Julius Caesar and The Ides of March

Had Caesar been taken with the ancient cultures of the East, where he was worshipped as a living god to the point that he would now apply his godlike status to Rome? The answer came in late 45 BC when the Senate proclaimed that from this time forward Caesar was to be honored as Divus Iulius or Julius the God. Early in 44 BC, Caesar was seen wearing the high red boots once worn by kings in Italy's ancient past. Who could doubt now that he was about to perform the sacrilege of having himself declared a king? There is evidence that Caesar realized that he had gone too far, for on 15 February 44 BC he twice refused the offer by Mark Antony of a crown. The second time Antony offered the crown "a groan echoed all the way round the Forum." (Cicero, Phillipics, 2.85.). In Caesar's mind this certainly couldn't have been of much consequence. As Cleopatra was known as both a pharaoh to the Egyptians and a Macedonian queen to the Greeks, so Caesar would also be a living god in the East and a dictator in Rome. What indeed was the point of formally abolishing the Republic when the dictator himself was said to have uttered that the Republic had been brought to "nothingness, a name only, without body or substance." (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 77.). Julius Caesar appeared to have felt very secure in his new position, as he dismissed his guard of two thousand men and appeared in the Forum with only the lictors that came with his office.

When Favonius, who was Cato's most enthusiastic supporter said, "Better an illegal tyrant than a civil war." (Plutarch, Brutus, 12.), Caesar probably felt that most people in Rome-even the most republican leaning senators were more terrified about what would happen without him. And sure enough, though he hadn't been in Rome long at all he was preparing to leave for to fight the Parthians on 18 March 44 BC, and take revenge for Crassus's disastrous campaign in 53 BC. A soothsayer or astrologer-perhaps a person with a combination of fortune telling talents had warned Caesar about the Ides of March, which by our calendar today would be the thirteenth or the fifteenth of the month. In public anyway, Caesar scorned superstitions and warnings of death. To be afraid was to be emasculated. Interesting also-and I am thinking of this in relations to dreams and warnings of other political leaders down through the ages-all the way up to Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy; Caesar's wife Pompeia, had terrible nightmares and begged him not to attend the Senate the next day. Caesar laughed at her worries and as he was being carried in his litter, he is said to have sighted the prognosticator who had warned him of the Ides, the following exchange is reported to have taken place: "The day which you warned me against is here, and I am still alive," said Caesar, to which the soothsayer replied, "Yes, it is here-but it is not yet past." (Cassius Dio, 44.18.).

On that morning the Senate had arranged to meet in Pompey's great assembly hall. Pompey's statue had been removed after Caesar's victory at Pharsalus but Caesar had ordered it put back, along with all of the other Pompeian statues. Cicero had held this action of Caesar's in a kind of contempt and said it was nothing more than an insurance policy that nobody would take Caesar's statues down in the future. It must have seemed like business as usual when Julius Caesar came into the hall and the senators rose to greet him. A crowd of them approached him with a petition as he sat down in his gilded chair. Suddenly, he felt his toga being pulled down from his shoulders. Caesar, startled, yelled, "Why this is violence!" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). 60 men now crowded around him with daggers pulled out from under their togas. Every one of the men was known to him. Some were his former enemies who had accepted his pardon but -many more of the men were his friends. Some of the men had even served with him in Gaul, Decimus Brutus, the commander of the fleet that had routed the Venetians was among them. The final, most terrible and stunning betrayal of Caesar was the one that made him stop fighting for his life. Julius Caesar had seen his own supposed son (by his mistress Servilia) among the knife wielders-another Brutus-Marcus. This is the betrayal that caused the famous words to be echoed down through the ages as either: "You too, Brutus?" or "You too, my boy?" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). Caesar did not want to be seen in the throws of his death agony, so he covered his head with the tatters of his toga. He had fallen in a pool of blood at the base of his old rival, Pompey's statue.

Some of the conspirators had also wanted the deaths of Mark Antony, Lepidus and the downfall of the whole regime. However, Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's reputed son and the conscience of the conspiracy would not agree to this. In his eyes they were executing a traitor against the Republic and not dabbling in the less noble ideals of political infighting. This turned out to be a problem, however, as the men-or some of them anyway-seemed to think the people would rally around the saviors of the Republic. Instead as news spread of the dictator's death, the spectator's at Pompey's theater began rioting and Rome's Jews were wailing in their grief at the death of the man they had always thought of as a friend. Cicero was one who got caught up in the aftermath of the Ides of March. Previous to this his much beloved daughter, Tullia had died following childbirth. It would be an understatement to say that Cicero was devastated by her loss. She had been a loving and intelligent daughter. In fact, in a society where men ruled over everything, she had been her father's dearest companion. Even his friends had thought his extremely emotional reaction to her death was a bit unmanly and told him he should put his duties as a citizen first. However, these old values which had once been such an inspiration to him only made him feel a deeper sadness. He explained his feelings to a friend: "There was a time when I could find in my home a refuge from the miseries of public life. But now, oppressed by domestic unhappiness as I am, there is no doing the opposite-no taking refuge in the affairs of state, and the comforts they once offered. And so I stay clear of both the Forum and of home." (Cicero, To Friends, 4.6.).

An important note here-commenter Xdell had made me wonder to check back through some posts to see if I had the actual date of Julius Caesar's being made dictator here. As far as I can tell I don't. Julius Caesar was made "Dictator in Perpetuity" or dictator for life by the Senate between 9 and 15 February 44 BC. The idea of a "dictator" was an actual office in ancient Rome. There is a bit about this in the "Sulla" posts-and not just a name like we refer to tyrants now. The fact that I didn't have such an important piece of information here (all the time I thought I was going into too much detail) makes me wonder if I should stop doing the majority of the work I do for both of my blogs in between the hours of 11pm and 4 am. I will look through tonights (hopeful) post and see if I am missing anything important.

The image is an artist's rendering of the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March-only problem is -I have no idea which artist-haha! I had picked out another rendition done in 1800 by Camenucci but when I posted the image it was too small, so I will try to find out who did this one-shouldn't be too hard-even for me. I hope to have the next post here soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Julius Caesar Triumphant Part Two

Pompey had also never staged four triumphs in a row. The crowds were awed by the spectacle of battles on artificial lakes, giraffes, British war chariots and many other sights. The peoples he had conquered-Gauls, Egyptians, Asians and Africans, all marched in chains before the cheering crowds. Caesar did make a rare propaganda mistake during the African triumph. He had an image of Cato killing himself in the triumphal procession. Caesar claimed he was right to do this by claiming Cato and all of the men who fought with him were the slaves of the Africans, and had died as traitors. The crowds wept when they saw this particular display-to them Cato still represented all that had been good about the Republic. Now, however, the Republic was under Caesar's control. The Senate, awed itself by the greatness of Caesar's victories and intimidated by his awesome power, sought to think of ways to legitimize his standing in the Roman state. These efforts must have been awful for the strict constitutionalists. Caesar had already been declared dictator twice-the first time in late 49 BC for eleven days when he presided over his own rushed and unconstitutional election to the consulship. The second time had been in October 48 BC when he had been appointed for a year. Caesar was now awarded a dictatorship fo the third time in the spring of 46 BC, and the term was an unheard of ten years.


In addition to his already being a consul, Caesar was also given the power to nominate all of the magistrates. A new office-"Prefect of Morals" was created for him to much ironic amusement. Caesar had surpassed Sulla in the power he held over Rome. This was a time of uncertainty which for some offered the possibility of a brighter future. Hadn't Sulla given up his power voluntarily after he had 'cured' the Republic? Caesar's plans to heal the wounds of the civil war were unknown but few would deny a cure was needed. Some quotes by famous men of the time are instructive here. Cicero said of Caesar, "We are like his slaves, but he is a slave of the times." (Cicero, To Friends, 9.15.). Another, Cassius Longinus, who had been Pompey's best naval commander said, "I'd much rather have our old, merciful master than to take our chance with a new and bloodthirsty one." (Cicero, To Friends, 15.19.). Longinus admitted this to Cicero himself after Caesar had left to deal with a rebellion that the sons of Pompey, Gnaeus and Sextus, had raised in Spain. Marcus Junius Brutus was once again in a painful position. Brutus was Cato's nephew and at first had condemned his suicide on philosophical grounds. He still believed Caesar would ultimately restore the constitution. Brutus wanted to both remain loyal to his uncle's memory and Caesar also. He did this by divorcing his wife and marrying Cato's daugher Porcia. Brutus was not finished sending what he hoped would be a message to Caesar about his hopes for a restored Republic.

He did an obituary in honor of his uncle and implored Cicero, as Rome's greatest man of words to do likewise. This assignment must have been painful for Cicero and perhaps he accepted as much out of shame as out of vanity. Cicero knew that his old reputation as the 'Savior of the Republic' after the Catiline conspiracy and as a spokesman for republican values had been harmed by his acceptance of a pardon from Caesar. He was now putting himself on the line a bit by honoring Cato. Cicero had written that Cato was one of the few men greater than his reputation. This was a solemn judgment of all those who bowed to Caesar, including himself. Even though Caesar was far away in Spain he caught news of these pro-Cato tracts and answered with his own called the "Anti-Cato." His portrayal of Cato as a drunkard and insane was so completely absurd that it was treated with contempt when it was distributed as a pamphlet in Rome. It helped Cato's reputation instead of harming it. Caesar's reputation for being a man who flaunted tradition was growing by leaps and bounds. Cleopatra had come to Rome to watch Caesar's triumphs in September 46 BC. Not only did she not acknowledge republican sensibilities, she played the role of exotic Eastern queen to the hilt. She had set up housekeeping in Caesar's mansion on the other side of the Tiber. This mansion would have had beautiful gardens (his hortus).

Cleopatra was accompanied by her brother and husband -the fifteen year old Ptolemy XIV-probably to much additional Roman scorn. Along with the many eunuchs and slaves she would have brought with her, she also brought Caesar's one year old unacknowledged love-child-Ptolemy Caesar or Caesarion. The names of the child alone left the paternity of the boy in little doubt. Needless to say the Roman citizenry were no doubt scandalized -and yet as always curiosity won out as many tried to get as close a look at her and her entourage as possible. They would not have had much luck in this matter. Cleopatra had refused to meet with any Romans unless they 'mattered'; Cicero found her hateful. The Roman people could only further wonder what mysterious hold this exotic queen from this mysterious land had over their leader when they learned Caesar planned to rebuild Carthage and Corinth as monuments to a new age. In Julius Caesar's vision of Rome citizens would feel like a part of the world instead of just its masters. Caesar also wanted to build a huge new library in Rome, a theater so huge it would outdo Pompey's and even planned to divert the Tiber because its flow obstructed his building plans. In August 45 BC Caesar returned to Italy and Cleopatra went off to be with him. The two took a luxurious vacation in the countryside and it wasn't until October that Caesar finally returned to Rome. The talk in Rome was that Caesar planned to move the seat of empire to Alexandria. It was also believed, although this less absurdly, that he planned to marry Cleopatra, although he was already married to Pompeia. Caesar had done much to bring these wild rumors no matter how wild or how mild-upon himself. For he had set up a golden statue of his mistress in the temple of Venus. This was an unusal and shocking honor to say the least-and all for an uppity, incestuous Eastern queen and probably offended many Romans greatly; just what the hell was Caesar doing? Why was a pediment being added to his mansion so that it looked like a temple? Was there any truth to the rumor that Mark Antony had been appointed as his high priest?

The image is yet another fresco discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. I hope to have the next post here very soon. For once, I am quite ahead on the amount of information I have to be typed and it is just my typing skills-or lack therof preventing more from being here. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Julius Caesar Triumphant Part One

One would have thought that Caesar would have hurried back to Rome at this point. Mark Antony's incompetence as an administrator was causing widespread dissent in Rome. Cato and Metellus Scipio were putting together new armies in Africa. And in Asia, King Pharnaces, Mithridates' son had proven the apple doesn't fall far from the tree by invading Pontus. Amazingly, Caesar did no such thing and lingered by Cleopatra's side for two more months in Egypt. This is probably when Cleopatra's allure and abilities at seduction began to be seen by some Romans as almost demonic. We can wonder if Cleopatra's royal presecence in his life also put some ideas of monarchy in his mind. In the late spring of 47 BC the happy duo began a cruise down the Nile in a flotilla of 400 ships. Cleopatra was recognized as the living incarnation of the goddess Isis. Did the idea of not only sleeping with a living divinity-but that very same goddess incarnate carrying his child also put royal pretensions in Julius Caesar's mind?

Caesar finally left Egypt in June 47 BC to deal with a revolt in Asia Minor a few weeks before Cleopatra gave birth to his son-Ptolemy Caesar or Caesarion. Then in October he was back in Rome. He had been away now for nine months-absent largely from the results of a conflict he started. Now he needed to move fast, first he dismissed Antony, under whose leadership Italy was in disarray and the legions were becoming mutinous. Then in a dashing act of brilliant theater he faced down his troops. The devotion of Caesar's men to their leader was almost like a love affair. There would be quarrels from time to time, but in the end his soldiers truly adored him and Caesar in his turn was utterly loyal to them. Once again the bond of trust and affection of thousands of men was the most important factor of political power in Rome. Another interesting fact about Caesar's men is that many of them did not come from Roman Italy but the provinces of Gaul. To a large degree they weren't Roman citizens (as in principle they should have been) and had no emotional or patriotic ties that would keep them from fighting Romans. In April 46 BC in Utica, twenty miles away from the ruins of what had been Rome's most hated enemy, Carthage, Cato realized the Republic was lost. Caesar and his men had defeated Metellus Scipio's army in a huge rout despite being greatly outnumbered. Africa was now under Caesar's control and there was no possible way Cato could hold Utica against him.

Cato had supplied the bloody remnants of Scipio's army with ships to make their escape-but he had no intention of joining them. On this particular evening, as Cato was eating supper, the talk had turned to the subject of philosophy. The idea of freedom had been mentioned and along with it the notion that only the good can truly be free. Surprisingly, Caesar was not mentioned during this discussion. Later that night, after reading the Phaedo, which was Plato's great dialogue about the last days of Socrates, Cato stabbed himself. He was discovered by his attendants on the floor and still alive. But while desperate measures were made to dress the wound, Cato ripped off the bandages and tore out his intestines and quickly bled to death. Caesar found the whole city in mourning and his old enemy put in a grave by the sea like Pompey had been. Caesar addressed his old enemy saying, "Just as you envied me the chance of sparing you, Cato, so I envy you this death." (Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 73.). Cato, in not accepting a Caesarian pardon and instead choosing death, became an even more powerful symbol, as he was the man most identified with the spirit of Roman freedom and the constitution. In July 46 BC Caesar returned to Rome. His fellow citizens were invited to watch his victory parades and Caesar put on a show the likes of which not even Pompey had ever done to rival.

The image is a painting of Antony and Cleopatra together on her boat. I hope I haven't already used this one and will check. For a time period where there are so many fascinating people and events it seems like I have the hardest time finding images for these posts! I do think it is good to use marble busts and coinage in particular-as the inscriptions and images on coins really tell a great deal about the mood and psychology of the times -but I also get bored with constantly using these. In the book I am going to use for a guide to the twelve Caesars -I should say ten because we will have already looked at Julius and Augustus in great depth-the author tells a great deal about the meanings and symbols on coinage of the different reigns and what it said of the politics of the times in each different reign-really interesting info. I hope to have the next post here soon as the information is written out and just needs to be typed but I won't make any promises as this seems to always get me in trouble! Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Fifteen

Alexandria was a city without compare in the ancient world. Some ancient commentators even thought its population surpassed Rome itself. It was not in the area of population that mattered however. The city of Alexandria was also far more beautiful and exquisite than Rome. Whereas the rugged labyrinth of Rome had been built up confusingly over the centuries, Alexandria was layed out in a grid system that was almost unchanged since the conquering Macedonian, Alexander the Great had founded the city three centuries before. Magnificent colonnades lined the streets which were in the first city in the world to boast numbered addresses. The much celebrated library of Alexandria was home to around 700,000 scrolls. This library had been built with the intention of having every book ever written available to scholars in one place. The financial institutions and the port of the city itself flowed with the capital and products of East and West alike. Egypt was also a land of immense fertility and the Roman who conquered this wonderfully and ancient land would be in control of the breadbasket of the Meditteranean. In our timeline thus far, Rome let the Ptolemaic dynasty rule Egypt on their own. The dynasty had catered to their every whim and of course the Ptolemies were very effective at milking their subjects on both their own and Rome's behalf.

The Romans had always regarded the dynasty, with its incestual marriages and Eastern decadence with scorn. Cato had found a particularly unique way of expressing his contempt. Once, when Cato had been administering Cyprus, a Ptolemy had come to see him. Cato spent the entire audience with the king sitting on the lavatory, as he had been undergoing treatment with a laxative. Caesar arrived in Egypt shortly after Pompey's death. The men who had taken part in the murder of Pompey had expected Caesar to be very grateful to them and award their charge, the boy-king Ptolemy XIII the throne in the ongoing battle with his sister Cleopatra over the Egyptian throne. However, even though Caesar must have been quite relieved that Pompey was out of the picture he was disgusted by the way he had been killed. He had wept when he had been presented with his former son-in-laws pickled head at the harbor upon his arrival and became even more furious when he learned the background details of the court intrigue that had led to his death. So instead of immediately backing Ptolemy XIII Caesar began to act like a king himself. He needed a place to stay and chose the royal palace! This enormous, fortified complex of buildings had been built up over the centuries until it covered almost a third of Alexandria.

Julius Caesar announced he would act as a judge in the royal dispute. He ordered both Ptolemy and Cleopatra to disband their armies and meet him in Alexandria. Ptolemy didn't disband-but was wisely persuaded by the eunuch Pothius (the central orchestrator of the plot against Pompey) to return to the palace. However, Cleopatra had no way to get to the capital and was trapped behind her brother's forces. She came up with an ingenious plan to circumvent this situation. One evening a small boat stealthily arrived at the palace. A Sicilian merchant named Apollodorus got out of the boat carrying a large bag on his shoulder that was supposed to contain a carpet. Apollodorus was able to smuggle the bag before Caesar. When the carpet was unrolled it revealed the astonishing sight of Cleopatra. In all probability Cleopatra was not the stunning beauty of Hollywood and other portrayals. She more than made up for this according to Plutarch: "Her sex appeal, together with the charm of her conversation and the charisma evident in everything she said or did, made her, quite simply, irresistible." (Plutarch, Antony, 27.). Cleopatra had gambled that Caesar would be charmed off his feet by her highly original debut into his life and she won. Caesar had been soldiering for more than a decade and intelligent female company must have been a rare pleasure. Not only was Cleopatra intelligent but ambitious also-a quality Caesar was no stranger to. They made love the very same evening.

This new love affair led to a very embarrassing situation for Caesar for a time. Perhaps love and the mysterious ways of Egypt had somewhat blinded him, for Julius Casear would normally have had great skill at avoiding such a mess. Upon hearing of Cleopatra's "meeting" with Caesar, Ptolemy ordered the citizens of Alexandria to riot, a habit they were much given over to. Also, Caesar's demands for money and his heavy handed treatment of the Alexandrians didn't exactly make him a very popular man anyway. The Alexandrians attacked the hated Romans with gusto. They were so successful that Caesar's position became so precarious that he had to recognize Ptolemy's joint monarchy with Cleopatra and give Cyprus back to the dynastic pair. Once the mob was joined by Ptolemy's army his situation became even more desperate-he couldn't even get a letter smuggled to Rome. During the next five months it seemed that nothing could go right for Caesar. When his forces burned the Egyptian fleet in the harbor, the bibliophile Caesar accidentally set fire to warehouses packed full of priceless books (a note here-this could possibly have been the whole Library of Alexandria that was torched accidentally, a catastrophe for which Muslims and Christians have also been blamed). These setbacks were only temporary, however, and Caesar finally regained control of the palace and the harbor. He also had the plotting eunuch Pothius put to death. In March of 47 BC reinforcements finally arrived in Egypt. By now, Cleopatra was visibly pregnant with Caesar's baby. The young Ptolemy XIII had tried to flee Alexandria, as Caesar's forces had destroyed the royal army at the delta of the river Nile. His boat was accidentally overturned by his soldiers who were also trying to get away on his ship and the unlucky boy drowned. This accident was very fortunate for Cleopatra and left her the sole ruler of Egypt.

I want to have the next post here soon. I am going to work on an article for my other blog tonight-but after that most of the time I have available to do research will be for this blog. The image is a silver tetradrachm showing an image of Cleopatra. The ancient portrayals of Cleopatra range from the sublime to the positively witch-like. From the research I have been able to do about her physical appearance it seems she wasn't a raving beauty-but not ugly at all either. With Cleopatra it seems to be the force of her personality and intelligence that most captivated the famous men who loved her. In Julius Caesar she had met her male counterpart as far as political ambition and both ruthlessness and subtlety could be used to achieve political ends. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Four

Wanting to prove himself as a general, Caesar went to rule Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul (northern Italy and southern France). From here he launched an invasion of the rest of Gaul (central and northern France and Belgium). Julius Caesar found he needed more time to complete the conquest of Gaul, so he arranged, in a very Caesar like fashion for a second five year term as governor. By 49 BC, he added and enormous new province to the empire. He also had a "blooded," experienced army that would follow him to the ends of the earth in their loyalty to their general-not the Republic itself. In 53 BC, Crassus, wanting to win glory of his own commanded an expedition against the Parthian empire. The Parthians were skilled and fierce as fighters and invented the famed "Parthian shot," where they would ride up to an enemy, abruptly gallop away, while turning around in their seats to loose an arrow. They had become the dominating force on the Iranian plateau by the third century BC, and from about 190 BC they governed Mesopotamia (the heartland of the old Assyrian and Babylonian empires in modern Iraq) on and off. The Romans were dependent of infantry and found these skilled and agile warriors hard to defeat.

The Parthians were a problem for Rome because they had a tendency to meddle in Rome's eastern provinces and in the client kingdoms that acted as buffer regions between the two empires. Armenia was the great prize that both empires sought to control. Armenia was strategically important as it looked both eastward and westward. Parthia would have been an even more aggressive power prone to foreign adventurism were it not for murderous dynastic disputes that flared up frequently. A few years prior, the proconsul of Syria had supported a claimant to the Parthian throne that had not succeeded and needless to say angered the current ruling monarch. Relations between Rome and the Parthian empire were rocky and each side felt it had plenty of good reasons to launch a preemptive war against the other. Crassus and Pompey had always been enemies at heart-only cooperating because of opportunistic reasons. In large part it seems that Pompey engendered in Crassus an inferiority complex and most of the hatred seems to have been from Crassus towards Pompey. Now was Crassus' chance to win honors and glory that would rival Caesar and most importantly Pompey. This was not to be.

Crassus had an army of about 35,000 men and marched into Mesopotamia. Near Carrhae his army clashed with about 10,000 mounted Parthian archers. The terrain was open downland and ideal for the Parthians to pick off the helpless Roman legionaires one by one. Both Crassus and his son were killed in the fighting and only about 10,000 of his men survived. It was the most humiliating defeat ever for the proud Romans and many legionary standards were also captured. This was a debacle that demanded retribution from Rome when the political situation permitted it. The First Triumvirate took away quite a few men's blinders that Sulla's "restoration" of the Republic had worked. The pact between the three men was secret and illegal -but of course it didn't take a genius -especially for the higher-ups in Roman society to figure out what was going on. The trio had shown that if you had boatloads of money, soldiers loyal to you instead of the Republic that you could ignore the ruling class and in effect create a new government. The support of many citizens especially in Caesar's and Pompey's cases also helped in the takeover. As the 50's BC drew to a close the alliance started to crack despite Caesar's wishes and maneuverings. Crassus was dead and Pompey was jealous of Caesar's military triumphs in Gaul, and started becoming more accomodating to the optimates (conservative hard-liners in the Senate such as Cato).

Caesar had intended to stand for the consulship in 48 BC when his term of office was over as governor of Gaul which was set to end in late 50 BC or 49. Caesar wanted both an extension of his governorship and permission to stand for consul in abstentia. It was crucial to Caesar's plans that there was no interim of private citizenship during his office seeking. This was because Cato and his friends in the Senate were chomping at the bit to prosecute him for crimes he had committed when he was consul ten years previously. Certain of Pompey's support, Cato and his bloc of senators pressed for Caesar's early recall. Obviously Julius Caesar was willing to do anything to prevent this from happening, as he would certainly be found guilty of constitutional crimes. In 50 BC the Senate, led by Pompey and Cato ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome because his term in Gaul had ended. The Senate also forbade Caesar to stand for consul in abstentia. Caesar had bought the support of poor, young tribunes of the people who vetoed any hostile senatorial decrees. The most important of these men was the 33 year old Marcus Antonius-better known to us as Mark Antony. He is a central figure in upcoming posts and also in the upcoming "What If" questions and hasn't had much exposure on this blog whatsoever, so in the next post it would be a good time to introduce him.

The image is a silver Roman denarius showing the head of a defeated Gaul, from approximately 48 BC. Continuing to slowly plug along here. After the "What If " series of posts I am trying to decide if it would be a good idea to backtrack somewhat before heading into the lifetime of Octavian-Rome's first emperor. There are so many fascinating personalities from the era of the late Republic-and also background events going on that I think anyone reading this blog would find them interesting. I am working on an essay of one of my favorite Romans from this era and will at the very least post this at some point. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!!

Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Two

An impression is what young Julius seems to have done immediately. Julius Caesar was known as something of a dandy and had a sense of fashion. In the modern era he would be thought of as "GQ" or a clothes horse. Sulla had remarked disapprovingly on the young man's habit of wearing his belt loosely. Romans were not a people who were slaves to fashion and style-although there was very much in Julius Caesar's day a young "smart set" who were trendsetters in eveything from clothing, food and lifestyles in general. The young folks who were into these new ways infuriated the pro-Sullan conservatives. The courts of the East, however, were places were stylish dressers were much admired. Caesar was sent to Nicomedes, King of Bithynia. Nicomedes was quite delighted by the prescence of his young Roman guest. In fact, many believed the king had taken Julius Caesar as a lover. This rumor, whether true or false, was to provide Caesar's enemies with delicious gossip and political slanders for decades. A great deal of the fuel to the fire in this story is that Caesar was said to have been the passive partner to Nicomedes' sexual advances. Had it been the other way around, the scandal would not have been near as damaging.

For the immediate future, whatever the status of the relationship between the two men, it helped jump-start young Caesar's career. Caesar managed to borrow much of Nicomedes' fleet, and sailed to Lesbos where he joined the assault on Mytilene. He showed great bravery and rescued a number of fellow soldiers in battle. For this he was awarded a great honor-the civic crown-a wreath of oak leaves that was similar to the "Purple Heart" in the US military. This was an honor of which men dreamed of attaining. From this point on, whenever Caesar entered the Circus Maximus to watch the games, even senators would have to rise to their feet to salute him. Caesar finally returned to Rome in 73 BC with Sulla safely dead, but the dictator's fearful spectre casting a long shadow over Rome. Caesar had an easy way of talking to the people in the tradition of men who called themselves populares-the crowd pleasers. "He had a talent for being liked in a way remarkable in one of his youth, and since he had an easy man-of-the-people manner, he made himself hugely popular with the average citizen." (Plutarch, Caesar, 4.). Julius Caesar had shown a great array of abilities, and was a man with the potential for a great future. He had been invited to join an uprising against the entire Sullan regime that a consul plotted very shortly after Sulla's death. Very wisely, Caesar chose not to partake in the coup. The uprising was quickly and brutally put down. By deciding to stay with constitutional boundaries-at this time anyway-Caesar kept a career on track that otherwise would have been gone in a heartbeat.

Caesar had travelled to Rhodes in 75 BC to study under Appolonius Molon, who had taught Cicero. On his return he had been kidnapped by pirates in the Aegean who demanded 20 talents for his release. Scornfully, Julius Caesar said he was worth at least 50 talents. When the ransom was paid he made good on his promise to have his captors crucified who had thought he was joking. On his return to Rome he was elected tribune. He was elected to the quaestorship in 69 BC and delivered an oration at the funeral of his aunt Julia who was the widow of Marius and included images of Marius unseen since the days of Sulla in the funeral procession. Caesar's own wife Cornelia died that year. In the spring or early summer of 69 BC he went to serve his quaestorship in the province of Hispania under Antiystius Vesta . Caesar requested an early discharge and returned to Roman politics. On his return, in 67 BC, he married Pompeia-a granddaughter of Sulla! This is one of the many examples that show how treacherous the twists and turns of Roman politics and life were after the civil war-not that they hadn't always been full of compromises, backroom dealing, bribery, blood feuds and every manner of arm twisting under the sun.

Julius Caesar was elected aedile, a not critical post in the political world, but one where a young up and coming politican could truly make his mark and be a crowd pleaser extraordinare.The aediles were responsible for the public games. Caesar bribed the electorate to the maximum in this position. For the first time ever gladiators were adorned in silver and there were 300 pairs of them fighting at one time. The number fighting would have been even higher, but the Senate stepped in and limited the number as that august body could recognize a naked bribe perhaps better than any other. One day the people of Rome awoke to find the trophies of Marius's victories back in place. The pro-Sullan establishment was outraged. One senator even accused him of using a battering ram against the Republic. Smartly, Julius Caesar turned the tables and asked-was it not time for the two rival sides in the civil war to bury the hatchet? To this,the mob he worked so well responded with an ecstatic "Yes!" The senator could only sit and fume.

Caesar also brought prosecutions against men who had benefited from Sulla's proscriptions. 63 BC was an eventful year for Julius Caesar. He persuaded a tribune, Titus Labienus, to prosecute the optimate senator Gaius Rabirius for the political murder 37 years previously of tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and had himself appointed as one of the two judges to try the case. Rabirius was defended by both Cicero and Quintus Hortensius (the two highest orators in the Republic), but was convicted of treason-perdullio. While he was excercising his right to appeal to the people, the praetor Quintus Metellus Celer adjourned the assembly by taking down the military flag from the Janiculum Hill. Labienus could have resumed the prosecution at a later session, but the point had been made and the matter dropped. Labienus was to remain important to Caesar as an ally over the next decade. That same year of 63 BC was also the year Caesar bet his whole political life on winning the election to the office of Pontifex Maximus-chief priest of the Roman state religion after a pro-Sullan appointee died. He was up to debt to his eyeballs now and was running against two very high powered men-Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilus Vatia Isauricus. To run for this office was unheard of for an up and coming politcian -but since when had Julius Caesar cared for precendent? With massive bribery of the electorate Caesar did indeed win the post. He is reported to have told his mother, Aurelia, that morning, "Mother today you will either see me win the election or go into exile." This election was the typical dashing and daring stunt Julius Caesar would continue to pull all his life-and luckily for him he would be moving into the high priest's official mansion on the via Sacra.

Cicero was consul in 63 BC and when he exposed the 'Cataline conspiracy', Catalus and other conservative senators and enemies accused Caesar of involvement in it. Caesar, who had been elected to be praetor the following year had asked for the novel punishment of life imprisonment for anyone guilty in the conspiracy instead of execution. This was a completely new idea in Rome as far as punishments went. During debate about the conspiracy a note was passed to Caesar and Marcus Porcius Cato, who had accused him of corresponding with the conspirators demanded the message be read out loud. Julius Caesar passed the note to Cato, which embarrassingly turned out to be a love letter from Cato's half-sister Servilia! While praetor in 62 BC, Caesar supported Metellus Celer, now tribune, in proposing constitutional legislation and the pair were so stubborn they were suspended from office by the Senate. Caesar continued to attempt to perform his duties, only giving way when violence was threatened. The Senate was persuaded to reinstate him after he quelled public demonstrations in his favor.

The image is a bust of a very young Julius Caesar. Thanks to anyone who reads or comments on this blog! Commenter benjibopper brought up a great point in his last comment about "ifs" in history in his latest comment. Once the story is told of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Antony and Octavian, I would like to do a post or two about some of the "ifs" in the story of Rome that I think are fascinating to ponder that eminent historians have asked. We are getting there slowly-but hopefully surely. I am not going into as much detail as I had previously wanted to on two different events that happened in the timeline of this post, the slave rebellion of Spartacus and the Cataline conspiracy. These events were very interesting and showed how the Republic was still convulsing, even in the aftermath of the civil war-I feel bad for skipping over them somewhat and may even try to find a way to touch on them later-it is just so hard to cover everything in great detail and keep to the central story and purpose of this blog. Slavery is definitely a topic that will come up here as it was very important to the Roman Republic and Empire, and much of the 'glory' that was Rome was bought with the horrific exploitation of human beings. Thanks again to anyone who reads and comments here!! Here are some links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catiline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus

Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part One

Romans were tough if nothing else can be said about them-they were made to be tough. It is estimated that only two out of threee children born reached one year of age and under 50 percent of Roman children reached the age of puberty. A brutal regime of dieting and cold baths was imposed on children at a very young age. A boy trained his body for battle and a girl for childbirth. Both sexes were pushed towards the limits of endurance. It is not a great surprise that Roman children didn't seem to have any time for play. There is a dearth of toys found dating from the years of the Republic compared to the years after its collapse, when the inclination to raise strong citizens started to decline.

Gaius Julius Caesar born on 13 July 100 BC, six years after Pompey and fifteen after Crassus was as much of product of the stern way Roman children were brought up as he was of the civil war and Sulla's dictatorship. Marius had married into the Julian family and before he died during his seventh consulship, he planned to make young Julius the priest of the temple of Jupiter. This spot had been left vacant by the forced suicide of its previous incumbent. However, as Caesar was only thirteen the post would have to be kept open. By 84 BC, the year Caesar's father died, he was officially of age. Cinna who was now consul after Marius's death confirmed Caesar's priesthood. Indeed Cinna must have been quite impressed by the sixteen year old, as he offered his daughter, Cornelia, in marriage. Caesar was engaged already-but there was not way he was going to turn down the offer of having the Republic's strongman as his father-in-law. Of course, as things turned out Cornelia would appear to have become quite a liabilty to young Julius and when Sulla began annihilating the Marian factions, a possible death sentence. However, the multifaceted and contradictory loyalties that the Republic bred saved him. Caesar's name was not on the first proscription lists probably because Caesar's mother came from a family that had given Sulla some of his most influential supporters. Sulla spared Caesar's life but took away his priesthood of Jupiter and also demanded that he divorce Cornelia. Much to everyone's astonishment Caesar refused, and this almost suicidal act of resistance led to his fleeing Rome with a price on his head. It was only with the continued pleadings of Aurelia's (Caesar's mother) relatives that finally led Sulla to pardon the uppity yet courageous youth.

Caesar remained abroad as he felt he would never be completely safe as long as Sulla was alive. Oddly enough Sulla did young Caesar an enormous favor in a way, possibly changing a large trajectory of Roman history in the absolute opposite direction of how he would have wanted it to go. A brilliant horsemen and a regular at weapons practice, brimming with the restless energy of youth, Caesar in all probablity would have felt utterly stifled and bored as a priest of Jupiter. As the priest of Jupiter he would have been forbidden to ride a horse, seem armed troops and could not even leave Rome for more than two days at a time. Now that Caesar had traveled to Asia as a staff officer, it opened up the possibility of a political career. This was due to the fact that politics was out of bounds to any Roman who had not served as a soldier. The East was a treasure trove of possibilites for action-both diplomatic and military that a young officer might see. Shortly we will look at the possibility of actions other than military and diplomatic young Caesar might have been introduced to. Several situations going on at the time warranted attention. Mithridates was rebuilding his power after his earlier losses to Rome. The city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos was still holding out against the unfairness of Sulla's peace terms. Military and diplomatic confusion reigned everywhere it seemed, and this was a scenario where a young man on his way up could make an impression. I hope to have the next post here very soon barring any technical difficulties. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Rome -The Background History Part One

To anyone reading this blog-thanks so much for bearing with me. I could not have been more clumsy with the way I have handled this series and should have had more of an outline of things drawn out, as far as what I wanted to accomplish with this blog. For a figure as pivotal as Julius Caesar, I should have had much more background on Roman history before introducing him in the Cleopatra series. The Roman Republic was never a true democracy where all were equal. Only slaves were truly equal in Roman society. Equality and freedom were very different things to Romans. The things that were dear to most Roman citizens in the Republic were competition to get wealth and status. One's success in life was measured by money and votes. The Republic was also a superpower. Its influence and extent was new in Western history. The history of Rome, I think is very telling, especially with regard to the United States-perhaps now more than ever, as we seem to be stumbling quite a bit and seem to have lost our way in regards to what we stand for and where we want to go. History, to me anyway, has this strange way of seeming so alien and utterly foreign-yet suddenly a person or an event or a series of events and a group of people will come along that cause me to examine historical events in a new light. I often find myself thinking, 'Yes this has happened before.'

Ronald Syme, the great Oxford classicist, saw parallels in the "Roman revolution" of the age of the Caesars and how it foretold the age of the fascist and communist dictators. There is a long tradition in people who study history of putting ancient Rome under the microscope. Perhaps this started with Machiavelli, who saw in the history of his native city of Florence and the namesake of its evil menace, Cesare Borgia, a certain repetition of history when he wrote, "Prudent men are wont to say-and this not rashly or without good ground-that he who would foresee what has to be should reflect on what has been, for everything that happens in the world at anytime has a genuine resemblance to what happened in ancient times."

Rome was also the first and until very recently, in historical terms the only republic to become a world power. When the Republic fell it had a rather garish, disturbing and yet at times heroic face. Only a short time after Rome became and empire, scribes and historians of that time could only ask longingly about what had happened. The time of the giants or "great men' had already begun to seem like a long ago golden age. Velleius Paterculus, the panegyrist of the Emperor Tiberius, wrote, "It seems an almost superfluous task, to draw attention to an age when men of such extraordinary character lived." More than 2,000 years after the death of the Republic maybe we can come to a better understanding of our modern 'age of empires' by taking a look at the astonishing cast of characters and events that make up most of what we can know about ancient Rome. I hope to be back soon with more about Julius Caesar and the background history of the world from which he came. I think for the next post or two I would like to break up this series with some posts that are still very relevant to our story and the overall purpose of this blog. I am actually quite happy with this new information and look forward to having the first post of the new series here tomorrow if nothing prevents me from posting it. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Six

Many writings are attributed to Cleopatra and with her intellectual prowess and knowledge of languages it is very probable that she wrote treatises, opinions and other documents that show her wide knowledge of the world around her. Other works attributed to her are essays on weights and measures, coinage, alchemy, medicine. The works she is said to have authored about gynecology and cosmetics reflect her femininity. The treatise on cosmetics was widely quoted by Roman writers. This is very interesting because of an archaeolgical discovery at En Boquet near the Dead Sea. This discovery was of a cosmetics workshop that was originally constructed in the time of Herod the Great, and the area it was in came under Cleopatra's rule when it was presented to her by Mark Antony. Although a lot of work attributed to Cleopatra witnessed her femininity, many other things also attributed to her show that she was more than capable of competing with the men of her time. It doesn't matter much in the light of history whether she wrote them or not-just the fact that these attributions were made tells us that her intellect and expertise in a great variety of subjects were recognized by powerful people in the world of her day. It could not have escaped Cleopatra's attention that 'men who mattered' such as Julius Caesar, recorded their deeds for posterity and I think she most likely did the same thing.

Continuing on with our story here, I would like to examine Julius Caesar and the Rome of his day. Crossing the Rubicon is still a phrase that is used after 2,000 years since the event that gave birth to it. When Gaius Julius Caesar crossed that unremarkable river with soldiers from his 13th Legion in 49 B.C., he not only caused war, but also started the ending of Rome's ancient freedoms and began the transformation of Rome from a Republic to an Empire. With this event, an era of history came to an end. At one time there had been free cities throughout the Meditteranean. In the Hellenic world and Italy also, these cities wee inhabited by men who identified themselves as free citizens, not as the subjects of a king, king of kings, or a pharaoh. These men proudly talked of the values and rights that distinguished them from slaves. Free speech, private property and rights before the law were all treasured. Over time, however, with the rise of empires, first those of Alexander the Great and his successors, and then of Rome, the freedom and independence of people like these had been extinguished. In the first century before Christ, there was only one free city left-that was Rome. After Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the Republic died and no free cities existed at all.

With the death of the Republic a thousand years of civic self-government were brought to an end, and it would be over a thousand more years before it would live again. During the 1920s and 1930s when republics everywhere were collapsing and dying, parallels with ancient Rome were brought up by those commenting on the spectacle. To point out how history seems to continually repeat itself I would like to share this quote by Adolph Hitler: "The brown shirt would probably not have existed without the black shirt. The march on Rome was one of the turning points of history." In this quote Hitler was referring to Mussolini's 1922 march on Rome which Mussolini propagandized as the myth of a 'heroic' Caesar-like attempt to bring back the glory of the ancient regime.
To anyone who reads either of my blogs-I am sorry this blog is moving so very slow. I have so many varied interests that keeping everything going is a bit rough sometimes. At my other blog, I already have the next two series of posts written out and hope to start the next series Thursday at MFM, hopefully this will give me some time to catch this blog up. I will try not to stray to far from our immediate story here, but do not be surprised if you see posts about other eras of history in between this series. I am definitely keeping this blog only about historical subjects-and mainly about the rise and fall of empires, power blocs and nations. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!