JULIUS CAESAR

FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE

3 MEN BEFORE 1 – CRASSUS

•One of the wealthiest men in Rome.

•He had made a fortune in finance and investing.

•Put down the slave revolt lead by Spartacus

•By 71 BCE, was the military hero he longed to be.

•He was hailed as the savior of Rome.

POMPEY•Gnaeus Pompeius was a much better general than Crassus.

•He had defended the Senate against a rebellion by Lepidus in 77 and against Sertorius in 72.

•In 72 BCE, Pompey returned to Italy with his army, which he kept at a safe distance from Rome.

•He aligns with Crassus, and pressures the Senate to let him to run for Consul, which they do.

GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR•Caesar had far more ambition than resources.

•Spent enormous amounts of money buying influence, including giving public games as aedile that eclipsed anything that had gone before.

•He was immensely popular, but he also found that he was broke. As he entered his military career (the next step after engaging in local politics), he found that he was not only broke but deeply in debt.

•He was given command of the forces in Gaul. He went to Gaul knowing he must do something spectacular or face ruin.

CAESAR IN GAUL• Over the course of ten years,

Caesar won several brilliant victories.

• He crossed the Rhine River in 56, the first to bring Roman armies into Germany.

• He invaded Britain in 55.

• After the revolt, he organized and pacified Gaul, exercising full political and military control there.

• Gaul brought Caesar mountains of gold.

• The barbarians were rich in precious metals and jewels, and he plundered them willingly.

CAESAR IN GAUL• The plunder catapulted Caesar

into the uppermost ranks of the wealthy.

• He rewarded his soldiers handsomely, bribed Senators right and left, and essentially purchased for himself a political career

• Gaul also gave Caesar a fiercely loyal army.

• He was an outstanding commander, creating in his men a devotion that outlived Caesar himself.

• By the end of the Gallic Rebellion in 51, he had great wealth and the best army in Rome.

THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE• By 57 BCE, Pompey and Crassus were not getting along, and

Rome was at the brink of civil war.

• Cicero, leader of the senate, allied with Pompey.

• Caesar intervenes as a neutral negotiator.

• The 3 agree to join forces and dictate their terms to the Senate.

• Crassus got command of Syria, Pompey got Spain, and Caesar got 5 more years in Gaul.

• Caesar wanted more time to consolidate his wealth and power before entering politics in Rome

THE MEDITERRANEAN, 59 BCE

THE END OF THE REPUBLIC• The 50s BCE mark the effective end of the Republic, if not its

official end.

• Political anarchy reigned in Rome at the hands of the triumvirs.

• All sides did not hesitate to use violence, with the result that there was more or less open gang warfare.

• The city was filled to overflowing with the unemployed, who found ample work by joining the gangs.

• Pompey is aligned with the Senate and essentially becomes a puppet.

• Crassus loses a battle in 53 to a Parthian army and is killed.

CRISIS FOR ROME AND THE SENATE

• Caesar's enemies, especially Cicero, decided that the hero must be brought to heel before he became too strong.

• They were able to bring treason charges against him in the year 50.

• The charges were not only false, everyone knew them to be false. But everyone also understood that there would be a conviction.

• Pompey, the champion of the Senate and acting on its behalf, ordered Caesar to return to Rome to stand trial. This was equal to a declaration of war.

• Caesar now had to decide whether to return to Rome and risk almost certain condemnation, or to defy the Senate and risk almost certain civil war.

• Caesar brought his army into Cisalpine Gaul -- what is today northern Italy. The southernmost edge of Gaul was the little river called the Rubicon.

CROSSING THE RUBICON• Caesar brought his soldiers to the River Rubicon in the

winter and tried to negotiate a compromise.

• Pompey refused to negotiate.

• He thought for an hour or so. He spoke with his officers.

• Then he gave the orders to cross the Rubicon, January 10 of 49.

• The moment his soldiers set foot on the other side, Caesar was automatically an outlaw and his only recourse was to war.

THE END OF THE SENATE

Senatus Populusque Romanus (Latin) – “The Senate and the Roman People”

CIVIL WAR• In two months, Caesar chased his enemies from Italy.

• The speed of Caesar's advance caught everyone by surprise.

• His army was able to move as fast as 100 miles in a single day, and even his normal rate of march was much faster than his enemies could manage.

• Pompey crossed the Adriatic Sea, leaving Rome to Caesar, who found a city largely empty of Senators.

• Caesar pursued Pompey into Greece, catching up with him at Pharsalus.

ANCIENT BATTLES: PHARSALUS• August 9th 48 BCE

• Take notes on the battle from the video

“I came, I saw, I conquered”Julius Caesar

PHARSALUS, THEN EGYPT• Pompey had 40,000 men, Caesar only 22,000, but Caesar's men

were seasoned veterans and much of Pompey's forces were little more than the home guard.

• Despite the odds, Caesar won the battle. Quite a number of senators fell at Pharsalus, and Pompey himself fled to Egypt.

• Caesar quickly ordered matters in Greece and pursued Pompey.

• When the Egyptians saw Caesar coming after their unwelcome guest, they discreetly murdered Pompey.

• Thus ended the first Triumvirate. Crassus was dead. Pompey was dead. Only Caesar remained.

• Caesar became smitten with Cleopatra, pharaoh of Egypt, and took her as a wife.

ENDING RESISTANCE TO ROME• Caesar left Egypt in 47 and marched north to Syria and Asia

Minor, where a number of kings had taken advantage of the civil war to break their treaties with Rome.

• In a memorable series of battles over the course of five days, Julius Caesar defeated one army after another and quashed every rebel.

• In 46, he was in Africa, dealing with another ambitious general who sought to test his strength against Caesar.

• Having dealt with that, Caesar went to Spain in 45 and defeated the last of the Roman resistance.

• He then returned to Rome, the undisputed master of the empire.

FAMOUS QUOTES• “If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all

other cases observe it.”

• “What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.”

• “It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.”

• “Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.”

• “Experience is the teacher of all things.”

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/julius_caesar.html

THE IDES OF MARCH• Caesar was now master of Rome and made himself consul and

dictator.

• He used his power to carry out much-needed reform, relieving debt, enlarging the senate, building the Forum Iulium and revising the calendar.

• Dictatorship was always regarded a temporary position but in 44 BC, Caesar took it for life.

• His success and ambition alienated the strongly republican senators.

• A group of these, led by Cassius and Brutus, assassinated Caesar on the Ides (15) of March 44 BC.

SENATORS CELEBRATE MURDER OF CAESAR

WHY ASSASSINATE CAESAR?• Rich intent upon restoring republican liberties by doing

away with a despotic usurper

• They perceived him to be a popular leader who threatened their privileged interests

• Wealthy Romans made no secret of their fear and hatred of the common people and of anyone else who infringed upon their class prerogatives

• The rich valued the Republic only as long as it served their way of life

• This sparked the final round of civil wars that ended the Republic and brought about the elevation of Caesar's great nephew and designated heir, Octavian, as Augustus, the first emperor.