Julius Caesar and the Gallic Wars
Caesar’s early years
• 102/100 BCE: Gaius Julius
Caesar was born
• c. 82 BCE age 18 he married
Cornelia
• she later bore him his only
legitimate child, a daughter,
Julia
• Sulla proscribed him and
Caesar went into hiding
• Caesar's influential friends and
relatives eventually got him a
pardon
Caesar’s early career
• c. 79 BCE: Caesar, on
the staff of a military
legate, was awarded
the civic crown
• sent him on an
embassy to
Nicomedes, the king
of Bithynia, to obtain
a fleet of ships
Caesar back in Rome
• When Sulla died in 78,
Caesar returned to Rome
and began a career as a
orator/lawyer
• 75 BCE: While sailing to
Greece for further study,
Caesar was kidnaped by
Cilician pirates and held
for ransom
Caesar’s Life cont’d
• 72 BCE: Caesar was elected military
tribune.
• 68/67 BCE: Caesar was elected quaestor
and obtained a seat in the Senate
• he married Pompeia, a granddaughter of
Sulla
Caesar and Pompey
• Caesar supported Gnaeus
Pompey and helped him
get an extraordinary
generalship against the
Mediterranean pirates,
later extended to
command of the war
against King Mithridates
in Asia Minor.
Other Offices
• 65 BCE: He was elected curule aedile and
spent lavishly on games
• 63 BCE: Caesar spent heavily in a
successful effort to get elected pontifex
maximus (chief priest)
• in 62 he was elected praetor
• 61 he was sent to the province of Further
Spain as propraetor.
Commemorative coin of Julius Caesar, Late
Republican era, ca. 43 BC
• 60 BCE: He returned
from Spain and joined
with Pompey and
Crassus in a loose
coalition called by
modern historians
“The First
Triumvirate”
Julius Caesar AV Aureus. 46BC, issue of Aulus
Hirtius. C CAESAR COS TER, veiled head of Vesta
right / A HIRTIVS PR, lituus, jug and axe.
• 59 BCE: Caesar was
elected consul against
heavy Optimate
opposition led by Marcus
Porcius Cato
• Caesar married his only
daughter, Julia, to Pompey
to consolidate their
alliance; he himself
married Calpurnia
58 BCE: Caesar left Rome for Gaul; conquer most of
what is now central Europe, opening up these lands
to Mediterranean civilization
Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War (De
Bellum Gallico)
• Caesar's personal record of the Gallic War
included seven books on the campaigns from 58
to 52 BC.
• the only report by a military commander of
antiquity describing his own campaigns.
• ending with the defeat of Vercingetorix.
• an eighth book was later added by Aulus Hirtius
after Caesar's death, linking events of the Gallic
War to those of the Civil War (50-48 BC).
De Bellum Gallico
• provide a uniquely in-depth account of Gaul and
its people.
• cultural descriptions are secondary to military
matters in Caesar's campaigns
• However, the reader gains a familiarity with
settings, tribes, and personalities unavailable in
Strabo, Tacitus, or other ancient writers.
• the only primary source on the Celts of Gaul,
Germany and Britain during the 1st century BC
• compares with Tacitus' account Germania, written
in AD 98.
coin issued by Caesar depicting military trophy
• 56 BCE: Caesar, Pompey,
and Crassus met in
Caesar's province to renew
their coalition. Pompey
and Crassus were to be
consuls again, and
Caesar's command in Gaul
was extended until 49
BCE.
Julius Caesar Denarius. 46-45 BC, Spanish mint.
Diademed head of Venus right, Cupid on her
shoulder / CAESAR below Gallia & Gaulish captive
seated beneath trophy of Gallic arms.
Caesar in Britain
• Caesar led a threemonth expedition to
Britain but he did not
establish a permanent
base there.
• Julia died in childbirth
in 54; Crassus killed in
Parthia in 53 BCE
Triumphal Arch, Reims, France
• Caesar set up an efficient
provincial administration
to govern the vast
territories; he published
his history The Gallic
Wars.
• Optimates in Rome
attempted to cut short
Caesar's term as governor
of Gaul
49 BCE Caesar led his armies across the Rubicon
River (the border of his province), which was
automatic civil war.
The Rubicon River
Julius Caesar Denarius. 47-46 BC, mint in Africa.
Diademed head of Venus right / CAESAR, Aeneas
walking left, carrying Anchises and the Palladium.
Battle of Pharsalus
48 BCE – Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus
- it is estimated that Pompey had 46,000 men to
Caesar's 21,000
-by brilliant generalship, Caesar was victorious,
though the toll was great on both sides
-Caesar arrives in Egypt to find Pompey slain
Bust of Cleopatra
Julius Caesar AV Aureus. 46BC, issue of Aulus Hirtius. C
CAESAR COS TER, veiled head of Vesta right / A HIRTIVS
PR, lituus, jug and axe.
• July 25, 46 BCE: The
victorious and now
unchallenged Caesar
arrived back in Rome and
celebrated four splendid
triumphs
• Holding the position of
dictator, Caesar governed
autocratically within
Republican forms
Julius Caesar denarius. January to February 44 BC, CAESAR
IMP M Laureate head right, crescent moon behind / L
AEMILIVS BVCA, Venus standing left.
• Program involved:
resolution of the worst of
the debt crisis,
resettlement of veterans
abroad without
dispossessing others,
reform of the Roman
calendar, regulation of the
grain dole, strengthening
of the middle class,
enlargement of the Senate
to 900
Coin of Caesar’s fourth dictatorship, emphasizes his age
Julius Caesar denarius. April 44 BC, PARENS PATRIAE . . .
Veiled head right. / C COS SVTIVS AARDIANVS across
fields, A A A FF around
• October, 45 BCE: Caesar,
back in Rome, celebrated
a triumph over Gnaeus
Pompey
• Caesar was virtually
appointing all major
magistrates
• borrowing some of the
customs of the ruler cults
of the eastern Hellenistic
monarchies
Caesar the dictator
• February, 44 BCE: Caesar was named
dictator perpetuus
• On February 15, at the feast of Lupercalia,
Caesar wore his purple garb for the first
time in public
• Antony offered him a diadem (symbol of
the Hellenistic monarchs), but Caesar
refused it
Theatre built by Pompey the Great; scene of
Caesar’s assassination
coin of Marcus Junius Brutus of the Ides of March with a pair
of daggers and a cap of liberty (the type of headgear that was
given to slaves when they were freed); the front of the coin
depicts the head of Brutus.