Alek, T.A, José, john, and nelson

• 102/100 BCE: Gaius Julius Caesar was born
• His family had noble, patrician roots, although they were neither rich nor influential in this period.

• 85 BCE: His father died, and a few years later he was betrothed and possibly married to a wealthy young woman, Cossutia.
• This betrothal/marriage was soon broken off, and at age 18 he married Cornelia, the daughter of a prominent member. she later bore him his only legitimate child, a daughter, Julia.

• 79 BCE: Caesar, on the staff of a military legate, was awarded the civic crown (oak leaves) for saving the life of a citizen in battle.
His general sent him on an embassy to
Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, to obtain a fleet of ships

• Caesar was born in Rome to a well-known patrician family (gens Julia) which supposedly traced its ancestry to Julius, the son of the
Trojan prince Aeneas, who according to myth was the son of Venus.

• In 50 BC, the Senate, led by Pompey, ordered
Caesar to return to Rome and disband his army because his term as Proconsul had finished.
Moreover, the Senate forbade Caesar to stand for a second consulship in absentia. Caesar knew that he would be prosecuted and politically eliminated if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a Consul or without the power of his legions.

• 46 BC, February - Battle of Thapsus: defeats the Pompeian army of Metellus Scipio in North
Africa.
• 45 BC March 17 - Battle of Munda: defeats the
Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Gnaeus
Pompeius

• Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician who overthrew the Roman Republic and established the rule of the emperors.
• Gaius Julius Caesar was born on July 12, 100 B.C.E. to
Gaius Caesar and Aurelia.
• A conspiracy (secret plan) was formed to remove
Caesar and restore the government to the Senate.

• When Gaius Julius Caesar was born, the leading man in Rome was Gaius Marius, who had saved the Roman republic several years before by defeating two
Germanic tribes, the Teutones (102) and the Cimbri
(101).
• The connections between the Marius and the Julius families were very close: Marius was married to a sister of Caesar's father, Julia.

• Between 81 and 79, Caesar served in Asia
Minor on the personal staff of Marcus Minucius
Thermus, who was praetor. Caesar was sent on a diplomatic mission to king Nicomedes IV of
Bithynia (ruled 94-74) and was rumored to have had a love affair with this ruler.

• When young Julius (as he preferred to be known, dropping his real first name, which was
Gaius just like his father's) was 15, his father died.
• He spent a few years making a name for himself in the military and then got married, to a woman named Cornelia, who was the daughter of an important man in the Popular group.

• A few years into their marriage, Cornelia gave birth to a daughter, Julia.
• Things changed when Sulla ruled the Roman government as dictator. For one thing, Sulla ordered
Julius to divorce Cornelia, since she was from the family of one Sulla's enemies.
• Caesar refused and instead went into hiding, in order to avoid a certain death sentence for refusing to obey the dictator's wishes.

• He was eventually pardoned and later returned to
Rome when Sulla died, in 78 B.C.
• After the pardon, Caesar continued to rise in the rankings of government, being elected pontifex maximus (chief priest) and then praetor. He also continued his military successes and was elected consul, in 60 B.C.

• An outspoken opponent of Caesar for many years had been Cato, a brilliant speaker who saw in Caesar a man who would put himself first, before Rome or its people. Cato, already famous before Caesar arrived on the scene, allied himself with Caesar's political opponents.

• After Caesar's string of victories in the East,
Cato and others of Caesar's opponents fled to
Africa. Caesar, having returned to Rome, went to Africa and defeated his opponents there, at the Battle of Thapsus. Cato, unable to bear the shame of being defeated or pardoned, killed himself.