Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BCE) was a Roman general, statesman, and author whose military conquests and political ascendancy transformed the Roman Republic. [1] After subduing Gaul and prevailing in a civil war against Pompey and the senatorial elite, he was appointed dictator and concentrated unprecedented power in his own hands. [2] His assassination by a group of senators on the Ides of March in 44 BCE precipitated a further round of civil wars that ended with the establishment of the Roman Empire. [1]
Early life and rise to power
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100 BCE into a patrician family of the gens Julia, which claimed descent from the goddess Venus. [1] Though old and distinguished, the family was neither especially wealthy nor politically dominant, and Caesar built his early career through a combination of oratory, military service, and shrewd alliances. He advanced along the traditional sequence of Roman public offices and won a reputation as a gifted speaker and generous patron. [2] In 60 BCE he joined the general Pompey and the financier Crassus in an informal pact known as the First Triumvirate, which helped him secure the consulship in 59 BCE and a lucrative provincial command. [1]
Conquest of Gaul
Between 58 and 50 BCE Caesar campaigned across Gaul, subduing its tribes, crossing the Rhine into Germanic territory, and mounting two expeditions to Britain. [2] The wars brought him immense wealth, a loyal veteran army, and lasting fame, which he cultivated in his own account of the campaigns, the Commentarii de Bello Gallico. Written in a spare, direct style, the work is at once a military memoir and a celebrated example of Latin prose. [3]
Civil war and dictatorship
As Caesar's power grew, his relations with the Senate and with Pompey broke down. Ordered to relinquish his command, he instead led his army across the Rubicon into Italy in 49 BCE, an act of open rebellion that began a civil war. [1] He defeated Pompey at Pharsalus in 48 BCE and pursued the remaining opposition through Egypt, where he intervened in a dynastic struggle and allied with Cleopatra, and on to Africa and Spain. Victorious, he was named dictator and finally, in 44 BCE, dictator for life, while enacting broad reforms including a reorganisation of the calendar. [2]
Assassination and legacy
Fearing that Caesar meant to make himself king, a group of senators led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius conspired against him. On the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BCE he was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate held in the Theatre of Pompey. [1] His death did not restore the Republic but instead triggered fresh civil wars, from which his grandnephew and adopted heir Octavian emerged as the emperor Augustus. [3] Caesar was formally deified by the Roman state, and his family name became a title borne by later emperors and echoed for centuries in words such as kaiser and tsar. [2]
