Julias caesar
Julias caesarBorn in Rome on July 12 or 13, 100 BC, Caesar belonged to the prestigious Julian clan; yet from early childhood he knew controversy. His uncle by marriage was Gaius Marius, leader of the Populares. This party supported agrarian reform and was opposed by the reactionary Optimates, a senatorial faction. Marius was seven times consul (chief magistrate), and the last year he held office, just before his death in 86 BC, he exacted a terrifying toll on the Optimates. At the same time he saw to it that young Caesar was appointed flamen dialis, one of an archaic priesthood with no power. This identified him with his uncle's extremist politics, and his marriage in 84 BC to Cornelia, the daughter of Marius's associate, Cinna, further confirmed him as a radical. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marius's enemy and leader of the Optimates, was made dictator in 82 BC, he issued a list of enemies to be executed. Although Caesar was not harmed, he was ordered by Sulla to divorce Cornelia. Refusing that order, he found it prudent to leave Rome. He did not return to the city until 78BC, after Sulla's resignation.
Caesar was now 22 years old. Unable to gain office, he left Rome again and went to Rhodes, where he studied rhetoric; he returned to Rome in 73 BC, a very persuasive speaker. The year before, while still absent, he had been elected to the pontificate, an important college of Roman priests.
In 71 BC Pompey the Great, who had earned his epithet in service under Sulla, returned to Rome, having defeated the rebellious Populares general Sertorius in Spain. At the same time Marcus Licinius Crassus, a rich patrician, suppressed in Italy the slave revolt led by Spartacus. Pompey and Crassus both ran for the consulship-an office held by two men-in 70 BC. Pompey, who by this time had changed sides, was technically ineligible, but with Caesar's help he won the office. Crassus became the other consul. In 69 BC, Caesar was elected quaestor and in 65 BC curule aedile, gaining great popularity for his lavish gladiatorial games. To pay for these, he borrowed money from Crassus. This united the two men, who also found common cause with Pompey. When Caesar returned to Rome in 60BC after a year as governor of Spain, he joined forces with Crassus and Pompey in a three-way alliance known as the First Triumvirate; to cement their relationship further, Caesar gave his daughter Julia to Pompey in marriage. Thus backed, Caesar was elected consul for 59BC despite Optimate hostility, and the year after (58BC) he was appointed governor of Roman Gaul.
AGallic Wars At that time Celtic Gaul, to the north, was still independent, but the Aedui, a tribe of Roman allies, appealed to Caesar for help against another Gallic people, the Helvetii, during the first year of his governorship. Caesar marched into Celtic Gaul with six legions, defeated the Helvetii, and forced them to return to...
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