Great Roman Leader:

Julius Caesar

Main Life Accomplishments:

A politician of the populares faction, he formed an unofficial triumvirate with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey the Great which dominated Roman politics for several years, although fiercely opposed by optimates like Cato the Younger. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, and he was also responsible for the first Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC, but the collapse of the triumvirate led to a stand-off with Pompey and the Senate.

Leading his legions across the Rubicon, Caesar sparked civil war in 49 BC that left him the undisputed master of the Roman world. After assuming control of the government, he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and he heavily centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic. These events incited a friend of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, and a number of other senators, to assassinate the dictator on the Ides of March (March 15) in 44 BC. The assassins hoped to restore the normal running of the Republic, but their actions led to another Roman civil war, and eventually to the establishment of the autocratic Roman Empire by Caesar's adopted heir, Augustus. In 42 BC, two years after his assassination, the Roman Senate officially sanctified him as one of the Roman deities.

Much of Caesar's life is known from his own Commentaries (Commentarii) on his military campaigns, and other contemporary sources such as the letters and speeches of Caesar's political rival Cicero, the historical writings of Sallust, and the poetry of Catullus. Many more details of his life are recorded by later historians, such as Appian, Suetonius, Plutarch, Cassius Dio and Strabo.
 

Basics:

Born: Born 12 July 100 BC (or 102 BC)in Rome, Roman Republic

Died:  Died 15 March 44 BC at Rome, Roman Republic

Nationality:  Roman

Fields:   Military, Politics

Main Accomplishments:  Most famous Roman.

 

Chronology of Life Events:

Jul 12, 100 BC

Birth of Julius Caesar
 

Nov 82 BC
He finally crushed the Marians at the Battle of the Colline Gate
 

85 BC
Julius’ father died
 

78 BC

He went back to Rome
 

75 BC

Caesar travelled to Rhodes
 

69 BC

He was elected quaestor
 

63 BC

He persuaded a tribune, Titus Labienus, to prosecute the optimate senator

Gaius Rabirius for the political murder
 

62 BC

Caesar supported Caecilius Metellus
 

59 BC

Caesar and Bibulus were elected as consuls
 

52 BC

He defeated a union of Gauls led by Vercingetorix at the battle of Alesia
 

54 BC

Caesar's daughter Julia died in childbirth
 

Jan 10 49 BC

BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only one legion and ignited civil war.
 

Jul 10 48 BC

Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat when the line of fortification was broken
 

47 BC

Caesar went to the Middle East
 

Oct 45 BC

Caesar returned to Rome
 

63 BC
Caesar had been elected Pontifex Maximus
 

46 BC

Caesar established a 365-day year with a leap year every fourth year
 

42 BC

Caesar was formally deified as "the Divine Julius" (Divus Iulius), and

Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a God").
 

Mar 15 44 BC

Death of Julius Caesar
 

Early Life:

Caesar was born circa 100BC (or possibly 102 BC) into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, the son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, himself the son of the goddess Venus. The branch of the gens Julia which bore the cognomen "Caesar" was descended, according to Pliny the Elder, from a man who was born by caesarian section (from the Latin verb to cut, caedo, -ere, caesus sum). The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations of the name: that the first Caesar killed an elephant (caesai in Moorish) in battle; that he had a thick head of hair (Latin caesaries); or that he had bright grey eyes (Latin oculis caesiis).

Although of impeccable aristocratic patrician stock, the Julii Caesares had not historically been especially politically influential, having produced only three consuls. Caesar's father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, perhaps through the influence of his prominent brother-in-law Gaius Marius, reached the rank of praetor, the second highest of the Republic's elected magistracies, and governed the province of Asia. His mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family which had produced several consuls. They lived in a modest house in the Subura, a lower class neighborhood of Rome, where Marcus Antonius Gnipho, an orator and grammarian who originally came from Gaul, was employed as Caesar's tutor. Caesar had two sisters, both called Julia. Little else is recorded of Caesar's childhood. Suetonius and Plutarch's biographies of him both begin abruptly in Caesar's teens: the opening paragraphs of both appear to be lost.

Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil. The Social War was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of Roman citizenship, while Mithridates of Pontus threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between two factions, the optimates, who favoured aristocratic rule via the Senate, and the populares, who preferred to bypass the Senate and appeal directly to the electorate. Caesar's uncle Marius was a popularis; Marius' protégé and rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an optimas. Both Marius and Sulla distinguished themselves in the Social War, and both wanted command of the war against Mithridates, which was initially given to Sulla; but when Sulla left the city to take command of his army, a tribune passed a law transferring the appointment to Marius. Sulla responded by marching on Rome. Marius was forced into exile and command was returned to Sulla, but when Sulla left on campaign Marius returned at the head of a makeshift army. He and his ally Lucius Cornelius Cinna seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy, and Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died early in 86 BC, but his faction remained in power.

In 85 BC Caesar's father died suddenly while putting on his shoes one morning, and at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family. The following year he was nominated for the position of Flamen Dialis (high priest of Jupiter—Lucius Cornelius Merula, the previous incumbent, had died in Marius's purges), and since the holder of that position not only had to be a patrician but also be married to a patrician, he broke off his engagement to Cossutia, a girl of wealthy equestrian family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, and married Cinna's daughter Cornelia.

Then, having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil war against the Marian party. After a campaign throughout Italy he finally crushed the Marians at the Battle of the Colline Gate in November 82 BC. He had himself appointed to the revived office of dictator, but whereas a dictator was traditionally appointed for six months at a time, Sulla's appointment had no fixed term limit. There followed a series of bloody proscriptions against his political enemies, which dwarfed even Marius' purges. Statues of Marius were destroyed and Marius' body was exhumed and thrown in the Tiber. Cinna was already dead, killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny. Caesar, as the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was targeted. He was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry and his priesthood, but refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against him was lifted by the intervention of his mother's family, who were supporters of Sulla, and the Vestal Virgins. Sulla gave in reluctantly, and is said to have declared that he saw many Mariuses in Caesar.
 

Wife Background:

Daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, one of the great leaders of the Marian party, was married to Gaius Julius Caesar, who would become one of Rome's greatest conquerors and its dictator. Caesar married her in 83 BC[3], when he was only seventeen years of age; and when Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix commanded him to put her away, he refused to do so and chose rather to be deprived of her fortune and to be proscribed himself. Cornelia bore him his daughter Julia,according to Tacitus Annals iii 6 in 82 or 83 BC, dying in childbirth 13 or 14 years later before his quaestorship. She was 24 or 25 years old at her death. Caesar delivered an oration in praise of her from the Rostra, when he was quaestor.

In Conn Igguldens Emperor series about the life of Julius Caesar, Cornelia becomes Caesar's love at the end of the first book (The Gates of Rome) when they are teenagers. He secretly seeks her out at night, (largely fictionalized) and she convinces her father that she can marry him after they are caught in bed but Caesar escapes. In the end, Cinna's political enemy Sulla comes to power and threatens to burn Caesar's eyes and hang him if he does not divorce her. He refuses, and - astonished - Sulla subsequently lets him go (after slaying Marius in battle when he refuses to surrender).

Cornelia is a major character in the second book (The Death of Kings), in the beginning of which she is haunted by Sulla who wants her whilst Caesar is exiled in Cilicia, fighting rebels and pirates. One night, after Cornelia has given birth to Julia, Sulla rapes her and is subsequently murdered (purely fictional) by Tubruk, Caesar's caretaker as a child and friend, who poisons Sulla as a revenge. Sulla's friends, namely Cato and the fictious General Antonidus exact revenge by having close relatives of suspected populares assassinated. Cornelia is stabbed to death while her husband is out fighting Spartacus (entirely fictional). Tubruk kills her assassins, but is himself mortally wounded and dies after having a talk with Caesar later.
 

Father Background:

Was a Roman senator, supporter and brother-in-law of Gaius Marius, and father of Julius Caesar, the later dictator of Rome.

Caesar was married to Aurelia Cotta, a member the of Aurelii and Rutilii families, and had two daughters and, in 100 BC, Julius Caesar.[1] He was the brother of Sextus Julius Caesar, consul in 91 BC.

Caesar's progress through the cursus honorum is well known, although the specific dates associated with his offices are controversial. According to two elogiae erected in Rome long after his death, Caesar was a commissioner in the colony at Cercina, military tribune, quaestor, praetor, and proconsul of Asia. The dates of these offices are unclear. The colony is probably one of Marius' of 103 BC. Broughton dated the praetorship to 92 BC, with the quaestorship falling towards the beginning of the 90s. Brennan has dated the praetorship to the beginning of the decade.

Caesar died suddenly in 85 BC, in Rome, while putting on his shoes one morning. Another Caesar, possibly his father, had died similarly in Pisa. His son, Julius Caesar, survived. His father had seen to his education by one of the best orators of Rome, Marcus Antonius Gnipho. In his will, he left Caesar the bulk of his estate, but after Marius's faction had been defeated in the civil war of the 80s BC, this inheritance was confiscated by the dictator Sulla.
 

Mother Background:

Was the mother of Julius Caesar. She was a daughter of Rutilia and Lucius Aurelius Cotta. Her father was consul in 119 BC and her paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 144 BC. The Aurelii Cottae family were prominent during the Roman Republican era. Her mother Rutilia, was a member of the Rutilius family. They were of consular rank.
Her 3 half-brothers were consuls: Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 75 BC, Lucius Cotta in 74 BC and Marcus Cotta in 65 BC; they were the sons of her mother, Rutilia's second marriage with her paternal uncle Gaius Aurelius Cotta.

Aurelia married a praetor, Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder.

The historian Tacitus, considers her as an ideal Roman matron and thinks highly of her. Plutarch describes her as a "strict and respectable" woman. Highly intelligent, independent and renowned for her beauty and common sense, Aurelia was held in high regard throughout Rome.

Aurelia and her family were very influential in her son’s upbringing and security. Her husband, the elder Gaius Caesar, was often away, so the task of raising their son fell mostly on Aurelia's shoulders. When the younger Caesar was about 18, he was ordered by the then dictator of Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, to divorce his young wife Cornelia. Young Caesar firmly refused, and by so doing, put himself at great risk from Sulla. Aurelia became involved in the petition to save her son and along with her brother Gaius Cotta, defended young Caesar against the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

During the Bona Dea festival, held at Caesar’s house, it was she who discovered Publius Clodius disguised as a woman, ostensibly in order to start or continue an affair with her second daughter-in-law Pompeia Sulla (see, Pompeia (wife of Julius Caesar). Although Caesar himself admitted her possible innocence, he divorced her shortly after saying, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."

After her first daughter in law Cornelia Cinna minor died young, Aurelia raised her young granddaughter Julia Caesonis in her stead and presided as mistress over her son's households.

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