Download Name Jo Schmo Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC. He came from a

Name
Jo Schmo
Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC. He came from a well-off family and
he had a better education than most people. He joined the army
when he was 19.
In 65 BC Caesar got into politics. His job was organising public
entertainment in Rome. Using his money he made sure that Rome
had the best. There were great festivals and sports events. Because
of this the public loved him.
In 60 BC, Caesar entered into a political alliance with Crassus and
Pompey that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their
attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed
within the Roman Senate by the conservative elite, among them
Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero.
When he was 41, he was made the Governor of Gaul. Today that is
France. In this position he conquered more territory for Rome like an
invasion of Britain. He became very popular with his soldiers. But he
also became known as someone who was cruel and full of himself.
One example of this was when he was once kidnapped by pirates.
They demanded a ransom of 20 buckets of silver. But Caesar said he
was worth 50 buckets. After the ransom was paid Caesar rounded up
some of his soldiers and went back to arrest the pirates. He then had
them crucified as punishment.¹
While he was in Gaul his enemy Pompey accused Caesar of various
crimes. He went back to Rome with his army. There was a really
destructive civil war where ‘the populace ... was deeply stirred and
no longer showed any regard for things sacred ... and burned down
nearly the whole city’. Caesar won the war and became dictator.
After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms
of Roman society and government. He centralised the bureaucracy of
the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity. A
group of senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated the
dictator on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, hoping to restore
the constitutional government of the Republic.
Caesar did lots of good stuff for Rome like taking over other
countries and bringing in good laws. But he was up himself and
rubbed people up the wrong way. Cicero, who used to be Caesar’s
friend, said ‘Our tyrant deserved to die. Here was a man who wanted
to be king of the Roman people and master of the whole world’.
1. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/juliuscaesarbooks/a/aa12050
0a.htm