History UsefulNotes / JuliusCaesar

There was also a suspicion that Caesar wanted to be King (which led Caesar and Antony to stage public ceremonies of the former ostentatiously denying a diadem, either in sincerity, [[{{Troll}} in jest]] or [[FictionAsCoverUp an audience preview to test an actual play for the Crown]], no one knows). This was further reinforced by his relationship with the Eastern foreign Queen of Egypt, who had also given birth to his son, Caesarion and who moreover was living in Rome in the weeks leading to Caesar's death. By law, Caesarion was not Caesar's heir and had no Roman rights but obviously it would benefit Cleopatra immensely if the Roman-Ptolemaic offspring did get recognition, support and patronage in Rome.[[note]]More likely Caesar intended his illegitimate son to simply be a future Pharaoh of Egypt (the most important of Rome's client kingdoms at the time) who would be not only resolutely pro-Roman but also pro-Julian.[[/note]] This mix of fear, conservative paranoia, genuine constitutional concerns, xenophobia, and misogyny, led to the most famous and momentous of all assassinations in the Ancient World.

After being stripped of his post as Flamen Dialis, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Caesar was now able to seek a career in the army that would not have been open had it not been for Sulla]]. Caesar entered the army and wisely stayed out of the capital, returning only after Sulla's death (one year after he surrendered the dictatorship, and then serving a term after that as Consul). One of Sulla's restrictions, possibly ordered as a joke, only allowed him to ride a donkey into battle. Somehow, he still went on to attain distinction, winning the Civic Crown (equivalent of a medal) in a siege, which entitled him to automatic entry into the Senate[[note]]It was supposed to be attained for saving the life of a soldier from an enemy combatant. However, in practice Roman military decorations were awarded for more trivial deeds as well, in order for the commanders to win popularity among their soldiers; for example, in his ''Attic Nights'' Aulus Gellius quotes Cato the Elder criticizing Roman commander Marcus Fulvius Nobilior for awarding crowns to the soldiers for industry in building a rampart or in digging a well. Suetonius does not specify what Caesar was given the Civic Crown for[[/note]]. He also, during this time, was sent on a mission to Bithynia to secure the help of King Nicomedes, but his lengthy stay at court sprouted (probably false) rumours in Rome that the two were having a homosexual relationship, rumours that were to dog Caesar throughout his career.

[[caption-width-right:350:The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only extant sculpture of Caesar made in his lifetime.]]

** Played by Creator/AlainDelon in ''Asterix at the Olympic Games'' (2008).

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheSuperRevengeOfLexLuthor'': As trashing swiftly a ComicBook/LexLuthor's robot, Superman quotes a variation of Caesar's famous "Veni, vidi, vici":
-->'''Superman:''' ''"He came... He saw... I conquered!"''

!!Tropes as portrayed in fiction:

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!!Caesar in fiction

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* In 1953's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1953}}'', he's played by Louis Calhern.
* In 1970's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}'', he's played by Creator/JohnGielgud, who played Cassius in the 1953 film.

* Creator/KlausMariaBrandauer portrayed him in ''Druids'' (2001) about the conquest of Gaul, opposing Creator/ChristopherLambert as Vercingetorix.

** To be played by Creator/VincentCassel in ''Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom'' (2023).

* The first episode of the French {{edutainment|Show}} ConfessionCam parody web-series ''WebVideo/ConfessionsDHistoire'' covers the Gallic Wars and features him. While he doesn't appear in it, he's obligatorily mentioned in the episode about Cleopatra VII and the end of Ptolemaic Egypt.

* The first episode of the French {{edutainment|Show}} ConfessionCam parody web-series ''WebVideo/ConfessionsDHistoire'' covers the Gallic Wars and features him.

[[/folder]]

The most famous [[AncientRome Roman]] in history. Brilliant general, orator, politician and writer. Had nothing to do with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad the salad]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Caesars the pizza franchise]], the palace, or (probably) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section the surgical procedure]].

The most famous [[AncientRome Roman]] in history. Brilliant general, orator, politician and writer. Had nothing to do with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad the salad]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Caesars the pizza franchise]], the palace, or (probably)
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section the surgical procedure]].

Caesar is a controversial figure and historians to this day are divided about him. The Republic he overthrew was extremely corrupt and increasingly ineffective, while he provided strong, stable and popular leadership. He was merciful to his (Roman) enemies and widely respected for his many talents even by opponents like Creator/{{Cicero}}, who, in his invective-filled orations known as the Philippics, told Mark Antony that he was no Caesar. When he died he was either about to take personal power as the dictator, or possibly reform the Republic to accommodate its new responsibilities and peacefully and moderately end the spiral of factional wars that had gone on for a hundred years at that point. It it is one of the great [[WhatIf What Ifs]] of history as to what he would have done. The impact and importance of his legacy in Western civilization are indisputably immense: for the next two thousand years after his death, rulers would invoke and wear his name as a title and honorific (for example, the German word for "emperor" is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser "Kaiser"]], pronounced just like Julius' surname; Slavic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csar "csar"]] (pronounced "tsar") is short for "caesar"). Not bad for what seems to have originally been [[IronicNickname the Roman equivalent of the Aussie tradition of calling the bald guy "Curly"]].[[note]]"Caesar"="hairy". While it's not clear if the first member of the gens Julia to be called "Caesar" (who exactly that would be is murky) was hairy or bald, his descendants definitely tended to be bald, which knowing the Romans is probably why this cognomen stuck. (They loved this kind of joke.)[[/note]]

He was a man driven mainly by personal ambition (It was basically the Roman way, at least if you were an aristocrat, but it was a handy putdown by enemies who wanted to prove ''they weren't''), and was perfectly capable of ruthlessness to get what he wanted. His campaigns were extremely brutal, possibly claiming as many as a million lives in total, with much rampant looting and slave trading. He is usually regarded by his critics as the man principally responsible for the death of the Roman Republic, though his admirers feel that by that point Rome was a republic in name only, and that Caesar did more for the common man of Rome than anyone else who could plausibly have taken power would have. He was also known to [[AgentPeacock be very vain about his personal appearance]], and could and would go to extreme lengths to get revenge. The debate, then, is largely if his many accomplishments can justify or condone his misdeeds and personal failings. Whether he was merely an above-average adventurer who came ahead of rivals and opponents who were no better than him, or the last true Roman who could have truly reformed the Republic's obsolete institutions and brutally murderous political culture. Likewise, whether there is continuity between him and his nephew Augustus. There is no evidence of him planning to become a dictator prior to the civil war or of attempting to institutionalize despotism (that was more Augustus's thing). He named Octavian (later known as Augustus) as his heir, but he didn't specifically entitle him to inherit the dictatorship and it was probably a consequence of his brief break with Antony and perhaps a temporary stopgap. He clearly did not expect to be assassinated, and Cleopatra and Caesarion were in Rome, so it might have been a temporary thing until he could work legal status for the latter. Augustus in time defeated Antony and murdered Caesarion ("Two caesars is one too many!") so the former clearly saw the latter as a threat.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: As seen below, the portrayal of Caesar in various media varies greatly - all the way from a 100 BC Hitler to a Roman Messiah figure. In real life he was a highly complex man, making it very easy to find things from his life and actions that can support whichever "version" of Caesar one wishes to portray. For instance he did indeed seek out and crucify the pirates who took him captive - but he found himself unable to stomach the horror of crucifixion, and had his men cut the throats of the pirates before they crucified them.
** His relationship with Cleopatra lends itself to this, although more so in recent years. Cleopatra's association with the two Roman generals, Caesar and Marc Antony, has most commonly been portrayed as being a political union with Caesar and genuine love with Antony. Not that anyone today can know the true nature of relationships that happened 2000 years ago, but in the past decade or so the suggestion that it was a genuine love affair between Caesar and Cleopatra has become more and more common ([[TakeAThirdOption not that it couldn't have been love for one of them and a political match for the other]]). The reason behind the shift in interpretation lies in the argument that being involved with Cleopatra, and setting aside his Roman, aristocrat wife for her, was a very bad PR move for a Roman general. Something Caesar realized but Antony didn't...

** Works which show him as a conqueror and focus on his atrocities in Gaul, as well as those which focus on his enemies like Cato or Cicero, will cast Caesar in this role. He appears as a kind of AffablyEvil NobleDemon GreaterScopeVillain in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' where he's kind of a Doctor Doom-like love-to-hate antagonist who sometimes plots against the good guys but sometimes teams up with them.

** There's a similar debate among historians about the paternity of Brutus' younger sister, Junia Tertia[[note]]She in turn was married to Cassius, [[EveryoneIsRelated the ''other'' leader of Caesar's assassins]][[/note]]. Modern writers tend to consider her more plausible candidate as Caesar's child.

Caesar was killed in 44 BC by a group of rebellious senators, led by Brutus (and the assassination plot was first instigated by Cassius), being stabbed [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 23 times]] [[BloodOnTheDebateFloor in the senate]]. The assassination was clumsy and amateurish, and some of the Senators stabbed and hurt each other when rushing up to Caesar. He was armed with a stylus (a sharp Roman pen, that Gracchian supporters used to defend themselves when they charged and killed Gaius) but [[DidntSeeThatComing was absolutely unprepared for what happened]]. The assassins inflicted a total of 27 wounds, which, given that up to 60 people are said to have ambushed him, is not a particularly good batting average.

* SignatureLine: Probably the most famous Latin lines of all : ''Veni vidi vici, Alea iacta est, EtTuBrute''. And he actually did say two out of three of them. It's so proverbial that people use it without translation.

After his return to Rome, he was elected military tribune[[note]]Despite the name, this wasn't a military equivalent to the Tribunes who protected the rights of the Roman people; by law, Roman soldiers had no rights to protect in the first place. "Military tribune" was a regular military rank that was, very roughly, equivalent to the rank of colonel in a modern army. It was the usual first step in a political career; Romans tended not to trust politicians who hadn't served a term in the army.[[/note]], and quaestor in 69 BC at the age of 30.[[note]]This is significant, as quaestor was the the first step in the formal ''cursus honorum'', and 30 was the minimum age to serve as a quaestor, which meant he had been elected "in his year." Being elected to a ''cursus honorum'' office "in one's year" was generally seen as the mark of a politician on the make.[[/note]] That year, his first wife died. He served his quaestorship in Hispania, where he reportedly wept before a statue of UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat, realizing his achievements at the same age were rather less impressive.

* SignatureLine: Probably the the most famous Latin lines of all : ''Veni vidi vici, Alea iacta est, EtTuBrute''. And he actually did say two out of three of them. It's so proverbial that people use it without translation.

Caesar is a controversial figure and historians to this day are divided about him. The Republic he overthrew was extremely corrupt and increasingly ineffective, while he provided strong, stable and popular leadership. He was merciful to his (Roman) enemies and widely respected for his many talents even by opponents like Creator/{{Cicero}}, who, in his invective-filled orations known as the Philippics, told Mark Antony that he was no Caesar. When he died he was either about to take personal power as the dictator, or possibly reform the Republic to accommodate its new responsibilities and peacefully and moderately end the spiral of factional wars that had gone on for a hundred years at that point. It it is one of the great [[WhatIf What Ifs]] of history as to what he would have done. The impact and importance of his legacy in Western civilization are indisputably immense: for the next two thousand years after his death, rulers would invoke and wear his name as a title and honorific (for example, the German word for "emperor" is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser "Kaiser"]], pronounced just like Julius' surname; Slavic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csar "csar"]] (pronounced "tsar") is short for "caesar"). Not bad for what seems to have originally been [[IronicNickname the Roman equivalent of the Aussie tradition of calling the bald guy "Curly"]].[[note]]"Caesar"="hairy". While it's not clear if Numerius Julius (the first member of the gens Julia to be called "Caesar" was hairy or bald, his descendants definitely tended to be bald, which knowing the Romans is probably why this cognomen stuck. (They loved this kind of joke.)[[/note]]

Caesar is a controversial figure and historians to this day are divided about him. The Republic he overthrew was extremely corrupt and increasingly ineffective, while he provided strong, stable and popular leadership. He was merciful to his (Roman) enemies and widely respected for his many talents even by opponents like Creator/{{Cicero}}, who, in his invective-filled orations known as the Philippics, told Mark Antony that he was no Caesar. When he died he was either about to take personal power as the dictator, or possibly reform the Republic to accommodate its new responsibilities and peacefully and moderately end the spiral of factional wars that had gone on for a hundred years at that point. It it is one of the great [[WhatIf What Ifs]] of history as to what he would have done. The impact and importance of his legacy in Western civilization are indisputably immense: for the next two thousand years after his death, rulers would invoke and wear his name as a title and honorific (for example, the German word for "emperor" is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser "Kaiser"]], pronounced just like Julius' surname; Slavic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csar "csar"]] (pronounced "tsar") is short for "caesar"). Not bad for what seems to have originally been [[IronicNickname the Roman equivalent of the Aussie tradition of calling the bald guy "Curly"]].

Caesar is a controversial figure and historians to this day are divided about him. The Republic he overthrew was extremely corrupt and increasingly ineffective, while he provided strong, stable and popular leadership. He was merciful to his (Roman) enemies and widely respected for his many talents even by opponents like Creator/{{Cicero}}, who, in his invective-filled orations known as the Philippics, told Mark Antony that he was no Caesar. When he died he was either about to take personal power as the dictator, or possibly reform the Republic to accommodate its new responsibilities and peacefully and moderately end the spiral of factional wars that had gone on for a hundred years at that point. It it is one of the great [[WhatIf What Ifs]] of history as to what he would have done. The impact and importance of his legacy in Western civilization are indisputably immense: for the next two thousand years after his death, rulers would invoke and wear his name as a title and honorific (for example, the German word for "emperor" is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser "Kaiser"]], pronounced just like Julius' surname; Slavic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csar "csar"]] (pronounced "tsar") is short for "caesar").

* Karl Urban played Caesar in a recurring role on ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' and a one-off episode of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''. Having been Xena's one time ally, and lover, his betrayal (and crucifixion) of her led to Xena's warlord days, the time of her life which she spent the series atoning for. Notably, Xena was the leader of the pirates who ransomed him. Yes, [[AnachronismStew Julius Caesar exists in the same series that depicts the Trojan War, which occurred over 1000 years before his birth]].

* He's played by Jeremy Sisto in the 2003 miniseries ''Series/{{Julius Caesar|2003}}''. Starts with Sulla's march on Rome, ends with Caesar's assassination.

* SchoolStudyMedia: If you take Latin, you WILL read Caesar. There's no avoiding it. Repeat after me, "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres..."

Caesar was killed in 44 BC by a group of rebellious senators, led by Brutus (and the assassination plot was first instigated by Cassius), being stabbed [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 23 times]] [[BloodOnTheDebateFloor in the senate]]. The assassination was clumsy and amateurish, and some of the Senators stabbed and hurt each other when rushing up to Caesar. He was armed with a stylus (a sharp Roman pen, that Gracchian supporters used to defend themselves when they charged and killed Gaius) but [[DidntSeeThatComing was absolutely unprepared for what happened]]. The assassins inflicted a total of 27 wounds which given that up to 60 people are said ambushed him, is not a particularly good batting average.

Caesar was killed in 44 BC by a group of rebellious senators, led by Brutus, being stabbed [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 23 times]] [[BloodOnTheDebateFloor in the senate]]. The assassination was clumsy and amateurish, and some of the Senators stabbed and hurt each other when rushing up to Caesar. He was armed with a stylus (a sharp Roman pen, that Gracchian supporters used to defend themselves when they charged and killed Gaius) but [[DidntSeeThatComing was absolutely unprepared for what happened]]. The assassins inflicted a total of 27 wounds which given that up to 60 people are said ambushed him, is not a particularly good batting average.

The most famous [[AncientRome Roman]] in history. Brilliant general, orator, politician and writer. Had nothing to do with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad the salad]], the palace, or (probably)

The most famous [[AncientRome Roman]] in history. Brilliant general, orator, politician and writer. Had nothing to do with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad the salad]], the palace, or (probably)[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section the surgical procedure]].

The most famous [[AncientRome Roman]] in history. Brilliant general, orator, politician and writer. Had nothing to do with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad the salad]], the palace, or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section the surgical procedure]]. [[note]]Well, probably. The operation's name comes from the Latin word for 'to cut'; one theory is that the Caesar name, which as a cognomen was a family name, came from an ancestor who was indeed born by Caesarean section. Another theory is that it meant, roughly, "hairy" or "thick-haired", either because an ancestor had a lush head of hair or (in keeping with the Roman fondness for {{Ironic Nickname}}s) was bald (as Caesar was himself). Still another theory is that one of the family's ancestors had otherworldly IcyBlueEyes. Caesar himself seems to have favoured yet another explanation, that it was something to do with an ancestor who captured a number of war elephants in battle, with the name deriving from a contemporary North African word for 'elephant'. Also, in the Roman world, caesarean sections were only practised to remove a baby from the womb of a dead woman, which didn't happen here since [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelia_Cotta Caesar's mother]] died when he was in his forties...[[/note]]

There was also a suspicion that Caesar wanted to be King (which led Caesar and Antony to stage public ceremonies of the former ostentatiously denying a diadem, either in sincerity, [[{{Troll}} in jest]] or [[FictionAsCoverUp an audience preview to test an actual play for the Crown]], no one knows). This was further reinforced by his relationship with the Eastern foreign Queen of Egypt, who had also given birth to his son, Caesarion and who moreover was living in Rome in the weeks leading to Caesar's death. By law, Caesarion was not Caesar's heir and had no Roman rights but obviously it would benefit Cleopatra immensely if the Roman-Ptolemaic offspring did get recognition, support and patronage in Rome. This mix of fear, conservative paranoia, genuine constitutional concerns, xenophobia, and misogyny, led to the most famous and momentous of all assassinations in the Ancient World.