Julius Caesar

Life and legacy

Gaius Julius Caesar was born into the Julian clan, an ancient patrician family that claimed descent from the goddess Venus but had fallen into relative political obscurity. His early career followed the conventional path of a Roman aristocrat - military service, legal advocacy, political office - but from the beginning he displayed an ambition and populist instinct that alarmed the conservative establishment. His alliance with Pompey and Crassus in the so-called First Triumvirate of 60 BCE gave him the political leverage to secure the governorship of Gaul.

The Gallic Wars (58-50 BCE) made Caesar one of the most powerful men in the Roman world. Over eight years of relentless campaigning, he conquered the entirety of Gaul (modern France, Belgium, and parts of Germany and Switzerland), twice bridged the Rhine, and twice invaded Britain. His own account of these campaigns, the Commentarii de Bello Gallico, is a masterpiece of clear Latin prose and self-promotion. The conquest brought Rome millions of slaves and vast new territories, while making Caesar fabulously wealthy and giving him an army of hardened veterans personally loyal to him.

When the Senate, led by Pompey and the conservative faction, ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome as a private citizen, he faced a stark choice: comply and face prosecution, or cross the Rubicon River with his legions and plunge Rome into civil war. On 10 January 49 BCE, he chose war. The phrase "the die is cast" (alea iacta est), attributed to him by Suetonius at this moment, became one of the most famous utterances in history. In a lightning campaign, Caesar defeated Pompey and his allies across the Mediterranean - in Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain again - displaying a speed and decisiveness that left his opponents perpetually off balance.

As dictator, Caesar enacted sweeping reforms: he extended Roman citizenship, reformed the calendar (creating the Julian calendar that remained in use until the sixteenth century), redistributed land to veterans and the poor, and launched ambitious building projects. He showed unprecedented clemency to defeated enemies, pardoning men like Brutus and Cassius who had fought against him. Yet his accumulation of power, his acceptance of unprecedented honors, and suspicions that he aimed at kingship provoked a conspiracy among senators who styled themselves defenders of the Republic.

On 15 March 44 BCE - the Ides of March - a group of roughly sixty senators stabbed Caesar to death at a meeting of the Senate, reportedly inflicting twenty-three wounds. His assassination did not save the Republic but instead triggered another round of civil wars that ultimately led to the establishment of the Roman Empire under his adopted heir, Octavian. Caesar's name became a title - Kaiser, Tsar - that echoed through two millennia of European monarchy.

Key accomplishments

• Conquered Gaul (58-50 BCE), adding vast territories to the Roman Republic
• Crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE, triggering the civil war that ended the Republic
• Reformed the Roman calendar, creating the Julian calendar used for over 1,500 years
• Wrote the Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a foundational work of Latin prose
• Extended Roman citizenship and enacted land reform for veterans and the poor

Quotes

Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

Reported by Plutarch (Life of Caesar) and Suetonius (Lives of the Twelve Caesars), referring to his rapid victory at Zela in 47 BCE

The die is cast.

Attributed by Suetonius (Divus Iulius, 32) upon crossing the Rubicon in 49 BCE

Related figures