Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar
While it has long been disputed, it's estimated that Julius Caesar was born in Rome on July 12 or 13, 100 BC. While he came from Roman aristocrats, his family was far from rich. When Caesar was 16 his father, Gaius Caesar, died. He remained close to his mother, Aurelia.

The Rome of Caesar's youth was unstable. An element of disorder ruled the empire.

At around the time of his father's death, Caesar made an effort to side with the country's nobility. His marriage to Cornelia, the daughter of a noble, had drawn the disapproval of Rome's dictator, Sulla, who ordered the young Roman to divorce his wife or risk losing his property and even death. Caesar refused and found escape in the military, serving first in the province of Asia.

Following the death of Sulla, Caesar returned to Rome to begin his career in politics as a lawyer. During his travels he was kidnapped by pirates. In a daring display of his negotiation, he convinced his captors to raise his ransom. He then organized a naval force to attack them. The pirates were captured and executed.
Story of Caesar and the pirates

First, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty.

Then, when he had sent his followers to the various cities in order to raise the money and was left with one friend and two servants who were among the most bloodthirsty people in the world, he treated them so highhandedly that, whenever he wanted to sleep, he would send to them and tell them to stop talking.

For thirty-eight days, with the greatest unconcern, he joined in all their games and exercises, just as if he was their leader instead of their prisoner.

However, the ransom arrived and, as soon as he had paid it and been set free, he immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbor of Miletus against the pirates. He found them still there, lying at anchor off the island, and he captured nearly all of them.

He took their property as spoils of war and put the men themselves in prison. He then went in person to the governor of Asia, to see to the punishment of the prisoners.

The governor, however, cast longing eyes at the money, which came to a considerable sum, and kept saying that he needed time to look into the case. Caesar paid no further attention to him. He went to the prison, took the pirates out and killed the lot of them, just as he had often told them he would do.

1. 
   What does aristocrat mean?
   
2. 
   Explain the family that Caesar was from?
   
3. 
   In what two ways did Caesar show bravery as a young man?
   
4. 
   How did Caesar begin his career in politics?
   

When Caesar returned to Rome he began to work with Pompey, a former lieutenant under Sulla, who'd switched sides following the dictator's death. Not long after, in 68 or 69 BC, Caesar went on to serve in several other key government positions under Pompey.

Caesar's political career continued to improve. In 61-60 BC he served as governor of the Roman province of Spain. He also continued his close alliance with Pompey, which enabled him to get elected as consul, a powerful government position, in 59 BC.

As Caesar was cultivating his political partnership with Pompey, the leader was also aligning himself with Crassus. Crassus proved to be instrumental in Caesar's rise to power. A leader himself, and cited as the wealthiest man in Roman history, Crassus offered financial and political support to Caesar.

Over the years Pompey and Crassus had come to be intense rivals. But once again Caesar displayed his abilities as a negotiator, earning the trust of both men and convincing them they'd be better suited as allies instead of enemies.

5. 
   How did Caesar's friendship with Pompey benefit Caesar?
   
6. 
   How did Caesar's friendship with Crassus benefit Caesar?
   
7. 
   What was the most powerful position that Caesar held?
   

This partnership among the three men came to be known as the First Triumvirate. For Caesar, this political alliance and the power it gave him was the perfect springboard to greater domination.

Not long after, Caesar secured the governorship of Gaul (now France), allowing him to build a bigger military and begin the kind of campaigns that would cement his status as one of Rome's all-time great leaders. Between 58 and 50 BC, Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul. As he expanded his reach, he also showed his ruthlessness with his enemies.

But Pompey, who grew envious of his political partner's power and prestige, did not meet Caesar's growing status with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Crassus still had never completely overcome his dislike for Pompey. The three leaders patched things up temporarily in 56 BC.

Three years later, however, Crassus was killed in a battle in Syria. Around this time Pompey revisited his old concerns about Caesar.

8. 
   What was the First Triumvirate?
   
9. 
   What did Caesar do while he was governor of Gaul?
   
10. 
    Why would Pompey be jealous (envious) of Caesar?
    

Through a series of events, Caesar eventually went to war against Pompey, leading troops across the river Rubicon on January 10-11, 49 BC. With Pompey further aligning himself with nobility, and the nobility increasingly seeing Caesar as a national threat, civil war proved to be inevitable.

But Pompey and his troops were no a match for Caesar and his military campaign. By the end of 48 BC, Caesar had pushed his enemies out of Italy and pursued Pompey into Egypt, where he was eventually killed. There, Caesar aligned himself with Cleopatra.
Upon his return to Rome, Caesar was made dictator for life and hailed as the Father of his Country. For Caesar and his countrymen, his rule proved instrumental in reforming Rome.

11. 
    Explain what the word "inevitable" means in the sentence above.
    
12. 
    How was Pompey defeated?
    
13. 
    What did Caesar do when he returned to Rome after defeating Pompey?