Julius Caesar

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Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC into a powerful family. His family was very much involved in the political events of this time. His father was the governor of Asia during the early years of Julius's life. Calius Marius who was Julius Caesar's uncle was very prominent in politics also. Julius is known for his many great achievements during his time. The most recognized achievement was the conquering of Gaul. Some of his other achievements include, lower class politician, introduced laws against extortion, publication of the proceedings of the Senate, and reorganization of the taxes.

During the Social War his Uncle Marius massacred all of his enemies, had himself elected consul, and then dies a few days later. From Maruis's death lead to danger and trouble for Julius Caesar. At this point in his life things were not going so well for him. While working on his education he married one of Roman's most important Professors daughter Cornelia who later gave birth to his only legitimate child, Julia.

Soon after his marriage to Cornelia a new dictator was appointed by the name of Sulla. Sulla ordered Julius to divorce his wife in exchange for not being banished from the country. When Julius refused, Sulla ordered for him to be executed and Caesar went into hiding. Finally after friends and family persuaded Sulla to pardon him and Sulla was impressed Caesar's dedication to his wife and pardoned him. His wife died soon after he was pardoned and he remarried Pompei, who was the granddaughter of Sulla.

In 68BC Caesar was elected questor and obtained a seat in the Senate. Caesar supported Pompey and helped him against the Mediterranean pirates, later ended up in command of the war against King Mithridates in Asia Minor. Later Caesars opposition to the death penalty represented his popular policy. He was then elected Praetor and the optimates were very worried because Caesar was so popular with the masses. They accused Caesar of being involved in secret ceremonies called Good Goddess, which was celebrated by women only. Caesar's only way to prevent more troubles for his self was to divorce his wife Pompia.

By this time Caesar was bankrupt having paid a lot of money to get out of the Good Goddess affair and many other troubles from his past. Marcus Crassus who was the richest man in Rome paid Caesar's debt and Caesar had himself elected governor of Andalusia. Caesar's acts had now became criminal and he had to hold office of some type to keep from being prosecuted. During the Spanish War Caesar had captures many small towns, looted them, and got into many of their silver mines. After the Spanish war Caesar returned a rich man but he knew he had committed criminal acts in this war so he had to obtain office. He was later elected in the highest office of the Roman Republic as Consul of Rome. Most of his acts as consul were illegal but his opponents were afraid of him so they did nothing. Although Caesar had paid his debt back to Crassus, Caesar still felt he had a moral obligation to him so he married Calpurnia whose father was a close friend of Crassus's. Around the same time Caesar's daughter Julia married Pompey. Pompey was Rome's leading general at this time. He set the law on provincial commands, which gave Caesar several provinces with four legions. His office and his legions against his enemies now protected Caesar. Soon after Caesar left Rome and his Father in law Pompey became consul.

Caesar's armies defeated several groups of mass invaders during this time. Caesar was then appointed generalship, which was an extraordinary command. The next year Caesar's army defeated the Germans, Gauls, and Britains, which did not last for long. Soon after all the nations of Gaul reunited under only one commander. Caesar was forced to defend himself but he was defeated. In the end Roman fortification proved superior and Gaul was conquered. Later the senate fearing a Civil War because of Caesar's war crimes demanded Caesar to hand over his ten well-trained legions to a new governor. Caesar chose to rebel, preferring the dignity of war over the humiliation of prosecution, as it turned out this provoked the second Civil War. As it turned out the senate had made a disastrous mistake because they were unable to raise armies two weeks after the start of the Civil War. Caesar was the master of Italy and he entered Rome and pardoned his enemies and created a new senate. He then defeated the Spanish army. Upon Caesar's return to Rome he was made dictator.

Soon after Caesar met Cleopatra he was captivated by and he chose her side in the Alexandria War. After pacifying Egypt Caesar and Cleopatra spent two months on a honeymoon. After Caesars return to Rome as dictator for ten years there were many problems because Rome was an Oligarchy government which meant the powers were shared among the senators. Several weeks before Caesar's death he had accepted powers of several magistrates, so he could control the government without interfering with the careers of the nobles. Caesar wanted to change Rome into a monarchy and a truly Mediterranean Empire. Many of the senators refused to settle for a monarchy government so they decided to kill Caesar when the Senate would meet on March 15th. On this day these senators killed Caesar in 44BC.

Caesar's plans were now being carried out with his inheritance left to Augustus Caesar who was the executor of Julius Caesar's will. Caesar also left his gardens as a park to the city of Rome and gave every inhabitant a large amount of money. During Caesar's life he had many achievements even though there are many different views of his achievements. His truly greatest achievement in my opinion would be that he changed the Roman Republic into a monarchy even after his death.

Work cited: Unknown Author. "Julius Caesar." 23 September 2003. http://ringfilm.prohosting.com/history/content/caesar.html