He came, he saw, and he damn well conquered. He was the greatest of them all, and that
greatness, in the end, led to a bloody conspiracy that would shake Rome to its very foundations. This is the story of Julius Caesar. He was born on July 12, 100 BC, to a family
who lived in considerable comfort. His father, Gaius Julius Caesar, was a senator
and the governor of Asia, and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, also came from a well off family. Julius also had two older sisters named Julia
Major and Julia Minor. We don’t know much about his early years
since those ancient biographers left that part out of their books, but what’s certain
is that no one could have guessed that this little boy would one day turn into the most
famous man in Rome. Nothing in his family history pointed to stunning
feats of conquest and devastating political potency. What we do know is that during his childhood,
Roman politicians were split into two different factions. They weren’t official political parties,
though, and were more in line with strategies and certain ideologies. The sides were the optimates, whose influence
was based in the Roman Senate and the upper classes, and the populares, or populists,
whose political strength lie more with the masses and public assemblies. Their differences would spill enough blood
to fill every last bath in Rome. One of the biggest influences on the young
Julius was his uncle, Gaius Marius, a brilliant general who had startling victories in wars
against the so-called savages in Europe and as far away as North Africa. Caesar’s close relationship with his uncle
was further cemented when at age just 16, his father died, apparently while putting
on a pair of running shoes. This was a hell of a violent time in Rome,
something that shaped Caesar forever. He watched on as his uncle Marius fought in
the Social War, and he beheld him fighting against his arch-rival, Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In short, Sulla belonged to the optimates
and Marius to the populares, and they went toe-to-toe in what’s now called Sulla's
civil war. Sulla won and made himself the dictator of
Rome, while Uncle Marius was exiled to Africa. He’d return three years later and commit
himself to a reign of terror in Rome. To say this was a fiery time would be an understatement,
with each side slaughtering their enemies. But what’s important in terms of Caesar’s
influences is how Marius treated his soldiers. He gave them land and citizenship, creating
a more professional army that answered only to their commander, not the republic itself. Prior to these reforms, conscripted soldiers
were more of a rag-tag bunch, low-paid, and after their battles, their regiments disbanded,
hoping they’d been able to acquire some loot on the way. If they survived the conquests, they often
returned home after years away with nothing to show for it. Their lack of presence back home on the farm
meant they were likely even poorer than when they left. This was hardly a standard that would create
a loyal and professional army if those conscripts were recalled. Caesar saw how after his uncle’s reforms
made so-called citizen-soldiers into loyal fighting machines, men who would give everything
for the cause and fully embraced what was asked of them by their respected commanders. This transformed the Roman army. It was these skilled fighters whose lives
were now steeped in career combat that gave Rome the outstanding military successes it
became renowned for. This is a complicated tale, but the short
version is that Marius died and Sulla was the top dog in town again. By this time, the young Caesar was already
married to Cornelia, daughter of the influential and sometimes tyrannical consul, Lucius Cornelius
Cinna. Cinna had been allied with Marius, until he
was murdered by his own soldiers over what historians said was not politically motivated
but rather over some heated disagreements. So, where did this leave Ceasar, nephew of
Marius and husband of another enemy? We should say that it was these two men that
had initiated bloody purges against Sulla when he was fighting outside of Rome. They might have now both been dead, but Sulla
wasn't about to forget their connection to Caesar. It was a precarious time for the young man. Sulla butchered many of his enemies in Rome,
a legal kind of killing called “Proscription” invented by Sulla who said, “enemies of
the state” were fair game for execution. As you’ll see, this became popular again
under another brutal period many years later. Anyway, you could say that Caesar was lucky
to have not ended up on the same heap of dead bodies. Every day Sulla posted more names of people
on the wall who he said should have their land confiscated or be executed, and Caesar’s
name never joined the list. Sulla put bounties on men’s heads, and once
those heads had been chopped off, he used them for decorations. Then after filling the Senate with men only
loyal to himself, he was pretty much untouchable. It’s thought between 1000 and 9000 upper-class
Romans were murdered in these purges, but Caesar’s punishment was not so severe. He was told to divorce his wife. He didn’t do that, but he also lost his
inheritance and his dowry, both taken under the orders of Sulla. It’s surprising that Sulla didn’t just
have him murdered when he had the chance, given that he ordered Caesar’s uncle Marius’
corpse be taken from its crypt, torn up, dragged around the city, and thrown into a river. Caesar did, however, have to get out of town
for a while. Understanding the gravity of the situation,
he did the sensible thing and joined the army. He fought in two campaigns and won himself
the Civic Crown, the second-highest military decoration in the Republic. It was during these campaigns that he needed
the fleet belonging to King Nicomedes of Bithynia, although it seems he spent quite a long time
with the King, which led to rumors that the two had been in a sexual relationship. Was this true? We can’t say, but Caesar did become to known
not just as the “bald adulterer” but also in some circles as the “the queen of Bithynia.” As some historians have pointed out, when
Caesar came, saw, and conquered, sometimes it was in a sexual sense, as we will show
you further on in the show. Sulla, after adopting many reforms that suited
him and his Roman elite friends, stepped down as dictator. But soon after he put his feet up in his retirement,
he was struck by a terrible fever and died. Another story has it that he boozed day and
night and lived in a life of utter decadence, which ended with liver failure and possibly
a ruptured gastric ulcer. The same story says he hemorrhaged from the
mouth just as he was ordering someone’s strangulation, which you have to admit is
a better tale than the fever. The year was 78 BC and Caesar was just 22
years old. Knowing he was safe, Caesar went back to Rome,
where it’s said he lived in a fairly average neighborhood. It was during this period that he turned to
law, often giving moving speeches about Rome’s vast corruption. The great Roman statesman Cicero took note,
once saying about Caesar, “Come now, what orator would you rank above him?” Cicero wasn’t a bad talker, either, and
Caesar knew that, so he went over Rhodes in Greece to study with Cicero’s former rhetorician
teacher, Apollonius Molon. He never even got there, though, because as
he was sailing across the Aegean Sea his ship was boarded by a bunch of Cilician pirates. Cilicia was in present-day Anatolia in Turkey. It would turn out that this was some really
bad luck for the pirates, although how could they know some smooth-talking 25-year old
would turn into quite the formidable foe. As you know, Caesar had already made a bit
of a name for himself, but he was far from being famous in Rome. Still, when the pirates told him about the
ransom they were asking for him, he told them they should double the price, even though
it was Caesar that would be footing the bill. He was apparently not set back at all by the
kidnapping, telling the pirates that their day would come. Caesar sent some of his entourage out to get
the ransom money while he was held captive by the pirates who spent all day mocking him. They soon changed their tune, though, with
historians saying the pirates suddenly started being ordered around by Caesar. He gave them speeches and read poems, and
they listened intently, or at least that’s how the legend goes. It’s unlikely that historians would have
said Caesar was scared senseless and sat in a puddle of his own pee all day. The history books say he played games with
the pirates and always spoke to them as if they were his own subordinates. When they annoyed him, he told them he’d
have them all crucified. They apparently thought that was a joke. It wasn’t. You didn’t joke about crucifixion in Rome,
that’s for sure. It took 38 days to get the ransom money, and
when it was handed over the pirates did as they said they would do and released the cheeky
young man who they all agreed was fun but had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He certainly did. Caesar somehow managed to raise an entire
fleet, not in Rome, but in the ancient Greek city of Miletus. That was some feat, given he didn’t really
know anyone there and had no political status. With the ships ready, Caesar said, “Ok boys,
that way.” It didn’t take long to find the pirates,
who quite stupidly had stayed on the same island. Caesar had them all put on board and transported
to the Greek city of Pergamon where they were quickly put in chains and sent to prison. Still feeling some loss of face from the ordeal,
Caesar wanted them all executed, but Marcus Junctus, the governor of Asia, refused to
do so and said the pirates were to be slaves. Why waste a bunch of healthy men by executing
them, he said. Caesar didn’t see it that way, and he later
secretly returned to the pirates and had them all crucified, just as he’d promised. He at least showed some mercy and cut their
throats first. Again, remember when we are talking about
legends, mercy is often right up there with bravery as an attribute of a great ruler. Still, you can’t deny that Caesar was special,
otherwise, on his return to Rome, he wouldn’t have been given the title of a member of the
military tribune, which was then a foot-in-the-door of becoming involved in serious Roman politics. One of Rome's most formidable enemies was
Mithradates VI Eupator, the king of Pontus, an exemplary conqueror himself. Pontus, by the way, is in present-day northern
Anatolia. The great Mithradates was now in another war
with Rome. It is here where the ambitious Caesar saw
his chance to prove his greatness. He raised his own army and set off to repel
Pontus. The smooth-talking Caesar was later elected
as a quaestor, which was a kind of public official. He might have been made up by this, but probably
a bit downcast too as at that point his wife died. Still, it seems he had other things on his
mind because as the story goes, it was around this time that he saw a statue of Alexander
the Great and realized he’d done very little in his life for his age. Alexander had conquered half the world in
his 20s. Caesar was embarrassed by his own shortcomings. He did, however, succeed in quite a few ventures. After borrowing a ton of money, he helped
to build public works and roads, including paying for a costly reconstruction of the
Appian Way, where thousands of slaves had earlier been crucified. They’d fought for the slave Spartacus in
his now-famous revolt. They lost, but not after they’d given the
Romans hell. But Caesar still wanted more, much more, and
so he ran for the position of pontifex maximus, which was pretty much the most sought-after
position in ancient Rome. Let’s just say that he and the two other
men in the running did their fair share of bribing, but Caesar came out victorious, despite
accumulating massive debts during his campaign. Caesar was now powerful, but hardly the world-changer
he was about to become. It was after this that a man named Lucius
Sergius Catilina, a soldier and senator conspired with others to take over the Republic by dealing
with all the aristocrats in the Senate. This was thwarted, but the question is, was
Caesar one of the co-conspirators? Some thought he was, perhaps more so because
he argued against the death penalty during the proceedings. Then at some point during this debate, someone
handed Caesar a note. A man that would become an enemy of Caesar,
Marcus Porcius Cato, saw that and demanded to see the note. It turned out it was nothing but a love letter,
but Caesar now had a good idea of who was against him. The conspirators were eventually executed,
and only by the skin of his teeth was Caesar granted his innocence after another trial. It seems he was never far away from scandal
in those days. One of them involved the populist and rabble-rouser
named Publius Clodius. One evening this guy sneaked into Caesar’s
house during a ceremony only for women to seduce Caesar’s new wife. Clodius, even though dressed up as a woman,
was found out. The only major outcome was Caesar asking for
a divorce. You get the picture by now. Caesar’s life was anything but a quiet one. He was given the governorship in Hispania,
and there he led some successful military campaigns against two tribal groups. For that he was called the “imperator”
by his men, meaning their commander. Caesar’s soldiers had great respect for
him, which is an important matter as we go on. The problem was all the debt he’d racked
up, and so he turned to who was known as the richest man in Rome. That man was Marcus Licinius Crassus, one
of the key figures in this story. Crassus was a general and statesman who took
advantage of the real estate market and was later praised for his victory in Spartacus’
slave revolt. This was a good friend to have, and that friendship
would greatly influence history. With his debts paid by Crassus and a fair
bit of loot from his conquests, Caesar returned to Rome to some amount of applause. He was officially designated as imperator
and his victories were publicly celebrated; something called a Roman Triumph. A triumph was about as good as it gets, but
to accept it he would have had to have stayed a soldier. He couldn’t do that, because he also wanted
to be a consul, the highest elected position in Rome. Again, there was a lot of bribery going on
during an election, and you can bet many people were engaged in corrupt practices to ensure
Caesar would not become consul. He still won, though, as did the old-school
conservative named Marcus Bibulus. These two would forever remain enemies. Remember that Caesar was kind of the opposite
to the conservatives. He was a progressive, a so-called man of the
people, and many of the people, especially the soldiers that fought under him, were devoted
followers. That still made Caesar tons of enemies among
the established elites. Caesar needed friends in high places in this
viper’s nest that was Roman politics, and as you know, he already had one in Marcus
‘moneybags’ Crassus, but he found another in one of the most remarkable and ruthless
generals in all of Roman history. That was Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, better known
now as Pompey the Great. Just to give you an idea about this guy’s
ruthlessness, when he was starting out, he got the name the “adulescentulus carnifex”,
meaning “teenage butcher.” For his many stunning victories, he was awarded
three Roman Triumphs. If there was a man you didn’t want to come
up against it was Pompey, and one day Caesar would have to do just that. It became one of the biggest beefs in ancient
history. But for now, Caesar managed to persuade Pompey
to take his side. Pompey even agreed to ally with Crassus, even
though the two had never really gotten along. They’d both been lieutenants of Sulla back
in the day, but since then had fallen out for various reasons. Still, Caesar convinced both guys they needed
each other, and a secret pact was made. They made a mighty trio, or as it became known,
the First Triumvirate. Just you wait until you hear about the Second
Triumvirate… To make matters even better, Pompey married
Caesar’s only child, Julia. Caesar also got hitched again, but it seems
tying the knot didn’t mean that much to him. It wouldn’t be long until he’d have one
of the most infamous affairs in human history. What’s important, though, is his wife was
the daughter of another very powerful man, which was never a bad thing in ancient Rome. If Caesar wanted support from the public,
he certainly ticked the right boxes. With help from his secret allies Pompey and
Crassus, he passed a law to redistribute public land to the poor. It was only then that people realized those
three guys were working together, which as you can imagine, was a huge threat to other
powerful men in Rome. To cut a long story short, these three guys
were killing it and Caesar himself now had four legions under his control. He was ready for some conquest, and by God,
was he about to shake up half of Europe. No one had ever done anything near to what
Caesar was about to do, not in Rome anyway. Caesar was about to become an equal to Alexander
the Great. No longer would he have to sit in the shadow
of that statue. He still had some debts, and he knew Gaul
was where the money was at. This was an area covering modern-day France,
Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and northern Italy. It was also home to a lot of tribes, some
of which Caesar intended to conquer and some he’d make alliances with. It was no walk in the park defeating them,
especially the Germanic tribes, but Caesar’s men had better weapons and were more advanced
when it came to strategic warfare. Man for man, horse for horse, the Gallic tribes
were just as good, if not better, but Caesar had the brains. The Romans also had solidarity and leadership,
and the Germanic tribes had always fought between themselves. Had they united, it would have been a different
story, but aint that always the case. After subjugating more tribes and enforcing
Roman rule, Caesar made plans to enter Britain, something no Roman had done before. The first incursion didn’t go so well since
he didn’t know the land, and in no time, after causing a fair bit of damage, he returned
to the relative safety of Gaul. King Vercingetorix of the Averni tribe did
succeed in doing some uniting and did beat Caesar’s army at the Battle of Gergovia,
but in the end, the Romans were victorious. This had been some undertaking, with ancient
historians later writing that Caesar had fought against three million men from various tribes,
of which a third were killed and a third were enslaved. The claim, while disputed these days, was
that Caesar and his men took 800 cities and a total of 300 different tribes. Disputed or not, it was some victory. Caesar would never conquer Britain in his
lifetime, but the Romans would rule there later – although with a giant wall to keep
those from the far north out. These Gallic wars, including many of revolts,
had gone on for eight years. As you can now understand, a lot could happen
in Rome in eight years. In eight Roman months there was usually enough
back-stabbing and scandal to fill a small library. Caesar was well aware that in his absence
someone would be plotting his downfall, which is why he used a lot of his looted money to
buy powerful friends back home. Still, those not on the payroll were either
angry or envious, spreading gossip about Caesar’s military adventurism abroad. That triumvirate, too, was also becoming frayed. They managed to patch things up with a meeting
in Gaul, but it was all about to come undone. Caesar’s conquests in Gaul weren’t just
about Roman expansion. Caesar was selfishly building a faithful army,
and with that and his new prestige, he could set about reorganizing things in Rome. Finally, he was ready to go home. But there were tensions rising back there. Caesar’s only daughter, Julia, died while
giving birth. Remember it was this woman that was married
to Pompey and that connection between Caesar and him was an important one. Caesar offered him his great-niece, but Pompey
said, “Nah, no thanks buddy”. This guy had his own ambitions. Then the other part of the triumvirate, Crassus,
who was not in the same league as Caesar and Pompey when it came to warfare, died in battle. He and his son and much of his army were absolutely
slaughtered fighting the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae, a part of Turkey. It was a humiliating defeat, and later Crassus
was roundly criticized for his greed and lack of military prowess. Despite having the stronger army, he and his
men were lured into the desert where arrows rained down from the sky. His commanders told him to negotiate with
the Parthians, but when that was attempted, Crassus was slain by general Surena. Rome was humiliated, with rumors going around
that the Parthians had poured molten gold down Crassus’ throat to symbolize his utter
greed. Another rumor was that his head was used as
a prop in a play at the wedding party of the Parthian King’s son. Whatever happened, caused turmoil in Rome. The triumvirate was done and now Caesar and
Pompey both vied for power in Rome. Civil war loomed, so the Senate discussed
the possible disarmament of both Caesar and Pompey. This gained a lot of support, but in the end,
the vote wasn’t passed, even after the Senate had received a proposal from Caesar himself
stating that both he and Pompey should lay down their arms at the same time. It was around then that the consul named Gaius
Claudius Marcellus asked Pompey if he wanted command of a massive force all over Italy
and the power to raise a bigger army. Pompey accepted, and he was the man the nobility
preferred, so it was looking like much of the power in Rome was turning against Caesar. He was soon told that he’d be declared an
enemy of the state if he didn’t put down his arms, but let’s just remember here that
Caesar, man of the people, had the loyalty of a large army, men who’d fought side by
side with him for a number of years. On January 10, 49 BC, a historical event took
place. That was Caesar and his army marching across
a small river called the Rubicon in present-day northern Italy. He only took one legion, the Legio XIII Gemina,
but it was one of his best. This was not the outcome that anyone really
wanted. Caesar didn’t want a civil war, and neither
did Pompey, and for that matter, neither did a lot of the nobility. But Caesar was between a rock and hard place. Had he laid down his arms, what would he have
ultimately faced? He was a powerful man now, and he didn’t
want to give that up. At the same time, the old regime of nobles
wanted to cling on to their own power, in a Rome that was quickly changing. They believed that Caesar was one of the reasons
for this turning tide, accusing him of aspirations to rule over Rome and its growing territories. But Caesar had negotiated with Rome, going
so far as to ask for the minimum in terms of demands that would keep him safe. He was turned down, so what choice did he
have? At the same time, while Pompey didn’t want
a civil war, you can bet that he was incredibly envious of Caesar’s many successes. It's said at this point Caesar said the immortal
words “alea iacta esto”, “let the die be cast”, and cast it was. Members of the Senate ran in fear as Caesar
marched on Rome. Pompey and his army also fled, not confident
in their ability to fight Caesar and his legion. In pursuit of Pompey in Hispania, Caesar left
Rome in the hands of the Roman politician and general, Mark Anthony, one of the stars
of this story, whose life was certainly a complicated one. We like him. He was a good general, he seemed loyal; he
just had some bad habits that led to him making some bad decisions. We’ll come back to him soon. After running Pompey out of Spain, Caesar
fought with Pompey’s men at the Battle of Dyrrhachium in present-day Albania. Caesar now had legions close by in Greece
and he needed them to support his war effort, while Pompey had also raised more troops. As Caesar’s men hunkered down, supplies
were low. Pompey knew that he could wait it out and
let Caesar’s men succumb to hunger. Pompey had the advantage, being high up and
also in a position to receive more supplies from the sea. Things at this point were looking very bad
for Caesar, his troops inland, having to rely on foraging. Pompey, now believing he had this won, built
a fort overlooking Caesar’s much smaller army. The winter was harsh for Caesar’s men, but
Pompey was also about to face some hardships. Caesar started cutting off streams, the water
supplies to the fort, and soon disease was rife in Pompey’s camps. Later, Caesar almost completely encircled
Pompey, hoping that the general would have no choice but to flee into the sea. There was intermittent fighting between the
sides, but this was more about waiting. For now, anyway. Soon a battle commenced, and it looked as
though Pompey had the upper hand. Caesar was forced to retreat having lost a
large number of men. He knew he could have lost, but for some reason,
Pompey had ordered a halt in the attack. Famously, Caesar later said, “Pompey's forces
would have won today, if only they were commanded by a winner.” Caesar had lost close to a thousand men, and
those that were captured were executed on the orders of one of Caesar’s most trusted
lieutenants who had gone over to fight for Pompey. As Caesar and his men retreated, they asked
for entrance into the city of Gomphi. They were roundly turned down, only for a
furious Caesar to attack the town and kill many of its inhabitants. The leaders in Gomphi had made the mistake
of thinking it was better to side with the Pompeiians, thinking Caesar was as good as
beaten. Word soon got around that if Caesar turns
up at your city gates, you probably better let him in. Back in Rome, many people wanted Pompey to
either return home and protect Rome, or to endeavor to launch a full-scale attack on
Caesar. He did neither, and instead waited for more
troops from Syria. He got his back-up, and the biggest battle
was about to begin. On August 9, Caesar’s experienced legions
met in Greece with Pompey’s much bigger Republic army at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey was confident, but he was still hesitant. It was very likely his officers that convinced
him he was ready to attack. Spoiler alert. He wasn’t. Caesar had around 22,000 Roman legionaries
from eight different legions, as well as something close to one thousand German and Gallic cavalry. Pompey’s army was in the realm of 40,000
strong, with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 cavalry. It was a giant force, made up of Roman men
as well as Germans, Galls, Greeks, Jews, Syrians, Phoenicians, and Thracians. Many of these men were ordered to fight by
their own rulers, rulers who answered to Rome. It was basically Everyone vs. Caesar, but
Caesar, as you know, had highly skilled and eternally loyal fighters. Under the orders of Mark Antony and Gnaeus
Domitius Calvinus, Caesar’s infantry made a move, followed by a sneaky well-hidden attack
that took Pompey’s cavalry off guard. Caesar ordered his men to use their javelins
to pick off Pompey’s men, and when Caesar’s own cavalry advanced, it turned into a massacre. Of Pompey’s cavalry that was killed, many
retreated, leaving his infantry exposed. Caesar ordered more of his battle-hardened
men to attack, and suddenly Pompey’s much larger army was on the verge of losing. Caesar gave Pompey’s men no quarter after
capturing them, killing almost every last one of them. Pompey’s army was in total disarray when
Caesar gave the order to capture the Pompeian camp. It was a bloodbath, in spite of Pompey’s
men making a valiant defense. The battle was won by the much smaller side,
with Caesar claiming he only lost about 200 regular men and 30 of his commanders. When later asked how this unbelievable victory
happened, he said it helps when you know the names of every last commander, or as the Romans
called them, centurions. You can now understand the influence his late
uncle Marius had on him. Yet again, Pompey fled. Rome now knew who was the boss, although Caesar
was a rational man, a forgiving man, and he said anyone who asked for mercy would be spared. He believed there was no point in mass executions,
just as Sulla had done. He forgave most of those who’d been against
him in Rome, including the politician Marcus Junius Brutus. Don’t forget that name. We’ll just say right now that Brutus had
actually been an ally of Caesar, but due to Caesar not always doing what the senate wanted,
he switched his alliance to Pompey during the Civil War. Despite this, Caesar let him live and allowed
him to stay in the senate. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Where was Pompey? The answer to that question is Egypt, a place
where he wrongly thought he’d be offered protection by King Ptolemy XIII. Back when this guy’s father was in charge,
he’d been told that when the time came he’d marry his older sister, Cleopatra, a woman
famed for her beauty. Although we will challenge that. She was nothing special. She was more brains than beauty, and when
it started looking like she wore the pants in the co-rulership, Ptolemy arranged to have
her murdered. She subsequently fled to Syria and raised
an army, hence the breakout of a Civil War. Pompey should have known better because shortly
after he was taken under Ptolemy’s protection, the king had him killed. He believed this would put him in Caesar’s
good books, but when Caesar arrived in Egypt and was shown Pompey’s head, he was less
than pleased. After all, Pompey was a great Roman general. Decapitation was just not fitting for such
an esteemed man. Caesar ordered that Pompey be given a proper
Roman funeral. Meanwhile, he said that Pompey’s assassin
should be executed and the king was asked to make a rather large payment. Caesar also tried to fix the rift between
brother and sister. We should mention that at this point Caesar
wasn’t with a large part of his legions and not all of his best commanders. It’s estimated he had around 3000 infantry
and 800 Germanic cavalry. Soon after, they were attacked in the “Siege
of Alexandria”, which saw Ptolemy’s and his allies' much larger armies against the
armies of Caesar. It was at some point during the siege that
Caesar met Cleopatra, and the two fell in love. Well, maybe, or more likely Cleopatra was
wielding her intelligence unbeknownst to Caesar. They got it on, and while Caesar still recommended
she and her brother share the throne, Ptolemy rightly concluded that Caesar might have taken
sides. Caesar, somewhat rattled by everything that
was going on, ordered his men to destroy the Alexandrian fleet. They did that to some extent and also badly
damaged the Great Library, but the Alexandrians soon had 27 warships at the ready to face
Caesar’s 19 warships and a bunch of smaller ships. The Romans got the upper hand forcing the
Alexandrians to retreat, although in a later scrap Caesar could easily have lost his life
in the “Battle for Pharos.” At one point he had to relieve himself of
his armor and jump into the sea to escape an onslaught, although later with help of
thousands of Jewish reinforcements, Caesar was finally victorious. The short story is Ptolemy drowned sometime
later and Cleopatra became ruler of Egypt along with her other brother Ptolemy XIV. She and Caesar remained in a relationship,
despite him being married in Rome. They had a bastard child, Caesarion, and he
took her to Rome on a few occasions, not as a lover but a client. Talk about the scandal as they both vacationed
in Caesar’s villa. Now the dictator of Rome, in fairly quick
succession Caesar achieved many resounding military victories. The first was against Pharnaces II, king of
Pontus. It was an absolute annihilation, which according
to Caesar, took no more than four hours. That’s when he uttered those famous words,
“Veni, vidi, vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered). His next routing was in Africa. But all the time Caesar was away, his enemies
in Rome, always jealous of his achievements, criticized him and said this guy’s ego is
through the roof. They feared he’d have way too much power. Yes, some of these were the people he’d
shown mercy to, which actually, is one of the reasons for Caesar’s downfall. He could be brutal when it came to the barbarians,
but he was often way too kind when it came to his foes in Rome. Amazing games with exotic animals and fearless
gladiators were held and there was much blood and merriment. Caesar was certainly celebrated by the masses,
but his opponents were miffed that he should have a triumph for his victory in the Civil
War. They said triumphs should not be held when
the defeated party in this case wasn’t a foreign army but the Romans. They also didn’t like the fact he’d made
himself “dictator in perpetuity”. That means forever. At this point, he was ushering in quite big
changes in legislation, much of it in favor of the poor and certainly in favor of his
military veterans. He changed the calendar system, too, as well
as reformed the taxation system. This was all pretty progressive, but you could
say it didn’t go down well with some of the other nobility. Then when he filled the senate with new people
allied with himself and put term limits on governorships, well, some people secretly
reviled him. Many of these reforms of course were put in
place to cement his eternal power. He was doing what all dictators do, making
himself beyond reproach. Then there was his diss of senators at the
Temple of Venus Genetrix when he refused to stand up while they gave him gifts to show
their appreciation. This was made worse when he told them to their
faces that he’d had enough of honors, and perhaps it was time to cut back on that kind
of thing. Ouch. It seemed as if he didn’t just not care
about gifts, but he was openly mocking the senate. Then there were his actions again the tribunes. Tribunes were your everyday working-class
plebians, that had lower rank status in the Roman government. One day Caesar saw some of them taking a diadem,
like a crown, from the top of a statue of Caesar. They’d decided this was not in line with
custom since the diadem was not for a politician but a king or a God. Later, Caesar was riding down the Appian Way
on his horse when one of his devoted fans shouted out the word “Rex”, which means
king. Caesar put the man straight and replied, “I
am not Rex, but Caesar.” That man in the crowd was then arrested by
the tribunes. So, there were now two incidences with the
tribunes, and both annoyed Caesar. He then announced that from now on there would
be no tribunes in the Senate. This was a bad move in terms of public relations. It was the tribunes that represented the working
folks. People in the streets said such things as,
“And I thought he was supposed to be with us. Man of the people my ass.” Then came the worst thing. Caesar was at a fertility festival called
Lupercalia, and at some point, during the celebration Mark Anthony put a crown on his
head, saying “The People give this to you through me.” As you know, crowns weren’t for dictators. Some people were shocked into silence, a few
clapped, and some started whispering. “Who does he think he is?”, they said. Tongues wagged, even though to Caesar’s
credit he took off the crown and said, “Jupiter alone of the Romans is king.” Some people later said Caesar had set the
whole thing up, just to gauge the crowd’s reaction so he might know if they wanted him
to be king. Just so you know, Romans had long gotten rid
of kings and replaced rulership with a more modern kind of government. Kings, they agreed, were dangerous. On the evening of February 22, 44 BC, somewhere
in the shadows, two men machinated about a certain downfall. One was Brutus, who you already know Ceasar
had spared, and the other was his brother-in-law, the senator named Cassius Longinus. They decided that just killing Caesar wasn’t
good enough, seeing as Caesar was still well-liked by the people. They didn’t want a revolt. They agreed that Caesar’s death should be
at the hands of a large group of men, and then they could announce that they’d only
murdered a tyrant for the good of Rome. Almost like picking a jury, they went through
a list of powerful men. The assassins, they decided, should include
some senators close to their own age of 40. The difficult thing was, to bring such a thing
up in conversation. After all, tell the wrong person you intend
to assassinate the leader and that would not only foil the plot but get you killed. They decided to ask questions like this:
“Ok, hypothetically, get that, just hypothetically speaking. If a certain man was an evil ruler of his
people and caused much damage to his land, do you think A: His people should rise up
and kill him, or B: You should just let sleeping dogs lie? Remember, hypothetically speaking.” In the end, they got around 60 people to agree
with the assassination, folks from all sorts of backgrounds, but most who had a beef with
Caesar, were skeptical of his growing authoritarianism, or felt they hadn’t been rewarded enough
by him. Some were merely peeved that Caesar had been
too kind to the folks that had once supported Pompey. He had plenty of enemies, that’s for sure. They even thought about trying to enlist Mark
Antony, but it was decided that Anthony wouldn’t go for it. They also wondered if they should kill Anthony,
and while they were on this topic, they asked if they should undo all of Caesar’s reforms. That wouldn’t work, it turned out, because
some of the assassins actually liked the reforms. Still, most of them were good with getting
rid of Anthony. Brutus then said the sensible thing. He told the others that if they killed Anthony,
the people would start asking too many questions. Anthony was no tyrant, said Brutus, and the
people knew that. Brutus also said if they reversed the reforms,
people would ask if the assassination was because of a tyrant or because some greedy
men wanted their own way. It was finally agreed that they would keep
the reforms, spare Anthony, and only kill the man that they would say wanted to be king. Ok, so how would they get the job done? They mulled over a few murder plots. Some men said to just do it on the streets,
a daggers-in-the-heart scenario. Easy. Others said, no, nothing so public, and offered
the proposal of throwing him over a bridge and when he landed in the water, stabbing
the hell out of him. This also sounded a bit messy to some of them. Someone else ventured that they should kill
him quickly at the gladiatorial games when the place was erupting in chaos, then no one
would know what was going on. It was finally agreed that the best course
of events would be to get him at one of the senate meetings. This was pretty much the only time he wasn’t
surrounded by friends, people that knew how to fight. The other senators, though, the ones forever
allied with Caesar, couldn’t punch their way through a paper bag, or whatever was the
expression in ancient Rome. It would also look much nobler, doing it at
a meeting, rather than down an alley or in a river. The 15th of March was picked, which in the
Roman calendar was the “Ides of March”, a date that for Romans was often reserved
for paying back debts. Caesar had visited a seer around this time
and this seer had told him his life was in danger. It’s thought Caesar also knew something
strange was going on around him. Everyone looked suspicious, then one day Caesar
said to an aide, “What do you think Cassius is up to? I don't like him, he looks pale.” When the big day came, the senators and some
others turned up for the meeting held at the Senate House of Pompey which was in the Theatre
of Pompey. Nearby, gladiators were preparing for the
games. That made the plotters confident, knowing
that if they met with resistance, they could get them on their side. One of the leading conspirators was Decimus
Brutus, a man that had his own team of gladiators. They waited and waited, but Caesar didn’t
come. The reason could be a legend, but it says
that Caesar’s wife had awoken that morning and pleaded with him not to leave. She said she’d just had a nightmare in which
he’d been murdered. Another story says she dreamed of a river
of blood oozing from Caesar's body. It seems she did indeed have some kind of
bad dream because the historians say after Caesar decided not to go and asked Anthony
to cancel the meeting, gladiator owner Decimus turned up at his house. After hearing Caesar’s reasons for shutting
down the meeting, he said, “What do you say, Caesar? Will someone of your stature pay attention
to a woman's dreams and the omens of foolish men?” Anthony followed Caesar and the others to
the meeting, but as soon as they were in the door, someone grabbed Anthony and shoved him
into another room. He must have known right then he’d never
see his friend alive again. Caesar, not knowing what was happening, took
a seat and was handed a petition to review. Most people around him were his enemies, all
of them with daggers at the ready. What cowards they were, about to kill a defenseless
man, the greatest man Rome had seen and would ever see. It was senator Cimber that made the first
move, grabbing at Caesar’s toga and pulling it down. Caesar shouted, “Why, this is violence!” Then senator Casca brandished his dagger,
viciously inserting it in Caesar’s neck. Blood sputtered out in streams. Caesar grabbed him and said, “Casca, you
villain, what are you doing?” Then they all piled in, including Brutus,
and it was stab after stab after stab. 23 hits in total, but the one to the aorta was
the fatal blow. Caesar died, said the autopsy, from blood
loss. He may have had no final words, although some
historians wrote that he said, “You too, child?” when he saw Brutus was one of the conspirators. He may have said nothing, and on seeing Brutus,
the gravity of such betrayal made him pull his toga over his eyes. Brutus, we are told, was actually a man of
morals and Caesar had known that. Brutus had actually never wanted a bloodbath,
but he reckoned, sincerely, Caesar had to be killed for the good of Rome. Many of the conspirators fled from the scene,
but some of them walked through the streets shouting, “People of Rome, we are once again
free!” The people locked their doors, not knowing
what to think. Caesar meanwhile lay on that cold, hard floor,
only moved later by slaves. Many of the lower classes were furious that
their beloved Caesar had been felled by a group of greedy aristocrats. They didn’t buy into the tale of this being
for their own good. Mark Antony realized this was a good time
to exploit that anger, and threatened to release the angry mass on the aristocrats. Caesar hadn’t had all-out support from the
people of Rome, but he had enough devoted followers to ensure this time was fraught
with tension. We’re missing a lot out here, but as time
passed some of those plebs got to work burning down the houses of the conspirators.
18-year old Octavian, Caesar’s grandnephew, and adopted son, had been made heir by Caesar
before his death. It turned out he was a formidable ruler, too. We’ll come back to his fate soon. War was here again, with Brutus and Cassius
both raising armies, and Anthony doing the same. In short, Brutus and Cassius lost. A Second Triumvirate was then formed, this
one consisting of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's Master of the Horse, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. As for Caesar’s enemies, there was no forgiveness
this time. It’s a long story, but as you know, power
vacuums are often very bloody. It was agreed that the Second Triumvirate
should rule various provinces of Rome and they did so openly and legally, unlike the
First Triumvirate. Lands were divided and Octavian married Antony’s
stepdaughter, Claudia, and later Anthony got hitched to Octavian's sister, Octavia. Proscription, which as we said made it legal
to banish or execute Romans who’d been condemned, was brought back. This hadn’t happened since Sulla was around. Everything might have been hunky-dory if all
those men didn’t have their own dangerous ambitions and insatiable hunger for power. Lepidus and Octavian fell out over the matter
of territories and Octavian then accused Lepidus of trying to start a rebellion and take all
the power for himself. Lepidus lost that argument and ended up being
booted out of Rome and exiled to Africa. Anthony then ended up with Caesar’s old
flame, the extremely wealthy Cleopatra. They lived in Alexandria and had kids together,
and together with their joint armies, they did a fair bit of conquering. Anthony even gave himself a kind of fake Triumph
and minted coins for his victory. Octavian didn’t much like this… Anthony was getting too big for his boots. And then when Octavian got hold of Anthony’s
will by illegally breaking into the sacred Temple of Vesta, he saw that Anthony intended
to bequeath a hell of a lot to Cleopatra’s kids. He even asked to be buried in Alexandria,
not in Rome. Disgraceful!, thought Octavian. That was fighting talk, especially when Octavian
saw that Antony wanted Cleopatra to be the Queen of Kings in the lands of Egypt and Cyprus
and Caesar’s bastard son with Cleopatra, Caesarion, to be named the King of Kings. The upshot was Octavian declaring that Antony
“had failed to conduct himself as befitted a Roman citizen.” The Battle of Actium was the result of this
fallout, sometimes called the Final War of the Roman Republic. It turned out that Cleopatra and Anthony were
no match for Octavian’s forces, not even close, and Cleo and Tony soon perished. Believe it or not, Rome saw quite a long period
of peace after that, with Octavian becoming the first-ever emperor and initiating what
would be called the golden age of Rome under the name Pax Romana, Roman Peace. Talk about having to break some eggs to make
an omelet that Caesar had started. Now you need to see if Caesar stands up to
this guy “Genghis Khan - Greatest Conqueror Ever?” Or, have a look at
