 100-44 BCE
 One of the most
significant figures in
history
 Politician
 General
 Orator
 Writer
 Caesar grew up during the time of
Marius and Sulla
 Marius:
 Related to Caesar through marriage
 Reformed the army to include lower
classes
 “Populares”
 Sulla:
 Marched on Rome to become dictator
 Reformed the constitution to favor the
Senate and aristocracy
 “Optimates”
 Barely escaped Sulla’s proscriptions
 Traveled to the east serving a
Roman official
 Earned the “civic crown” for saving
the life of a fellow citizen in battle
 Supposedly captured by pirates,
whom he later executed
 Studied rhetoric in Rhodes with
Apollonius Molon
 Many military and civil posts
 Prosecutor
 Aedile in 65 BCE
 Hosted extravagant games to
win favor of the public
 Pontifex Maximus in 63 BCE
 Governor of Spain in 61 BCE
 Profit from warring against
rebellious tribes paid off his
debt
 Pompey and Crassus helped Caesar be
elected consul in 59 BCE
 Called their alliance “amicitia”
 Against mutual enemy of
Cato/optimates
 Caesar married his daughter Julia to
Pompey
 Become proconsul of
Gaul
 Conquered the rest
of Gaul by 50 BCE
 Very beneficial to
Caesar
 Wealth
 Favor of soldiers and
people
 Julia died in 54 BCE
 Crassus died fighting in
Parthia in 53 BCE
 Pompey drifted away to
other senators opposed to
Caesar
 Senate ordered Caesar to lay
down his command
 Caesar refused and crossed
the Rubicon River in 49 BCE
 “alea iacta est”
 Pompey fled to Greece
 Caesar took control of Italy
 Defeated Pompey at
Pharsalus in 48 BCE
 Pompey fled to Egypt where
he was assassinated
 Caesar supported Cleopatra
in local dispute
 Won battle of Zela in 47 BCE
 “veni, vidi, vici”
 Fought other senators in
North Africa and Spain
 Returned to Rome to
reestablish government
after civil war
 Named dictator for life
 Relieved debt, which
angered creditors
 Reformed the calendar
 Forgave his previous
enemies
 Many conspired against
him
 Assassinated him
during a Senate meeting
on March 15th, 44 BCE
 Civil war erupted after his death
 Eventually won by his great-
nephew/adopted son Octavian
(later Augustus, the first
emperor)
 Every emperor took the name
Caesar as a title
 Declared a god
 Started the Roman practice of
emperor worship
 Marks the end of the Roman
Republic
 Commentarii de bello Gallico
 Commentary on the Gallic
Wars
 7 books by Caesar, 1 book
added by Aulus Hirtius after
Caesar’s death
 Commentarii de bello civili
 Commentary on the Civil
Wars
 3 books by Caesar,
supplemented with books
about the wars in Egypt,
North Africa, and Spain
 Lost work on Latin grammar
 Commentarii
are modeled on
official reports
generals wrote
for the Senate
 Caesar’s style
 Logical, clear,
and simple
 Unemotional
observer
 Third person