Julius Caesar

He was first married to Cornelia Cinnilla, daughter of Gaius Marius, from 83 BC until 63 BC - they had a daughter called Julia.

His second marriage was with Pompeia from 67 BC to 61 BC. He got married for the third time to Calpurnia Pisonis in 59 BC. The marriage lasted until his death.

Caesar had a love affair with Cleopatra VII, who was the Queen of Egypt. They were madly in love and even had a child together called Caesarion, who was killed.

He was born in 100 BC into a patrician family. His father, Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the region of Asia and his aunt, Julia married one of the most important figures in the Republic. His mother, Aurelia, too came from a very influential family.

After the sudden death of his father in 85 BC, all the responsibilities fell on the 16 year old Julius. At that time there was a civil war going between his uncle, Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

He was nominated to be the new high priest and got married to Cornelia, daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna’s, Marius’s biggest ally.

Sulla was victorious in the war and his new target was Caesar. In a bid to save himself from Sulla, Caesar decided to go to Asia for military service. He came back only after Sulla’s death.

He started his career as a prosecuting advocate and studied Philosophy temporarily in Rhodes.

In 69 BC he was elected the quaestor by the Assembly of people and later as curule aedile in 65 BC. He was also elected as Pontifex Maximus (high priest) in 63 BC.

In 59 BC, he was elected Senior Consul of the Roman Republic by the Centuriate Assembly. He needed allies, therefore, he made friends with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), former Lieutenant under Sulla’s rule and Marcus Licinius Crassus, a former consul and allegedly the richest man in Rome. He was in desperate need of the consul’s money and Pompey’s influence. Thus an informal union, called the First Triumvirate, was formed.

His discontentment led to the start of the Gallic Wars (58 BC- 49 BC) in which the remaining parts of France and Germania was annexed to Rome. He then waged wars against many other nations. Altogether, Caesar conquered 800 cities, subdued 300 tribes, sold a million slaves and had another 3 million killed in action.

Despite these conquests, he was always unpopular with his peers. After the death of Julia Caesaris (Caesar’s daughter and Pompey’s wife) and Crassus’s murder in 53 BC in Parthia, Pompey started drifting apart; he started getting closer to the Optimates. Caesar tried to bring him back but instead Pompey married Cornelia Metella, the daughter of Caesar’s greatest enemy Metellus Scipio.

Militarily, Caesar’s tactical brilliance was compared to that of Alexander’s stature. Battle of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC. It was the last major engagement between the Gauls and the Romans. It was the turning point of the Gallic Wars in favour of Rome.

The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar’s civil war. He defeated his long time friend-turned-enemy Pompey. Though Pompey had the greater number of warriors, Caesar’s army was more experienced and better trained.

He was one of the finest and brilliant orators and authors of prose in Rome. Among the most famous was his funeral oration for his aunt. ‘Anticato’ is a document that was written to respond to the Cato’s memorial.

Most of his works have been lost but some of his best preserved works are - the Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War); and the Commentarii de Bello Civilo (Commentaries on the Civil War).