1. JULIUS
CAESAR
FROM REPUBLIC TO
EMPIRE

2. 3 MEN BEFORE 1 –
CRASSUS
•One of the wealthiest men in
Rome.
•He had made a fortune in
finance and investing.
•Put down the slave revolt lead
by Spartacus
•By 71 BCE, was the military
hero he longed to be.
•He was hailed as the savior of
Rome.

3. POMPEY
•Gnaeus Pompeius was a much better
general than Crassus.
•He had defended the Senate against a
rebellion by Lepidus in 77 and against
Sertorius in 72.
•In 72 BCE, Pompey returned to Italy
with his army, which he kept at a safe
distance from Rome.
•He aligns with Crassus, and
pressures the Senate to let him to run
for Consul, which they do.

4. GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR
•Caesar had far more ambition than
resources.
•Spent enormous amounts of money
buying influence, including giving
public games as aedile that eclipsed
anything that had gone before.
•He was immensely popular, but he
also found that he was broke. As he
entered his military career (the next
step after engaging in local politics),
he found that he was not only broke
but deeply in debt.
•He was given command of the
forces in Gaul. He went to Gaul
knowing he must do something
spectacular or face ruin.

5. CAESAR IN GAUL
• Over the course of ten years,
Caesar won several brilliant
victories.
• He crossed the Rhine River in
56, the first to bring Roman
armies into Germany.
• He invaded Britain in 55.
• After the revolt, he organized
and pacified Gaul, exercising
full political and military
control there.
• Gaul brought Caesar
mountains of gold.
• The barbarians were rich in
precious metals and jewels,
and he plundered them
willingly.

6. CAESAR IN GAUL
• The plunder catapulted Caesar
into the uppermost ranks of the
wealthy.
• He rewarded his soldiers
handsomely, bribed Senators right
and left, and essentially purchased
for himself a political career
• Gaul also gave Caesar a fiercely
loyal army.
• He was an outstanding
commander, creating in his men a
devotion that outlived Caesar
himself.
• By the end of the Gallic Rebellion
in 51, he had great wealth and the
best army in Rome.

7. THE FIRST
TRIUMVIRATE
• By 57 BCE, Pompey and Crassus were not getting along, and
Rome was at the brink of civil war.
• Cicero, leader of the senate, allied with Pompey.
• Caesar intervenes as a neutral negotiator.
• The 3 agree to join forces and dictate their terms to the Senate.
• Crassus got command of Syria, Pompey got Spain, and Caesar got
5 more years in Gaul.
• Caesar wanted more time to consolidate his wealth and power
before entering politics in Rome

8. THE MEDITERRANEAN, 59
BCE

9. THE END OF THE
REPUBLIC
• The 50s BCE mark the effective end of the Republic, if not its
official end.
• Political anarchy reigned in Rome at the hands of the triumvirs.
• All sides did not hesitate to use violence, with the result that there
was more or less open gang warfare.
• The city was filled to overflowing with the unemployed, who found
ample work by joining the gangs.
• Pompey is aligned with the Senate and essentially becomes a
puppet.
• Crassus loses a battle in 53 to a Parthian army and is killed.

10. CRISIS FOR ROME
AND THE SENATE
• Caesar's enemies, especially Cicero, decided that the hero
must be brought to heel before he became too strong.
• They were able to bring treason charges against him in the
year 50.
• The charges were not only false, everyone knew them to be
false. But everyone also understood that there would be a
conviction.
• Pompey, the champion of the Senate and acting on its behalf,
ordered Caesar to return to Rome to stand trial. This was equal
to a declaration of war.
• Caesar now had to decide whether to return to Rome and risk
almost certain condemnation, or to defy the Senate and risk
almost certain civil war.
• Caesar brought his army into Cisalpine Gaul -- what is today
northern Italy. The southernmost edge of Gaul was the little
river called the Rubicon.

11. CROSSING THE
RUBICON
• Caesar brought his soldiers to the River Rubicon in the
winter and tried to negotiate a compromise.
• Pompey refused to negotiate.
• He thought for an hour or so. He spoke with his officers.
• Then he gave the orders to cross the Rubicon, January 10
of 49.
• The moment his soldiers set foot on the other side, Caesar
was automatically an outlaw and his only recourse was to
war.

13. THE END OF THE SENATE
Senatus Populusque Romanus (Latin) – “The Senate and the Roman People”

14. CIVIL WAR
• In two months, Caesar chased his enemies from Italy.
• The speed of Caesar's advance caught everyone by surprise.
• His army was able to move as fast as 100 miles in a single day,
and even his normal rate of march was much faster than his
enemies could manage.
• Pompey crossed the Adriatic Sea, leaving Rome to Caesar, who
found a city largely empty of Senators.
• Caesar pursued Pompey into Greece, catching up with him at
Pharsalus.

15. ANCIENT BATTLES:
PHARSALUS
• August 9th 48 BCE
• Take notes on the battle from the video

16. “I came, I saw, I conquered”
Julius Caesar

17. PHARSALUS, THEN
EGYPT
• Pompey had 40,000 men, Caesar only 22,000, but Caesar's men
were seasoned veterans and much of Pompey's forces were little
more than the home guard.
• Despite the odds, Caesar won the battle. Quite a number of
senators fell at Pharsalus, and Pompey himself fled to Egypt.
• Caesar quickly ordered matters in Greece and pursued Pompey.
• When the Egyptians saw Caesar coming after their unwelcome
guest, they discreetly murdered Pompey.
• Thus ended the first Triumvirate. Crassus was dead. Pompey was
dead. Only Caesar remained.
• Caesar became smitten with Cleopatra, pharaoh of Egypt, and
took her as a wife.

18. ENDING RESISTANCE
TO ROME
• Caesar left Egypt in 47 and marched north to Syria and Asia
Minor, where a number of kings had taken advantage of the
civil war to break their treaties with Rome.
• In a memorable series of battles over the course of five days,
Julius Caesar defeated one army after another and quashed
every rebel.
• In 46, he was in Africa, dealing with another ambitious general
who sought to test his strength against Caesar.
• Having dealt with that, Caesar went to Spain in 45 and
defeated the last of the Roman resistance.
• He then returned to Rome, the undisputed master of the
empire.

19. FAMOUS QUOTES
• “If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all
other cases observe it.”
• “What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves
think, we imagine others think also.”
• “It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence
of life.”
• “Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.”
• “Experience is the teacher of all things.”
• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/julius_caesar.html

20. THE IDES OF MARCH
• Caesar was now master of Rome and made himself consul and
dictator.
• He used his power to carry out much-needed reform, relieving
debt, enlarging the senate, building the Forum Iulium and
revising the calendar.
• Dictatorship was always regarded a temporary position but in 44
BC, Caesar took it for life.
• His success and ambition alienated the strongly republican
senators.
• A group of these, led by Cassius and Brutus, assassinated
Caesar on the Ides (15) of March 44 BC.

21. SENATORS CELEBRATE MURDER OF
CAESAR

22. WHY ASSASSINATE
CAESAR?
• Rich intent upon restoring republican liberties by doing
away with a despotic usurper
• They perceived him to be a popular leader who threatened
their privileged interests
• Wealthy Romans made no secret of their fear and hatred
of the common people and of anyone else who infringed
upon their class prerogatives
• The rich valued the Republic only as long as it served
their way of life
• This sparked the final round of civil wars that ended the
Republic and brought about the elevation of Caesar's
great nephew and designated heir, Octavian, as Augustus,
the first emperor.