid accusations of participation in Catiline’s conspiracy. The return of Pompey is near. There is only one thing left: to take second roles under Pompey and, first of all, to make amends for those of your actions that could arouse his displeasure. Caesar openly takes the side of Pompey. He demands that Pompey be commissioned to complete the construction of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus - an honor that was reserved for the recognized head of the optimates, Quintus Lutatius Catulus; he even accuses Catulus of embezzling money allocated for the construction.
With his active support, the Senate allows Pompey to attend the games dressed as a triumphant. Finally, he demands military power in Italy for Pompey, under the pretext of the need to finally deal with Catiline and his army. The Senate, however, did not agree to the latter and even temporarily removed Caesar from office. Meanwhile, Pompey returns to Rome as a private citizen, without an army, and settles outside the city, awaiting his triumph.
Caesar, after his praetorship in 62 BC. e., for 2 years he was governor in the Roman province of Further Spain, where he showed extraordinary administrative and military abilities, made a fortune for himself and finally paid off his debts. Spain at that time was the only place where a strong army was stationed and where both laurels and money could be quickly acquired without much effort.
In 60 BC e. Caesar is again in Rome, where triumph and the post of consul await him. He sacrifices the first, however, for the second - he sacrifices willingly, although involuntarily, under pressure from the Senate - especially since his triumph could hardly make a strong impression after the just celebrated triumph of Gnaeus Pompey the Great. In 59 BC e. Caesar is elected senior consul of the Roman Republic. His junior partner becomes his political opponent Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, a member of the optimates faction. Caesar's consulate is necessary for both him and Pompey. Having disbanded the army, Pompey, for all his greatness, turns out to be powerless; None of his proposals pass due to the stubborn resistance of the Senate, and yet he promised his veteran soldiers land, and this issue could not tolerate delay. Supporters of Pompey alone were not enough; a more powerful influence was needed - this was the basis of Pompey’s alliance with Caesar and Crassus. The consul Caesar himself was in dire need of the influence of Pompey and the money of Crassus. It was not easy to convince the former consul Marcus Licinius Crassus, an old enemy of Pompey, to agree to an alliance, but in the end it was possible - this richest man in Rome could not get troops under his command for the war with Parthia.
This is how what historians would later call the first triumvirate arose - a private agreement of three persons, not sanctioned by anyone or anything other than their mutual consent. The private nature of the triumvirate was also emphasized by the consolidation of its marriages: Pompey to Caesar’s only daughter, Julia Caesaris (despite the difference in age and upbringing, this political marriage turned out to be sealed by love), and Caesar to the daughter of Calpurnius Piso.
As consul, Caesar in 59 BC. e. carries out, despite the stubborn resistance of the Senate and its junior partner, a number of laws in order to strengthen the state structure and solve some social problems (in particular, about 20 thousand citizens - veterans of Pompey and fathers of at least three children - receive land plots in Campania). In addition, in the interests of Pompey, Caesar approves the orders that he made in the East during his military campaign.
Caesar's main task is to weaken the Senate. And he achieves this by passing a series of laws that raised his authority among the Roman people - on the free distribution of bread, on the right to unite in organizations for political purposes, and finally, on the condemnation of all those who illegally encroached on the life of a Roman citizen.
The most important for the future was the law of Vatinius, according to which Caesar was supposed to receive after the consulate not supervision of forests and roads in Italy, that is, the fight against robbery, as the Senate wanted, but control of Northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) and Illyria (the Dalmatian coast ), for 5 years, with the right to recruit troops (3 legions - more than 10,000 people).
And here the Senate was forced to give in and even go further: to add to the above the control of Transalpine Gaul for the same period (there was 1 legion). This period was subsequently extended for another five years. Caesar's Gallic proconsulate was a direct continuation of his activities in the previous 7-8 years, aimed at obtaining under his command large military forces that could allow him to claim power and, if necessary, balance the military influence of Pompey.
At first, Caesar believed that this could be done in Spain, but closer acquaintance with this country and its insufficiently convenient geographical position in relation to Italy forced Caesar to abandon this idea, especially since the traditions of Pompey were strong in Spain and in the Spanish army. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities in 58 BC. e. in Transalpine Gaul there was a mass migration to these lands of the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii. After the victory over the Helvetii in the same year, a war followed against the Germanic tribes invading Gaul, led by Ariovistus, ending in the complete victory of Caesar.
The rise of Roman influence in Gaul caused unrest among the Belgae. Campaign 57 BC e. begins with the pacification of the Belgae and continues with the conquest of the northwestern lands, where the tribes of the Nervii and Aduatuci lived. In the summer of 57 BC e. on the bank of the river Sabris, a grand battle between the Roman legions and the Nervii army took place, when only luck and the best training of the legionnaires allowed the Romans to win. At the same time, the legion under the command of legate Publius Crassus conquered the tribes of northwestern Gaul. Based on Caesar's report, the Senate was forced to decide on a celebration and a 15-day thanksgiving service.
But already in 56 BC. e. Unrest occurs in various places in Gaul. Caesar hurriedly returns from Illyria to suppress the rebellions. To defeat the Veneti, who had fallen away from Caesar, a fleet was built at the mouth of the Loire, which won a victory under the command of Decimus Brutus. At the same time, the legate Publius Crassus conquered many tribes from the Garone to the Pyrenees, conquering all of Aquitaine. As a result of three years of successful war, Caesar increased his fortune many times over. He generously gave money to his supporters, attracting new people to himself, and increased his influence.
New 55 BC e. began with the seizure of Gallic lands in the territory of modern Flanders by the Germanic tribes of the Usipetes and Tencters. Having dealt with the uninvited guests in a short time, Caesar crosses the Rhine and makes a trip to Germany. That same summer, Caesar organized his first, and the next, 54 BC. e. - second expedition to Britain. The legions met such fierce resistance from the natives here that Caesar had to return to Gaul with nothing. In 53 BC e. Unrest continued among the Gallic tribes, who could not come to terms with oppression by the Romans. All of them were pacified in a short time.
As in previous years, in 52 BC. e. Unrest continued among the Gauls. The Arverni revolt was led by Vercingetorix. He was quickly joined by many other Gallic tribes. In the fight against the Romans, Vercingetorix used the “scorched earth” tactic, trying to deprive the Roman army of provisions and fodder by constant movements and destruction of settlements during the retreat.
The successes of Vercingetorix brought new supporters to him, as a result of which the war swept across all of Gaul. Caesar eventually besieged Vercingetorix in Alesia. During the month-long siege, the Gallic militia comes to the aid of Vercingetorix. Having withstood a blow from two sides, Caesar defeats the militia and forces Vercingetorix to surrender. In connection with this outstanding victory, the Senate declares a 20-day celebration in Rome. After the defeat of Vercingetorix, resistance in Gaul weakened significantly. The last tribes were pacified by 50 BC. e.. After the successful Gallic wars, Caesar's popularity in Rome reached its highest limit. Even such opponents of Caesar as Cicero and Gaius Valerius Catullus recognized the great merits of the commander.
The brilliant results of the first expeditions enormously raised Caesar's prestige in Rome; Gallic money supported this prestige no less successfully. Senate opposition to the triumvirate, however, did not sleep, and Pompey experienced a number of unpleasant moments in Rome. In Rome, neither he nor Crassus felt at home; both wanted military power.
Caesar, in order to achieve his goals, needed continued powers. Based on these desires in the winter of 56-55. A new agreement of the triumvirs took place, according to which Caesar received Gaul for another 5 years, Pompey and Crassus - a consulate for the 55th year, and then proconsulates: Pompey - in Spain, Crassus - in Syria. The Syrian proconsulate of Crassus ended with his death.
Pompey remained in Rome, where, after his consulate, complete anarchy began, perhaps not without the efforts of Julius Caesar. Anarchy reached such proportions that Pompey was elected in 52 BC. e. consul without a panel. Pompey's new rise, the death of Pompey's wife, Caesar's daughter (54 BC), and a series of intrigues against Caesar's growing prestige inevitably led to a rift between the allies; but the uprising of Vercingetorix temporarily saved the situation.
Serious clashes began only in 51 BC. e. Pompey appeared in the role that he had long sought - as the head of the Roman state, recognized by the Senate and the people, uniting military power with civil power, sitting at the gates of Rome, where the Senate (Ancient Rome) was meeting with him, possessing proconsular power and disposing of a strong seven-legion army in Spain. If earlier Pompey needed Caesar, now he could only be a hindrance for Pompey, which had to be eliminated as soon as possible, due to the fact that Caesar’s aspirations were incompatible with Pompey’s position. The conflict, which had already matured personally in 56, was now also mature politically; his initiative should have come not from Julius Caesar, whose position was incomparably worse politically and in relation to the rule of law, but from Pompey, who had all the trump cards in his hands, except military ones, and even the latter were few only in the first moments.
Pompey set things up in such a way that the conflict between him and Caesar turned out to be not a personal clash, but a clash between the revolutionary proconsul and the Senate, that is, the legal government. Over the long period of his political activity, Yuri Caesar clearly understood that one of the main evils causing a serious illness of the Roman political system is the instability, impotence and purely urban nature of the executive power, the selfish and narrow party and class nature 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.
In 49 - the year of the beginning of the civil war - during his stay in Spain, the people, at the suggestion of the praetor Lepidus, elected him dictator. Returning to Rome, Yu. Caesar passed several laws, assembled a comitia, at which he was elected consul for the second time (for the year 48), and abandoned 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) and tribunal 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 [Provinces to former consuls still distributed by the Senate.] and the right to declare war and make peace.
Caesar's representative this year in Rome is his magister equitum - assistant to the dictator M. Antony, in whose hands, despite the existence of consuls, all power is concentrated.
In 46, Caesar was both dictator (from the end of April) for the third time and consul; Lepidus was the second consul and magister equitum. This year, after the African war, his powers are significantly expanded. He was elected dictator for 10 years and at the same time the leader 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, probably, the 5-year consulate of the previous year [In 45 he was elected consul at the suggestion of Lepidus.]. 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.
Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. e., on the way to a Senate meeting. When friends once advised the dictator to beware of his enemies and surround himself with guards, Caesar replied: “It is better to die once than to constantly expect death.” One of the conspirators was Brutus, one of his close friends. Seeing him among the conspirators, Caesar cried out: “And you, my child?” and stopped resisting. Caesar had a stylus in his hands - a writing stick, and he somehow resisted - in particular, after the first blow, he pierced the hand of one of the attackers with it. When Caesar saw that resistance was useless, he covered himself from head to toe with a togo so as to fall more gracefully. Most of the wounds inflicted on him were not deep, although many were inflicted: 23 puncture wounds were found on the body; The frightened conspirators themselves injured each other, trying to reach Caesar. There are two different versions of his death: that he died from a fatal blow (the more common version; as Suetonius writes, it was a second blow to the chest) and that death was due to blood loss.

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 by 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 peasant 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.

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 of the Roman emperor is the 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 a superior position and protecting him 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, are replete with interesting facts and mysteries:

• 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.”

Myths of the Ancient World Becker Karl Friedrich

49. Caesar is a dictator. Laws of Julius Caesar. His death.

(45...44 BC).

Returning to Rome, Caesar celebrated his fifth triumph, which greatly upset the Romans: after all, Caesar did not defeat the barbarian kings, but destroyed the children of the famous Roman. But neither the Senate nor the people openly expressed their indignation, but, on the contrary, paid honor to the winner. Caesar was appointed dictator for life and bore the honorary title of emperor (supreme military commander), as an independent representative of military and civil authority. All positions, especially the position of tribune, who had extensive powers, were united in the person of Caesar. He could, at his own discretion, decide all important legal and financial issues. As the Great Pontiff, Caesar also decided all religious matters. With the assistance of the Alexandrian scientist Sosigenes, Caesar established a new calendar to replace the Roman calendar, which had fallen into terrible disorder. Instead of a lunar year of 355 days, he adopted a solar year of 365 days and 6 hours. These 6 hours created the need to add an extra day every four years. Then Caesar ordered the minting of a coin with his image, and appeared publicly in a purple toga and with a laurel wreath on his head. His statues were placed in temples. Caesar's birthday, which fell in the month of the Quinctiles, was considered a universal celebration, and this month was called "July." All this indicated that the principle of one-man rule was being introduced into public administration. Caesar himself often said that what remained of the republic was one empty name, one ghost. However, the external forms of the republic were preserved; the people's assembly and the senate remained. Caesar increased the number of members of the Senate to 900, but diminished their importance by granting free access to the Senate to foreigners, centurions and the sons of freedmen.

Having achieved unlimited dictatorial power, Caesar began to implement a number of generally useful measures. In order to clear the capital of the huge number of poor people, whose number reached up to 320,000 people, he founded colonies. 80,000 people were sent there. Thanks to this measure, many troubled people were removed from Rome, who could at any time serve as a dangerous tool in the hands of ambitious demagogues. To provide artisans with profitable income, Caesar undertook a number of buildings at public expense. He also ordered the drainage of large areas of swamps, divided the confiscated lands among new settlers, to whom he added a significant number of his veterans.

To improve morality, Caesar issued strict laws against luxury, which manifested itself in the maintenance of too many servants, intemperate excesses of the table, excessive luxury in clothing, excessive decoration of buildings, tombstones, etc. Debtors in particular should have been grateful to him: interest not collected for the previous time was recognized as not subject to satisfaction, and those that were paid were deducted from the principal debt. For the future, creditors were deprived of the right to enslave insolvent debtors and could only take their property from them for their own benefit. Caesar rendered no less services to the provinces, which were suffocating under the yoke of abuse; they were devastated by selfish commanders and soldiers greedy for booty, or robbed by unscrupulous governors and tax farmers. Under Caesar, taxes and duties were reduced, tax farming was abolished, and strict laws were issued against extortion. In this way, those terrible wounds that were inflicted on the provinces by devastating campaigns, and even more by the cruelty and greed of the governors, could gradually heal. Of course, the deep-rooted ulcers that plagued the Roman state, the general immorality and increasing impoverishment of the people along with the accumulation of enormous wealth in the hands of a few, could not be healed even by the organizational talent of Julius Caesar.

A very bad impression was made on the people by the fact that Caesar summoned the Egyptian queen Cleopatra to Rome and openly began to live with her; She treated the Romans very arrogantly. Hatred towards Caesar was also caused by the fact that he more and more clearly showed his desire to introduce royal dignity even into external forms. He did not spare the pride of the optimates, and treated the Senate arrogantly and contemptuously: when the senators appeared, he did not rise from his chair. He provided all government positions to his favorites, who, for their part, fulfilled the slightest desires of their master. However, all their efforts to bring him royal dignity were defeated by the resistance of the people. When Anthony, on the day of the shepherd's festival of Lupercalia, seeing Caesar, dressed in a purple toga and looking from the oratorical platform at the solemn procession, approached him and wanted to lay the royal crown on him, a loud murmur was heard. Caesar considered it prudent to decline this honorable offer. A general shout of approval was the reward for refusing this honor. Thus, there was no point in even thinking about obtaining the voluntary consent of the people to restore this title. Then Caesar turned to the Senate.

Caesar presented to the Senate a plan for a campaign against the Parthians. His supporters spread rumors throughout the city that the ancient books said that Rome could defeat the Parthians only when the king was at the head of the army. Based on this prophecy, Caesar's followers proposed allowing him to be given the title of king outside Italy. They believed that when the winner, crowned with glory, returned from Parthia, nothing would prevent him from receiving the royal title. But fate decided otherwise: the dagger had already been sharpened, which was preparing the end of life and with it the end of all Caesar’s extensive plans.

The Romans had not known autocracy for almost 550 years. In the person of the monarch, they saw a despot like the last Roman king, Tarquin the Proud, and they greeted with hatred any attempt to transform the republican polity into a monarchy. Although Rome often cursed the destructive rule of the mob, they always rebelled against the only means that could put an end to its power - monarchical rule. The old government was considered excellent and needed only minor changes and improvements. But at the same time, the enormous difference in the state of affairs that existed in the times of our ancestors and at this time was lost sight of. The republican government system, in which every capable citizen could achieve an appropriate position in society, was most consistent with those times when people were distinguished by republican virtues: simplicity, purity of morals, selflessness. Now such virtues have completely disappeared, their place has been taken by luxury and selfishness, which, like a destructive disease, have shaken the foundations of public institutions and led to the disintegration of society. Plutarch says: “The state of the state required healing in the form of the monarchy, and it was necessary to thank the gods for sending such a lenient doctor in the person of Caesar.” But shortsightedness and fanaticism did not want to admit this. Like Cato, to whom the situation of the state seemed so desperate that not a single free person could live in it anymore, many thought that by killing the emperor they would provide the greatest service to the state and earn immortal glory.

One of these people was Marcus Brutus, Cato's son-in-law, whom he resembled in his honesty and admiration for ideal freedom. His views were also shared by Gaius Cassius Longius. Caesar showed signs of favor to both Brutus and Cassius. When they, being adherents of Pompey, were captured in Africa, Caesar granted life to both, and then gave both the title of praetor. As for Brutus, Caesar, having patronized him from an early age for the sake of his beautiful mother Servia, intended to make him consul the next year. Nevertheless, both had an irreconcilable hatred of Caesar. Those who wanted Caesar's death, especially Cicero, also placed their hopes in Brutus and Cassius.

Like-minded people formed a conspiracy and decided to put Brutus at its head, since he was a brave commander, a truthful man, highly respected by the people and therefore could give a noble character to the daring enterprise.

Gaius Cassius

First of all, they tried to bring Brutus out of his indecision with all kinds of notes that he found in the morning on his praetor's chair. One of them said: “You are not the true Brutus,” the other said: “Are you sleeping, Brutus?” Notes like: “Oh, if only you lived now!” were often stuck to the statue of old Brutus, his ancestor who once expelled the Tarquins!

These appeals and speeches of Cassius awakened the young, ardent descendant of the ancient enemy of the tyrants from indecision, and Brutus became the head of the conspirators. Their number reached 60 people.

On the Ides of March (Ides - the middle of the month) 44, a meeting of the Senate was supposed to take place, at which it was supposed to proclaim Caesar as king before the Parthian campaign. The conspirators chose this day to carry out their plan. Caesar received numerous warnings: one fortune teller warned Caesar to be wary of the Ides of March; Calpurnia had a bad dream and begged Caesar not to go to the meeting, citing illness. But in the morning, Caesar’s cousin Brutus visited him and told him: “You should not offend the Senate by postponing consideration of an important issue.” Caesar left the house. On the street, one of his followers who was waiting for him handed him a note with a message about the impending assassination attempt, but Caesar, without reading it, handed it to his scribe. On the way, he carried a fortuneteller who warned him of danger. “Why doesn’t your prediction come true? - Caesar asked mockingly. “The Ides of March have come, and I’m still alive.” “They came, but did not pass,” answered the soothsayer. When Caesar entered the Senate and sat down on the golden chair, the conspirators surrounded him. One of them, Tullius Cimbri, submitted to him a request for pardon for his brother. Caesar rejected the request. Then the rest of the conspirators approached Caesar, as if wanting to personally support Cimbri's request. He suddenly grabbed Caesar by the toga and pulled it off his shoulders. This was an agreed upon sign. Casca struck the first blow with a dagger, but so hesitantly that he only lightly wounded Caesar in the neck.

Marcus Junius Brutus

Caesar quickly turned to him and exclaimed: “Scoundrel Casca! What are you doing?" and grabbed him by the hand. But at the same moment blows rained down on Caesar in the chest and face. The killers acted with such haste that they injured each other. Wherever Caesar turned, he was met with blows. Covered in blood, he suddenly saw that Brutus was rushing towards him. Then Caesar exclaimed: “And you, Brutus?” After this, he covered his face with a toga and, struck by twenty-three blows, fell at the foot of the statue of Pompey, which stood not far from his chair. The senators looked at this terrible scene with silent horror and, without giving Caesar help, fled to the meeting rooms. When Brutus, after the bloody deed, wanted to address the senators with a speech, all the places were abandoned.

Having fulfilled their terrible plan, the conspirators rushed to the forum and began to call on the people for freedom. The people greeted this news in silence; expressing neither approval nor displeasure. Deceived in their expectations, fearing for their safety, the conspirators took refuge in the temple of the Capitol. From here they began negotiations with the consul Mark Antony and the Senate. In the Senate they met with approval for their crime and, at the suggestion of Cicero, were forgiven. But Anthony did not agree to this outcome of the matter. He gave Caesar a solemn funeral and at the same time delivered a passionate speech in which he outlined Caesar’s virtues, merits and heartfelt concern for the welfare of the people. When Anthony read the spiritual will, according to which Caesar bequeathed his gardens to the people, and 75 denarii to each Roman citizen, there was a loud murmur: they cursed the Senate for leaving the murderers of the universal benefactor unpunished. When Antony unwrapped Caesar's toga, bloodied and pierced in many places, the fury of the crowd reached its extreme limits. The people burst into loud cries of indignation and demanded revenge. Crowds rushed through the streets and rushed to find the killers. One tribune named Helvius Cinna, whom the crowd mistook for a conspirator of the same name, was torn to pieces. The conspirators and other opponents of Caesar considered it prudent to flee Rome as quickly as possible. Brutus and Cassius fled to Macedonia.

Caesar's wife Calpurnia

Mark Antony

Mark Antony immediately took power into his own hands. He was not slow to take advantage of his powerful position and easily obtained permission from the frightened Senate to assemble a guard for his personal safety. For this he chose 6,000 Caesar veterans. Relying on this guard, Anthony committed countless abuses with the written acts left behind by Caesar. By virtue of Caesar’s forged orders, Anthony issued a whole series of laws and regulations and, at his own discretion, disposed of honorary positions, governorships and kingdoms. Whoever offered the most money was awarded places of honor, land and entire provinces.