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Gaius Julius Caesar (/ ˈ s iː z ər /, SEE-zər; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate , Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war , and subsequently became dictator ...
- 81–45 BC
- Overview
- Family background and career
Julius Caesar's family was old Roman nobility, but they were not rich. His father died when he was 16, but he received significant support from his mother.
How did Julius Caesar change the world?
Julius Caesar was a political and military genius who overthrew Rome’s decaying political order and replaced it with a dictatorship. He triumphed in the Roman Civil War but was assassinated by those who believed that he was becoming too powerful.
How did Julius Caesar die?
Julius Caesar was murdered in the Roman Senate House by a group of nobles on March 15, 44 BCE. The assassination plot was led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus.
How did Julius Caesar come to power?
Caesar’s gens, the Julii, were patricians—i.e., members of Rome’s original aristocracy, which had coalesced in the 4th century bce with a number of leading plebeian (commoner) families to form the nobility that had been the governing class in Rome since then. By Caesar’s time, the number of surviving patrician gentes was small; and in the gens Julia the Caesares seem to have been the only surviving family. Though some of the most powerful noble families were patrician, patrician blood was no longer a political advantage; it was actually a handicap, since a patrician was debarred from holding the paraconstitutional but powerful office of tribune of the plebs. The Julii Caesares traced their lineage back to the goddess Venus, but the family was not snobbish or conservative-minded. It was also not rich or influential or even distinguished.
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A Roman noble won distinction for himself and his family by securing election to a series of public offices, which culminated in the consulship, with the censorship possibly to follow. This was a difficult task for even the ablest and most gifted noble unless he was backed by substantial family wealth and influence. Rome’s victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War (218–201 bce) had made Rome the paramount power in the Mediterranean basin; an influential Roman noble family’s clients (that is, protégés who, in return, gave their patrons their political support) might include kings and even whole nations, besides numerous private individuals. The requirements and the costs of a Roman political career in Caesar’s day were high, and the competition was severe; but the potential profits were of enormous magnitude. One of the perquisites of the praetorship and the consulship was the government of a province, which gave ample opportunity for plunder. The whole Mediterranean world was, in fact, at the mercy of the Roman nobility and of a new class of Roman businessmen, the equites (“knights”), which had grown rich on military contracts and on tax farming.
Military manpower was supplied by the Roman peasantry. This class had been partly dispossessed by an economic revolution following on the devastation caused by the Second Punic War. The Roman governing class had consequently come to be hated and discredited at home and abroad. From 133 bce onward there had been a series of alternate revolutionary and counter-revolutionary paroxysms. It was evident that the misgovernment of the Roman state and the Greco-Roman world by the Roman nobility could not continue indefinitely and it was fairly clear that the most probable alternative was some form of military dictatorship backed by dispossessed Italian peasants who had turned to long-term military service.
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Mar 25, 2024 · Julius Caesar. Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar turned the Roman Republic into the powerful Roman Empire. An assassination ended his reign on the Ides of March. By Biography.com...
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Oct 27, 2009 · Julius Caesar was a renowned general, politician and scholar in ancient Rome who conquered the vast region of Gaul and helped initiate the end of the Roman Republic when he became dictator of...
Other articles from history.com
- Joshua J. Mark
- Youth & Military Service. When he was sixteen, his father died and Caesar became the head of the family. Deciding that belonging to the priesthood would bring the most benefit to the family, he managed to have himself nominated as the new High Priest of Jupiter.
- The First Triumvirate. Back in Rome, Caesar was elected military tribune and, his wife Cornelia having died, married Pompeia, a wealthy Optimate granddaughter of the Emperor Sulla.
- Caesar's Conquest of Gaul. Recognizing the wealth to be gained through conquest, Caesar left Rome with his legions and went to Gaul in 58 BCE. He defeated the tribes there just as he had done in Spain and secured the borders of the provinces.
- Crossing the Rubicon & Cleopatra. Rather than returning to Rome as ordered, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his legions and marched on the city in 49 BCE.
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Oct 19, 2023 · Julius Caesar. ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY. Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician who named himself dictator of the Roman Empire, a rule that lasted less than one year before he was famously assassinated by political rivals in 44 B.C. Grades. 9 - 12+. Subjects. Anthropology, Archaeology, Social Studies, World History. Image. Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar, (born July 12/13, 100 bce, Rome—died March 15, 44 bce, Rome), Celebrated Roman general, statesman, and dictator. A patrician by birth, he held the prominent posts of quaestor and praetor before becoming governor of Farther Spain in 61–60.
