Julius caesar biography timeline with paragraphs
When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.
Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving. The three allies' relations broke down in 57 BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year.
Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of Appius Claudius Pulcher and his younger brother Clodius for the consulship of 54 BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55 BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command. Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 BC.
The ambush and destruction in Gaul of a legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55—54 BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's Commentaries. When in 52 BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city, [ ] Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with the support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia.
From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. As 50 BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively. There is scholarly disagreement as to the specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose — when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure — between prosecution, conviction, and exile or civil war in defence of his position.
Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely. He feared that his opponents — then holding both consulships for 50 BC — would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won. Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC, [ ] [ ] in response to the Senate's "final decree", [ ] Caesar crossed the Rubicon — the river defining the northern boundary of Italy — with a single legion, the Legio XIII Geminaand ignited civil war.
Julius caesar biography timeline with paragraphs: Julius Caesar was a political and
Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright Menanderin Greek, " let the die be cast ". Pompey withdrew to Brundisium and was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit. Caesar besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachiumbut Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee.
Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, he engaged and decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC. Pompey was killed when he arrived in Alexandriathe capital of Egypt. Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48 BC. Prevented from leaving the city by Etesian windsCaesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Cleopatrahis sister, wife, and co-regent queen.
Reinforced by eastern client allies under Mithridates of Pergamumhe then defeated Ptolemy at the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called Caesarion.
When Caesar landed at Antiochhe learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, Pharnaceshad attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across the Black Sea in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at Zela and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write veni, vidi, vici "I came, I saw, I conquered"downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories.
He then left quickly for Italy. Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as magister equitumin charge. His rule was unpopular: Publius Cornelius Dolabellaserving as plebeian tribune in 47 BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity.
Cato had marched to Africa [ ] and there Metellus Scipio was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with Juba of Numidia ; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side. Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence [ ] before overseeing the election of magistrates for 47 BC — Italy had been ruled by Caesar's dictatorial subordinates with no ordinary consuls, praetors, etc until his return in September [ ] — and also those for 46 BC.
Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47 BC. His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46 BC, starting a battle ; they then won it and massacred the republican forces without julius caesar biography timeline with paragraphs.
Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency. Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces Asiaand Juba Africa. He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix was executed.
Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as magister equitum. At a bloody battle at Munda on 17 March 45 BC, Caesar narrowly found victory; [ ] his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred. While one of Pompey's sons, Sextusescaped, the war was effectively over.
It was set to start on 18 March 44 BC. Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title dictator perpetuo in February 44 BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49 BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to a year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually.
Through the period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours, [ ] including the title praefectus moribus lit. He was also granted power over war and peace, [ ] usurping a power traditionally held by the comitia centuriata. The month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed Julius now July. The decisions on the normal operation of the state — justice, legislation, administration, and public works — were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic.
Caesar, as far as is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionarynoted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the traditional republican lunisolar calendar and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the Julian calendar.
Colonies also were founded outside Italy — notably on the sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests — to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest.
Julius caesar biography timeline with paragraphs: Julius Caesar was a leader
He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of the state. The building programmes, started prior to his expedition to Spain, continued, with the construction of the Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix therein. Other public works, including an expansion of Ostia's port and a canal through the Corinthian Isthmuswere also planned.
The collegiacivic associations restored by Clodius in 58 BC, were again abolished. On the last day of 45 BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ally elected as replacement for a single day. Attempts in January 44 BC to call Caesar rex lit. Caesar, claiming that the two tribunes infringed on his honour by doing so, had them deposed from office and ejected from the Senate.
Just days after his assumption of the life dictatorship, he publicly rejected a diadem from Antony at celebrations for the Lupercalia. Interpretations of the episode vary: he may have been rejecting the diadem publicly only because the crowd was insufficiently supportive; he could have done it performatively to signal he was no monarch; alternatively, Antony could have acted on his own initiative.
By this point, however, rumour was rife that Caesar — already wearing the dress of a monarch — sought a formal crown and the episode did little to reassure. The plan to assassinate Caesar had started by the summer of 45 BC. An attempt to recruit Antony was made around that time, though he declined and gave Caesar no warning. By February 44 BC, there were some sixty conspirators.
Those electoral results came from the grace of the dictator and not that of the people; for the republican elite this was no substitute for actual popular support. Brutus, who claimed descent from the Lucius Junius Brutus who had driven out the juliuses caesar biography timeline with paragraphs and the Gaius Servilius Ahala who had freed Rome from incipient tyranny, was the main leader of the conspiracy.
The ancient sources, excepting Nicolaus of Damascusare unanimous that this reflected a genuine turn in public opinion against Caesar. While some news of the conspiracy did leak, Caesar refused to take precautions and rejected escort by a bodyguard. The date decided upon by the conspirators was 15 March, the Ides of Marchthree days before Caesar intended to leave for his Parthian campaign.
The day, 15 March, was also symbolically important as it was the day on which consuls took office until the mid-2nd century BC. Various stories purport that Caesar was on the cusp of not attending or otherwise being warned about the plot. Whether he fell in silence, per Suetonius, or after reply to Brutus' appearance — kai su teknon? The assassins seized the Capitoline hill after killing the dictator.
They then summoned a public meeting in the Forum where they were coldly received by the population. They were also unable to fully secure the city, as Lepidus — Caesar's lieutenant in the dictatorship — moved troops from the Tiber Island into the city proper. Antony, the consul who escaped the assassination, urged an illogical compromise position in the Senate: [ ] Caesar was not declared a tyrant and the conspirators were not punished.
At the funeral, Antony inflamed the public against the assassins, which triggered mob violence that lasted for some months before the assassins were forced to flee the capital and Antony then finally acted to suppress it by force. In 44 BC, there was a seven-day cometary outburst that the Romans believed to represent the deification of Caeser, giving it the name Caesar's Comet.
On the site of his cremation, the Temple of Caesar was begun by the triumvirs in 42 BC at the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum. Only its altar now remains. Resumption of the pre-existing republic proved impossible as various actors appealed in the aftermath of Caesar's death to liberty or to vengeance to mobilise huge armies that led to a series of civil wars.
Pretending to restore the republic, his masked autocracy was acceptable to the war-weary Romans and marked the establishment of a new Roman monarchy. Based on juliuses caesar biography timeline with paragraphs by Plutarch, [ ] Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from epilepsy. Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s BC.
Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had absence seizures in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of hypoglycemiawhich can cause epileptoid seizures.
A line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence.
Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioural manifestations — headaches, vertigo, falls possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damagesensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility — and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his Natural History that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes.
Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease. Suetoniuswriting more than a century after Caesar's death, describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes". Suetonius reports that Caesar was thus especially pleased to be granted the honour of wearing a wreath at all times.
The standard abbreviation was C. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, Brutus. Caesar's cognomen itself became a title ; it was promulgated by the Biblewhich contains the famous verse " Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".
The last Tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgariawhose reign ended inbut is still alive in This means that for approximately two thousand years, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. Some ancient sources refer to the possibility of the tyrannicide, Marcus Junius Brutusbeing one of Julius Caesar's illegitimate children.
Most ancient historians were sceptical of this and "on the whole, scholars have rejected the possibility that Brutus was the love-child of Servilia and Caesar on the grounds of chronology". Grandchild from Julia and Pompeydead at several days, unnamed. Roman society viewed the passive role during sexual activityregardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority.
Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the " Queen of Bithynia ", by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to Cassius Dioeven under oath on one occasion.
Catullus wrote a poem suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers, [ ] but later apologised. Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political slander. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus.
During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin — even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his " Anticato ", a document attacking Cato in response to Cicero's eulogy.
Poems by Julius Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources. These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings.
The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete primary source for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind. The modern historiography is influenced by this tradition. Many rulers in history became interested in the historiography of Caesar.
The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. Charles V ordered a topographic study in France, to place the Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent catalogued the surviving editions of the Commentariesand translated them to Turkish language.
The remains of Caesar's altar are a pilgrimage site for visitors from across Italy and the world. Flowers and other items are left there daily and special commemorations take place on 15 March to commemorate Caesar's death. Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of Caesarisma form of political rule led by a charismatic strongman whose rule is based upon a cult of personalitywhose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent social orderand being a regime involving prominence of the military in the government.
AtrebatesAduatuci. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Pompey and the Optimates left Rome and fled to Greece. Unfortunately they forgot to take the treasury with them. Rather than follow Pompey to Greece, Julius went to Spain and defeated those forces that were loyal to Pompey. Julius Caesar lay siege to Massilia Marseille which was loyal to Pompey.
The city fell in September. Julius made plans to transport seven legions to Greece to destroy Pompey and the Optimates. Unable to secure sufficient transport he sailed with two legions and left Marc Antony at Brundisium with orders to bring the remaining legions as soon as he could secure transport. The battle was a decisive victory for Caesar and Pompey fled to Egypt.
Julius Caesar pursued Pompey to Egypt. Caesar was horrified at the murder of Pompey and demanded a return of the money Egypt owed to Rome. He took the city of Alexandria in Egypt for his headquarters and decided to back Cleopatra rather than her brother. Cleopatra joined Caesar in Alexandria and they became lovers. Ptolemy lay siege to Alexandria.
The siege of Alexandria was lifted when a large force under Mithridates of Pergamum arrived in Egypt from the North Eastern region of the Empire. Ptolemy drowned in the Nile during the battle. Julius introduced the Julian Calendar which set the year at It remained in effect until the 16th century. Julius Caesar made it clear that he would not restore the republic and saw himself as king of Rome.
He was proclaimed dictator for life. Marcus Brutus was one of the leaders of a plot to assassinate Julius Caesar and restore the republic. The conspirators called themselves the Liberators. The act is taken as a move of aggression taking Rome to Civil War. Pompey and other senators leave Rome and head to Greece. Battle of Dyrrhachium against Pompey in Macedonia.
Caesar forced to retreat to avoid being defeated. Pursued Pompey to Egypt.
Julius caesar biography timeline with paragraphs: Timeline ; 12 Jul BCE
Caesar was horrified at the murder of Pompey and demanded a return of money Egypt owed to Rome. He also decided to back Cleopatra rather than her brother. The siege of Alexandria was lifted when a large force under Mithridates of Pergamum arrived in Egypt from the North Eastern region of the Empire. Battle of the Nile. Despite the reprieve, Caesar left Rome, joined the army and earned the prestigious Civic Crown for his courage at the Siege of Mytilene in 80 B.
In 75 B. Reportedly, Caesar acted more like a domineering leader with the pirates than their captive. After his ransom was paid, the pirates let him go. But Caesar hired a private fleet to hunt them down and had the pirates crucified for their crimes. Watch the three-episode documentary event, Ancient Empires. Available to stream now. Caesar soon began his political career in earnest.
He became military tribune and then quaestor of a Roman province in 69 B. In 67 B. In 65 B. Two years later, he was elected Pontifex Maximus. Caesar divorced Pompeia in 62 B. One year later, Caesar became governor of Spain. A series of successful military and political maneuvers, along with the support of Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus known as the richest man in Romehelped Caesar get elected as senior Roman consul in 59 B.
The union terrified the Roman Senate who knew that a partnership between three such powerful men would prove unstoppable.