Julius Caesar

Facts about Julius Caesar

Born: 101 B.C.
Birthplace: ?
Best known as: The most famous of Roman generals

     

Julius Caesar Biography

Full name: Gaius Julius Caesar

Caesar is remembered as one of history’s greatest generals and a key ruler of the Roman empire. As a young man he rose through the administrative ranks of the Roman republic, accumulating power until he was elected consul in 59 B.C. Over the next 15 years he led Roman armies against enemies abroad, especially in Gaul, while fighting Pompey and others for political control at home. In 45 B.C. he reached his ultimate success, being named dictator of Rome for life. That rule was short-lived: the next year he was stabbed to death in the Senate by a group led by his follower Marcus Junius Brutus. Caesar’s life and death were dramatized in the William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, with Caesar’s famous death line: “Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!”

Extra credit

Caesar is thought to have been assassinated on March 15th, a date known in the Roman calendar as “the Ides of March”… The ruling titles Kaiser and Czar are derived from the name of Caesar… Caesar had a famous romance with Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, and he fathered her son Caesarion… One of Caesar’s trusted generals was Marc Antony, who became a lover and ally of Cleopatra after Caesar’s death… Caesar’s adopted heir was Octavian, who later defeated Antony and became the emperor Caesar Augustus.


     

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