Download Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC

Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman General and
statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in
the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
Caesar was a politician and general of the late Roman Republic, who greatly
extended the Roman Empire before seizing power and making himself dictator
of Rome, paving the way for the imperial system.
Julius Caesar (pronounced ‘ulius ciaser’), from which the words ‘czar’ and ‘kaiser’
are derived, was born on the 12th or 13th of July 100 BC. He was born into the
Gaius family, who claimed they could trace their family tree back to the first
Romans, and then Venus. The Gaius family had a strong connection with politics,
and the father, Gaius Julius Caesar Sr., was a politician. He claimed that his living
in the poorer parts of Rome was simply to be around his voters. However, it was
more probable that his family was down on their luck, and forced to live in the
slums.
When he was five, Julius Caesar was taken to the Forum by his uncle Marius, who
had been consul a record number of times. Young Julius Caesar was inspired by
this and decided to become a politician himself and work his way up the Roman
political ladder.
Julius Caesar, to begin his conquest of politics, became a lawyer and gave many
speeches. When he was 25, he left on a ship to go to Rhodes in the
Mediterranean, because they had a special school for public speaking. He never
made it.
Along the way he was captured by pirates and ransomed. He promised that after
the ransom was paid, he would come back and kill them all. Once the ransom had
been paid, Caesar approached a man named Pompeii to give him ships to attack
the pirates and a man named Crassus to give him money. After the pirates had
been crucified, Julius Caesar created a bond between himself, Pompeii and
Crassus. Although this was a great event in Caesar’s life, it was also very looked
down upon by certain Romans. A Roman writer described the First Triumvirate
as “the three-headed monster”. However, this was a great advance in Caesar’s
career.
Sometime after this, Julius Caesar conquered Britain and Gaul (modern France),
as well as certain German tribes to the north. He defeated the general of Gaul
Vercingetorix, who was paraded in the streets for five days, and then taken away
and beaten to death.
Crassus was killed in battle and his head was chopped off and used in a play.
Pompeii quit the Triumvirate, and declared himself dictator for life. He also
declared Caesar an outlaw and led his troops into battle against him. This is
known as the Roman Civil War or Caesar’s Civil War. Leading his troops across
the Rubicon, Caesar accepted the challenge. After a series of battles, in most of
which Caesar was victorious, Pompeii fled to Egypt. King Ptolemy welcomed him
graciously, and promptly cut his head off. This head was then given to Caesar as a
gift.
While in Egypt, Julius Caesar met Queen Cleopatra. Caesar agreed to help her to
take back Egypt. Caesar once more was victorious in his battle against Ptolemy,
who drowned in the final battle. Caesar was then married to Cleopatra (his third
wife) and had a baby named Caesarion. Meanwhile back in Rome, trouble was
brewing.
Returning to Rome, Julius Caesar was declared dictator for life. After ruling for a
very short time, Caesar was warned on the 14th of March by a soothsayer to
“beware the Ides of March”. There were many omens warning him, but he
ignored them all. Caesar was a great believer in fate, and thought that if he was
destined to die on the Ides of March, he would. He did.
He was attacked in the Senate building on the 15th of March by a group of
Senators led by ‘honest Brutus’; Caesar received no less than 23 wounds.
Julius Caesar had a permanent effect on people’s memories for a long time. He
wrote many books himself, one of which was entitled ‘The Gallic Wars’. He was
also written about in a play by William Shakespeare entitled ‘Julius Caesar’.
Caesar’s body was buried in the heart of the Forum in Rome; his body still lies
there today.
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