Meanwhile the regime in Rome had changed and Caesar could return home. He hunted the pirates down, captured them and had them crucified.Ĭaesar’s next task was to organize a force to defend Roman property along the coast of Asia Minor (Turkey). But it was in fact exactly what he did once he was released. Everyone laughed at the joke, even Caesar himself. While captured he joked with his captors, telling them he’d see them all crucified, once he was released. During this misadventure Caesar displayed much of the ruthlessness which should later lead to his world fame. Caesar decided to spend the winter on the island of Rhodes, but the ship taking him there was captured by pirates, who held him hostage for about forty days, until a large ransom bought his freedom. ‘Do you know any man who, even if he has concentrated on the art of oratory to the exclusion of all else, can speak better than Caesar ?’ (quote by Cicero). Caesar later proved an incredibly talented, if not genial, public speaker and much of this will undoubtedly have come from his training in rhetoric.

Instead he spent some time in the south of Italy improving his education, in particular rhetoric. It’s believed that his next assignment was in one of the armies which crushed Spartacus’ slave rebellion.Īfter this Caesar left the army, yet it was still considered unwise for him to return to Rome. Thereafter he was posted to Cilicia, where he proved himself a capable and courageous soldier, winning praise for having saved the life of a comrade. His first posting was as a military assistant to a provincial governor. Naturally, as a member of a patrician family, he didn’t enter the forces as a common soldier. Caesar goes into ExileĪnd so Caesar left Rome to join the army. Influential friends managed to have him released, but it was obvious that Caesar would have to leave Rome for a while, in order to let things cool down. But it appears that Sulla chose to spare him, as he did some others. Sulla was dictator of Rome and was seeking to wipe out any Marian sympathizers. Further he began building a network of connections, some of which with politicians currently out of favour (the supporters of Marius).īut these were dangerous contacts to have. His first step was to marry into a yet more distinguished family. Instead Caesar now set out to better himself. When, Caesar was fifteen years old, his father Lucius died, with him died the fatherly expectations that Caesar should engage on a modest political career. Already at a young age he had realized that money was the key to Roman politics as the system had by his time long been corrupt. However, Caesar was not like other Romans. The Social Wars created turmoil all over Italy and Marius and Sulla were the great leaders of the time.Īs a member of an old aristocratic family Julius was expected, at the completion of his education, to assume a modest office on the lower end of the long ladder of the Roman political career. The increased size of the empire had led to cheap slave labour flooding into the country which in turned made many Roman workers unemployed. Caesar’s early LifeĬaesar grew up in a period of unrest and civil war in Rome. The historian Suetonius writes about Julius Caesar: He was embarrassed by his baldness, which was a frequent subject of jokes on the part of his opponents so much so that he used to comb his straggling locks forward from the back, and of all honours heaped upon him by senate and people, the one he most appreciated was to be able to wear a wreath at all times…. though he did suffer from the occasional epileptic fit. Deified in 42 BC.Ĭaesar was tall, fair-haired, well built and of sound health. Married initially to Cornelia (one daughter, Julia), then to Pompeia, alas to Calpurnia. Appointed dictator for ten years in 47 B, for life on 14 February 44 BC. Gaius Julius Caesar was born on 12 July 100 BC in Rome, son of Gaius Caesar and Aurelia.

Suetonius gaius julius caesar summary