4/8/12
Civil
War
Alea
iacta
est:
“the
die
is
cast”
• Pompey
and
conserva=ves
in
Senate
muster
army
and
go
to
Greece
• Caesar
follows…
48
BC:
Pharsalus
• Pompey
loses;
flees
to
Egypt;
beheaded
by
Ptolemy
• Civil
War
con=nues:
48-‐5
Caesar
moves
immediately
with
one
single
legion
without
wai=ng
for
spring
– Civil
&
foreign
campaigns
fought
in
Egypt,
Asia,
Spain
&
Africa
– Ptolemy,
Cleopatra
&
Caesarion
– BaPle
of
Thapsus
46
BC
(Cato)
– BaPle
of
Munda
45
BC
(Pompey’s
sons)
– Huge
Triumphal
parade
in
45
BC
Pompey
has
no
=me
to
muster
troops
&
abandons
Rome
to
Caesar
Cleopatra
Clemen-a
&
Celeritas
(Clemency
&
Speed)
• Caesar
famed
for
his
speed
in
his
victories
across
the
world:
veni,
vidi,
vici
• Equally
famous
for
his
clemency.
Not
like
Sulla
– Caesar
offered
to
pardon
any
who
supported
him,
even
if
they
had
previously
fought
against
him
– A]er
Pharsalus,
Cicero
and
Brutus
are
pardoned
– But
Cato
the
Younger
refuses
to
let
Caesar
pardon
him.
Cato
commits
suicide
a]er
BaPle
of
Thapsus
(46
BC)
near
U=ca
in
North
Africa
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4/8/12
Caesar’s
Ac=ons
as
“Perpetual
Dictator”:
45
BC
Julian
Calendar
(365
days)
Debt
relief
Oversight
of
grain
dole
New
colonies
Extends
Roman
status
to
several
provinces
(Gaul)
Expands
Senate
to
900
members
and
enrolls
provincial
aristocrats
• Plans
expedi=on
against
Parthians…
• Massive
building
projects
•
•
•
•
•
•
– New
Forum
of
Julius
Caesar
and
Temple
of
Venus
Genetrix
– Rebuilt
Senate
House
(burned
a]er
Clodius
is
killed)
– Basilica
Julia
in
forum
But
Caesar
begins
to
take
his
power
too
far?
Aspira=ons
toward
divinity?
•
Perpetual
dictator
without
signs
of
abdica=on
•
1st
Roman
to
have
portrait
struck
on
coins
while
living
•
Mark
Antony
elected
priest
for
temple
to
Julius
Caesar
•
Accepts
offerings
to
“deo
invicto”:
invincible
god
•
Gilded
throne,
purple
robe,
laurel
wreath
•
July
•
Mark
Antony
offers
laurel
crown
during
public
fes=val
Julius
Caesar’s
new
forum,
Senate
House,
&
Temple
of
Venus
Genetrix
Conspiracy
forms
against
Caesar:
Tyrant?
King?
• Conspiracy
of
senators
includes
both
old
enemies
and
some
staunch
supporters
• Figure-‐head
=
Brutus,
descendant
of
Brutus
(tyrant
killer)
• on
Ides
of
March
(15th)
44
BC,
group
surrounds
Caesar
before
senate
mee=ng
and
while
Antony
detained
• 60
conspirators,
and
Caesar
stabbed
23
=mes
(though
only
one
fatal)
• Kai
su
teknon?
Et
tu
Brute?
2
4/8/12
Uncanny
Coincidence?
V.
Camuccini,
1798:
"Death
of
Julius
Caesar”
• Senate
was
mee=ng
that
day
in
part
of
Pompey’s
theater
complex!
• Caesar
trapped,
says
Plutarch,
like
a
wild
beast,
stabbed
from
all
sides:
“Either
by
chance
or
because
he
was
pushed
there
by
his
murderers,
he
fell
down
against
the
pedestal
on
which
the
statue
of
Pompey
stood,
and
the
pedestal
was
drenched
with
his
blood,
so
that
one
might
have
thought
that
Pompey
himself
was
presiding
over
this
act
of
vengeance
against
his
enemy,
who
lay
there
at
his
feet
struggling
convulsively
under
so
many
wounds.
He
is
said
to
have
received
23
wounds.
And
many
of
his
assailants
were
wounded
by
each
other,
as
they
all
tried
to
plant
all
those
blows
in
one
body.”
3