Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was born into the patrician Julia family, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus. Despite their noble lineage, the Julii were not particularly politically influential or wealthy at the time of Caesar's birth. His father held the praetorship, but died when Caesar was only 16. Growing up in the Subura district, a lower-class neighborhood, Caesar witnessed the social tensions and political violence that characterized the late Roman Republic, experiences that would shape his political ambitions and military strategies.

Caesar's father died suddenly, making him the head of the family at age 16. Shortly after, he married Cornelia, daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, a four-time consul and prominent member of the Marian faction. This marriage aligned Caesar with the populares political faction opposing Sulla's optimates. When Sulla became dictator and ordered Caesar to divorce Cornelia, Caesar refused, risking his life. He was stripped of his inheritance and priesthood, and went into hiding until Sulla's death, demonstrating early the stubbornness and political courage that would characterize his career.

While sailing to Rhodes to study rhetoric with Apollonius Molon, Caesar was captured by Cilician pirates who demanded a ransom of 20 talents of silver. Caesar laughed at the sum, considering it too small for a man of his stature, and insisted they raise it to 50 talents. During his 38-day captivity, he treated his captors with contempt, joined in their exercises, and read them his poetry, calling them illiterate savages when they failed to appreciate it. He repeatedly told them he would crucify them once freed. After his ransom was paid, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued and captured the pirates, and had them crucified, though he mercifully ordered their throats cut first—a display of the combination of clemency and ruthlessness that would mark his rule.

Caesar formed an unofficial political alliance with Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus, known as the First Triumvirate. This alliance allowed each man to advance his interests: Caesar received the consulship and command in Gaul, Pompey obtained land for his veterans and ratification of his eastern settlements, and Crassus gained tax concessions for his allies and command in Syria. The alliance was sealed by Caesar arranging the marriage of his daughter Julia to Pompey. Though informal and technically illegal, this alliance dominated Roman politics for the next decade and bypassed the traditional republican institutions, contributing to the ultimate fall of the Republic.

Caesar began his conquest of Gaul with campaigns against the Helvetii and Germanic tribes. Over the next eight years, he would subdue all of Gaul (modern France, Belgium, and parts of Switzerland, Netherlands, and Germany), extending Roman control to the Rhine and even briefly invading Britain twice. His 'Commentarii de Bello Gallico' (Commentaries on the Gallic War) documented these campaigns, serving both as military history and political propaganda. The wars brought him immense wealth, a battle-hardened army fiercely loyal to him personally, and military glory that rivaled Pompey's, but also resulted in the deaths of approximately one million Gauls and the enslavement of another million.

Facing the end of his command in Gaul and senatorial demands that he disband his army before returning to Rome, Caesar made the fateful decision to cross the Rubicon River, the boundary between Gaul and Italy proper, with his legion. According to Suetonius, he uttered the famous phrase 'alea iacta est' (the die is cast). This act was treasonous under Roman law, as generals were forbidden to bring armies into Italy, and it triggered a civil war against Pompey and the Senate. Caesar's rapid advance forced Pompey to flee Italy for Greece, and this moment marked the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic.

Despite being significantly outnumbered, Caesar's tactical brilliance led to a decisive victory over Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece. Pompey's army was routed, and he fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated by the Ptolemaic court hoping to curry favor with Caesar. When Caesar arrived in Egypt and was presented with Pompey's severed head and signet ring, he reportedly wept—whether from genuine grief for his former ally and son-in-law or political theater is debated by historians. This victory made Caesar the undisputed master of Rome, though pockets of resistance would continue for several more years.

Caesar became involved in the Egyptian succession dispute and formed both a political alliance and romantic relationship with Cleopatra VII, supporting her claim to the throne against her brother Ptolemy XIII. He spent the winter besieged in Alexandria with Cleopatra during the Alexandrian War, which resulted in the famous burning of the Library of Alexandria (though the extent of the damage is debated). Cleopatra bore a son she named Caesarion, claiming Caesar as the father. The Egyptian alliance provided Rome with Egypt's vast wealth and grain supply, while giving Cleopatra powerful Roman support for her rule.

Caesar was declared 'dictator perpetuo' (dictator in perpetuity), effectively making him monarch of Rome in all but name. He had accumulated numerous honors and powers: he was consul, dictator, tribune of the plebs, and held imperium over all Roman provinces. He reformed the calendar (the Julian calendar), extended Roman citizenship, planned massive public works, and initiated policies to address debt and land distribution. However, his increasing monarchical behavior—accepting divine honors, sitting on a golden throne, and possibly planning to accept the title of king—alarmed traditionalists who feared the death of the Republic. This fear would prove his undoing.

On March 15, 44 BCE, Caesar was assassinated by a group of Roman senators who called themselves the Liberators. Led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, a group of up to 60 conspirators surrounded Caesar at a Senate meeting in the Theatre of Pompey and stabbed him 23 times. According to Suetonius, Caesar initially fought back but stopped when he saw Brutus among his attackers, saying 'Et tu, Brute?' (And you, Brutus?). He pulled his toga over his head and died at the base of Pompey's statue. Ironically, the assassination, intended to save the Republic, triggered another civil war that ultimately led to the establishment of the Roman Empire under Caesar's adopted heir Octavian (later Augustus). Caesar's death remains one of the most famous assassinations in history, immortalized in Shakespeare's play and serving as a cautionary tale about the tension between individual ambition and republican governance.