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The death of Julius Caesar - briefly. Gaius Julius Caesar Why was Caesar killed?

The assassination of Julius Caesar occurred on March 15, 44 BC. e. A group of conspirators attacked the dictator right in the Senate chamber. He suffered numerous puncture wounds, which caused his death. A man who can actually be considered the first Roman emperor has passed away.

Reasons for the assassination of Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) - a prominent political figure in Ancient Rome. In 49 BC. e. became a dictator, concentrating all power in his hands. But in this case, the conversation is not about a person who has seized all the power, but about an administrative position in the Roman Republic. The dictator was appointed by decision of the Senate for a maximum of 1 year. And the reason could be internal unrest, political instability or military invasion from outside. In such a situation there was a need for a strong hand. When the situation returned to normal, the dictator lost his powers

Caesar's dictatorial powers were renewed every year due to the Civil War. But in 46 BC. e. There were no longer any justifications for appointment to this position. However, Caesar's supporters again proclaimed him dictator, and even with powers for 10 years. Considering that Guy was already well over 50, his dictatorship could be considered lifelong.

In 45, Guy added the word “emperor” (victorious commander) to his name. And in the same year, Emperor Caesar was again appointed to the post of dictator, but for life. Now it turned out that the Roman Republic continued to exist only formally. In fact, all power was concentrated in the hands of one person, who relied on the army and devoted like-minded people.

The usurpation of power did not find support among certain sections of the Roman population. In particular, the nobles (Roman aristocracy) and some Caesarians opposed it. These people stood up for traditional political institutions, believing that dictatorship would not be able to solve the moral and political problems that were brewing in society. And Cicero drew a parallel between the reign of Julius Caesar and royal power.

However, the newly-made dictator (in the literal sense of the word) ignored the dissatisfied and started a campaign for his own sacralization. It was announced to everyone that the ancestors of the Julian family were the gods. And Venus was considered the ancestor in a direct line. A temple was erected in her honor and a magnificent cult was organized. The dictator's chariot and his statue were installed in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol. And the most important temple of Rome turned out to be dedicated not only to Jupiter, but also to Caesar, who began to be called a demigod.

Thus, a cult of personality arose very quickly. Moreover, everything was done for the deification of Guy. He even stopped getting up from his throne during a conversation with senators, which alienated many of his loyal comrades. All this was the reason for the conspiracy of democracy supporters. As a result, the assassination of Julius Caesar became a reality.

The organizer of the conspiracy is considered to be Gaius Longinus Cassius. The second person among the conspirators is Marcus Junius Brutus. It is noteworthy that his mother was the dictator's mistress. As a result of this, Caesar trusted Brutus, but was prejudiced towards Cassius. It was these two people who gathered around them senators who were dissatisfied with the usurpation of power.

There were 80 conspirators in total. They decided to deal with the tyrant at one of the Senate meetings and chose Julius Caesar to kill on March 15, 44 BC. e. But before this date, the dictator was repeatedly hinted to take care of his safety. Guy never carried a weapon with him and had no security, living by the principle that it was better to die once than to be afraid all his life.

On that fateful day, approaching the Senate building, Julius Caesar collided with a man. He quickly handed him a small scroll and left. It spoke of a planned conspiracy. But the dictator did not read the warning because he was distracted by other people. Chatting with those around him, Guy walked into the Senate. There he sat down on his throne, and was immediately approached by Senator Lucius Tillius Cimber. He began to ask for his brother, who was exiled.

Taking advantage of the fact that the dictator was distracted while talking with Lucius, the conspirators began to surround the throne. When the petitioner was convinced that Caesar was in a tight ring, he pulled him by the toga. This was the signal to attack.

The conspirators decided in advance that they would kill the tyrant as a whole team in order to bind themselves with mutual responsibility. Therefore, pushing each other, people rushed towards Guy, pulled out daggers and began to strike. He tried to resist with a writing stick, and even scratched several people with it. But the blows rained down. The tyrant wrapped his head in a toga and fell to the floor. And the heated conspirators dealt several more blows to the motionless body.

While the massacre was going on, Caesar saw Brutus among the conspirators and was incredibly surprised at this. He is credited with the phrase: “And you too, my child?” But Plutarch claims that the dictator said nothing and fell silently at the feet of his murderers, which is more likely to be true.

In total, Caesar received 23 puncture wounds. And only one of them turned out to be fatal. The conspirators behaved nervously, hurried, pushed and even injured each other. But be that as it may, the goal of the conspiracy was achieved. The tyrant died and freed the hands of the senators.

However, the murder of Julius Caesar did not bring happiness to the attackers. Ordinary citizens of Rome were deeply outraged by the bloody conspiracy. All this soon resulted in a new Civil War. She destroyed the main conspirators and brought Octavian Augustus into the political arena. It was under him that the Roman Empire was created. As for the murdered dictator, the name of this man has survived centuries and is as well known today as it was 2 thousand years ago.

I think everyone is familiar with the name Caesar. Even if someone does not know that it was a living person, they have probably at least heard the name of the salad. I remember this from my school days the story of his tragic death which I want to tell you.

Who is Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was great commander, politician, writer And dictator Roman Republic. In my opinion, he was an outstanding personality who managed to make his way to the top of power, despite the machinations of politicians who interfered with him. To resist them required a sharp mind, foresight and the ability to make quick decisions, which was characteristic of Caesar. I think he is a handsome, smart, energetic man. The memory of Caesar far outlived him. I find it interesting that they have been preserved phrases he once said For example:

Die is cast.
It's better to be first in the village than second in Rome.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
And you Brute?

How Caesar died

During the years of his power he made a lot of enemies. At that time, power in Rome belonged to the Senate, but Caesar gradually stripped it of its full power. Conducted many cases to combat corruption among senators, in addition, carried out reforms for the development of the state, strengthened the borders. His authority grew and everything went to the point that Caesar could becomeking. His enemies could not allow this. It all started with a conspiracy. Marcus Brutus, whom Julius Caesar completely trusted, took part in it. There were rumors that Brutus could be the son of Julius, since Caesar was having an affair with his mother. True or not, Julius treated Mark well. He pardoned him when he fought on the side of his enemies during the Civil War, and then promoted him and brought him as close as possible to himself.

And so, March 15, 44 BC. e. At a meeting of the Senate, one of the conspirators approached Caesar and pulled the toga(piece of clothing) what was the signal for others. Since they were not allowed into the Senate building with weapons, the murderers beat with a steel, sharp writing sticks. They attacked Caesar and each struck a blow. Among the attackers was Brutus. Julius at first tried to defend himself, but when he saw him among the murderers, he exclaimed: "And you Brute?!"; and stopped trying to defend himself. He was inflicted 23 wounds. Nobody of the remaining senators didn't stand up Everyone watched him in horror.

Judging by the last phrase uttered by Julius, I think that he was extremely surprised and to the last I didn’t believe that such a betrayal could end his life.

POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS (Part 1 - GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR)
This topic was suggested to me by my reader Nadezhda. If you remember, it’s very easy for me to get carried away by a new topic. I don’t know how long my fascination with political assassinations will last; everything will probably depend on the number of paintings found. But for now I’m opening a new series. Let me make a reservation right away that I do not pursue the goal of talking in detail about the historical figures being presented (they are known, and you can find a lot of interesting and detailed material on the Internet), the main goal is to collect and present to you a gallery of paintings dedicated to the event being described. Shall we begin?
Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Iulius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar
Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio
Ancient Roman statesman and politician, dictator, commander, writer.
The assassination of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by a group of senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus. The conspirators wanted to overthrow Julius Caesar, who during the civil war turned from a military leader into the sole ruler of Rome. Caesar's reign as dictator of the Roman Republic lasted more than four years. The Senate had no real power. However, the authority of the Senate was also undermined by Caesar's predecessors. A group of senators wanted to restore the former importance of the Senate and, to this end, hatched a conspiracy.
Apollonio di Giovanni di Tommaso (1415-1465) Assassination of Julius Caesar. Pushkin Museum
Medieval illustration The Assassination of Caesar.
The most convinced and decisive of the bearers of republican and national traditions entered into an agreement with each other and decided to kill Julius Caesar. In order to attract the people to their side, they lured to their side the young senator Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio (Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio, 85, Rome-42 BC, Philippi, Macedonia). He began to receive anonymous demands from different sides, prompting him to break with Caesar. In these anonymous letters, the senator was reminded of his namesake ancestor, who liberated Rome from royal power. Finally, the senator who was a quaestor in the army of Licinius Crassus during his campaign against the Parthians, Gaius Cassius Longinus, attracted Brutus to his side, and his example prompted about 80 noble Romans to join the conspiracy against Caesar. An interesting fact is that Brutus’s mother, Servilia, was Caesar’s mistress for many years, and later brought her daughter Junia the Third to the dictator. The energetic and talented Cassius became the soul of the conspiracy, but Brutus was considered its head.
Thomas Nast The Political Death of a Bogus Caesar.1868
E.H. Figer Asesinato de César ante la estatua de Pompeyo. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
Caesar's gullibility, which was one of the points of his political program, handed him over to the unarmed and unsuspecting conspirators for slaughter. March 15, 44 BC e. The conspirators killed Caesar in the Senate meeting room, near the Theater of Pompey.
Vincenzo Camuccini La Morte di Cesare. 1803-05 Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma
Raffaele Giannetti The Last Senate of Julius Caesar. 1867
The signal for the attack was given by Senator Lucius Tillius Cimber, who was at first a zealous supporter of Caesar, but after Caesar refused to return his brother from exile, he switched to the opposite camp and joined the conspirators. Cimber signaled to his comrades by pulling Caesar's toga off.
Jean-Léon Gérôme Muerte de César. 1867
Karl Theodor von Piloty Murder of Caesar. 1865
Since each of the senators individually did not want to take a sin on their souls, they agreed that each would strike at least one blow with a stele, since entry into the Senate with weapons was prohibited. Let me remind you that a stylus (Greek stylos) is a stick with a sharp end for writing on waxed boards. Surprisingly, the first blows could not kill Caesar. He tried to resist, and after the first blow he pierced the hand of one of the attackers with his stele.
I don’t know how accurate the version using a stylus as a murder weapon is, since many sources write that Caesar was stabbed to death with daggers, and artists also depict daggers in their paintings.
Cecil Doughty The murder of Julius Caesar. 1975
Paul Berenson The Assassination of Julius Caesar 1996
According to legend, when it was Brutus’s turn to strike, Caesar shouted in surprise the now famous phrase “And you, Brutus?” However, versions of Caesar’s last phrase in response to Brutus’ presence vary. The Roman historian Suetonius claimed that the last words of Gaius Julius were the phrase “And you, my child?” And according to Plutarch, Caesar said nothing at all when he saw Brutus among the killers. As a result, Caesar died from twenty-three stab wounds.
Vasily Surikov The Assassination of Julius Caesar. 1875
Ivan Kirillov The Assassination of Caesar. 2008
Among the famous participants in the conspiracy, historians name the military leader, legate Caesar
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (ca. 84 - 43 BC), Gaius Cassius of Parma, Lucius Minucius Basil, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Minor (ca. 52 BC) -after 30 BC), Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, about 72 - 42 BC), Publius Turullius, Pacuvia Antistia Labeo. Lucius Tullius Cimbri and Gaius Sentius Saturninus.
The brothers Publius Servilius Casca Long and Gaius Servilius Casca took part in the murder, as well as Lucius Cornelius Cinna the Younger (about 95 - after 44 BC), whose sister Cornelia was his first wife Julius Caesar.
Irina Gornostaeva The murder of Julius Caesar. 2003
Alexey Filatov The Assassination of Caesar. 2003
However, the assassination of Caesar led to another civil war and hastened the end of the Roman Republic. The middle and lower classes of Rome, among whom Caesar was popular, were furious that a small group of aristocrats had killed Caesar. Antony appeals to the common people, gathers a large crowd of Romans and threatens to march them on the Senate, most likely with the intention of taking control of Rome. But Caesar named his grandnephew Gaius Octavian his only heir. Octavian, who was only 19 years old, showed considerable political skill. Very soon he dealt with Brutus and Cassius, formed the Second Triumvirate and, after defeating the troops of Antony and Cleopatra in Actium, became the first Roman emperor under the name Augustus.
But that is another story…

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Original post and comments at

Became dictator for the 4th time, and consul for the 5th. His position seemed undeniable; the new honors decreed by the Senate corresponded to the already open deification. The days of Caesar's victories were celebrated every year as holidays, and every 5 years the priests and vestals performed prayers in his honor; the oath in the name of Caesar was considered legally valid, and all his future orders received legal force in advance. The month of the quintiles was renamed July, a number of temples were dedicated to Caesar, etc., etc.

But more and more often we heard talk about Caesar and the royal crown. The removal from office of the tribunes, whose power had always been considered sacred and inviolable, produced an extremely unfavorable impression. And soon after these events, Caesar was proclaimed dictator without a term limit. Preparations for the Parthian War began. In Rome, a rumor began to spread that in connection with the campaign the capital would be moved to Ilion or Alexandria, and in order to legitimize the marriage of Caesar with Cleopatra, a bill would be proposed according to which Caesar would receive permission to take as many wives as he wanted, just to have heir.

Caesar's monarchical "aspirations", either existing in reality or attributed to him by general rumor, alienated from him not only the Republicans, who for some time had counted on the possibility of reconciliation and alliance, but even Caesar's obvious adherents. Thus, one of the main leaders of the future conspiracy, in accordance with the traditions of the branch of the Junie family to which he belonged, was a staunch supporter of the “democratic party.”

A paradoxical situation was created in which the all-powerful dictator, who had seemingly reached the pinnacle of power and honor, actually found himself in a state of political isolation. The people were no longer happy with the situation in the state: secretly and openly indignant at autocracy, they looked for liberators. When foreigners were admitted to the Senate, papers appeared with the inscription: “Good morning! Don’t show new senators the way to the Senate!”

The conspiracy to assassinate Caesar took shape at the very beginning of 44. It was led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. He not only forgave these supporters who once opposed Caesar with arms in their hands, but also gave them honorary positions: both of them became praetors.

The composition of the other conspirators is also curious: in addition to the main conspirators Marcus Brutus, Gaius Cassius and such prominent Pompeians as Qu. Ligarius, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, L. Pontius Aquila (and several other less prominent figures), all the other participants in the conspiracy were, until recently, obvious supporters of the dictator. L. Tullius Cimbri, one of the people closest to Caesar, Servius Galba, Caesar's legate in 56 and his candidate for the consulate in 49, L. Minucius Basil, also Caesar's legate and praetor in 45, brothers Publius and Gaius Helmet. In total, more than 60 people took part in the conspiracy.

Meanwhile, preparations for a new Parthian war were in full swing. Caesar scheduled his departure to the army for March 18 (to Macedonia), and on March 15 a meeting of the Senate was planned, during which the quindecemvir L. Aurelius Cotta (consul of 65) was supposed to make a decision in the Senate to award Caesar the royal title, based on the prophecy, discovered in the Sibylline books, according to which only a king can defeat the Parthians.

The conspirators hesitated whether to kill Caesar on the Campus Martius, when at the elections he called the tribes to vote, having divided into two parts, they wanted to throw him off the bridge, and below pick him up and stab him, or attack him on the Sacred Road or at the entrance to the theater . But when it was announced that on the Ides of March the Senate would gather for a meeting in the Curia of Pompey, everyone willingly gave preference to this particular time and place.

The dictator knew that his life was in danger, or at least guessed. And although he refused the honorary guard decreed for him, saying that he did not want to live in constant fear, nevertheless, he somehow threw out the phrase that he was not afraid of people who love life and know how to enjoy it, but people inspire him with greater fear pale and thin. In this case, Caesar was clearly alluding to Brutus and Cassius.

The ill-fated Ides of March in history acquired a common meaning as a fateful day. The assassination of Caesar and the ominous omens that preceded it are described quite dramatically by ancient authors. For example, they all unanimously point to many phenomena and signs, ranging from the most innocent, such as flashes of light in the sky, unexpected noise at night, and up to such terrible signs as the absence of a heart in a sacrificial animal or a story that on the eve of a murder A wren bird with a laurel sprig in its beak flew into the Curia of Pompey, pursued by a flock of other birds, which overtook and tore it to pieces.

And a few days before the murder, Caesar learned that the herds of horses, which he dedicated to the gods when crossing the Rubicon and released to graze in the wild, stubbornly refused food and shed tears.

The signs didn't stop there. The day before his murder, Caesar dined with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and when the topic of what kind of death was best came up, Caesar exclaimed. "Sudden!" At night, after he had already returned home and fell asleep in his bedroom, all the doors and windows suddenly opened. Awakened by the noise and bright light of the moon, the dictator saw that his wife Calpurnia was sobbing in her sleep: she had a vision of her husband being stabbed in her arms and bleeding to death.

As the day approached, she began to persuade her husband not to leave the house and to cancel the Senate meeting, or, at the very least, to make sacrifices and find out how favorable the situation was. Apparently, Caesar himself began to hesitate, because he had never before noticed in Calpurnia a penchant for superstition and omens.

But when Caesar decided to send Mark Antony to the Senate in order to cancel the meeting, one of the conspirators, and at the same time especially a man close to the dictator, Decimus Brutus Albinus, convinced him not to give new reasons for reproaches of arrogance and to at least go to the Senate himself in order to personally dissolve the senators.

According to some sources, Brutus led Caesar out of the house by the hand and went with him to Pompey’s curia; according to other sources, Caesar was carried in a stretcher. And even on the way to the Senate, several warnings were revealed to him. First he met the fortuneteller Spurinna, who predicted to Caesar that on the Ides of March he should beware of great danger. “But the Ides of March have arrived!” - the dictator remarked jokingly. “Yes, they have arrived, but have not passed yet,” the fortuneteller calmly answered.

Then a slave tried to contact Caesar, allegedly aware of the conspiracy. However, pushed aside by the crowd surrounding the dictator, he was unable to inform him about this. The slave entered the house and told Calpurnia that he would wait for Caesar to return, because he wanted to tell him something very important.

In the end, Artemidorus of Cnidus, Caesar’s guest and an expert in Greek literature, who also had reliable information about the planned murder of Caesar, handed him a scroll that outlined everything he knew about the preparations for the assassination attempt. Seeing that the dictator was handing over all the scrolls handed to him along the way to the trusted slaves around him, Artemidorus allegedly approached Caesar and said: “Read this, Caesar, yourself, and do not show it to anyone else, and immediately! This is written about a matter that is very important to you.” Caesar took the scroll in his hands, but due to numerous petitioners he was unable to read it, although he tried to do so more than once. He entered the Curia of Pompey, still holding the scroll in his hands.

More than once it seemed to the conspirators that they were about to be exposed. One of the senators, taking Publius Servilius Casca by the hand, said: “You are hiding it from me, my friend, but Brutus told me everything.” Casca, in confusion, did not know what to answer, but he continued, laughing, “Where will you get the funds necessary for the position of aedile?”

Senator Popilius Lena, seeing Brutus and Cassius talking to each other in the curia, suddenly approached them and wished them success in what they had planned and advised them to hurry up. Brutus and Cassius were very frightened by such a wish, especially since when Caesar appeared, Popilius Lena detained him at the entrance with some serious and very lengthy conversation. The conspirators were already preparing to commit suicide before they were captured, but at that moment Popilius Lena said goodbye to the dictator. It became clear that he was turning to Caesar with some kind of matter, perhaps a request, but not a denunciation.

There was a custom that when consuls entered the Senate they made sacrifices. And now it was precisely now that the sacrificial animal turned out to have no heart. The dictator cheerfully noted that something similar had already happened to him in Spain, during the war. The priest replied that even then he was exposed to mortal danger, but now all the testimony is even more unfavorable. Caesar ordered a new sacrifice, but this too was unsuccessful. Not considering it any longer possible to delay the opening of the meeting, the dictator entered the curia and went to his place.

Further events in Plutarch’s description look like this: “When Caesar appeared, the senators rose from their seats as a sign of respect. The conspirators, led by Brutus, divided into two groups: some stood behind Caesar’s chair, and others came out to meet him, together with Tullius Cymbrus, to ask for his exiled brother; With these requests, the conspirators escorted the dictator all the way to his chair. Caesar, sitting in a chair, refused their request, and when the conspirators approached him with even more persistent requests, he expressed his displeasure to them.

Then Tullius, grabbing Caesar's toga with both hands, began to pull it off his neck, which was a sign for the conspirators. The tribune of the people, Publius Servilius Casca, was the first to strike with his sword in the back of the head; this wound, however, was shallow and not fatal. Caesar turned, grabbed and held the sword. Almost at the same time, both shouted: the wounded Caesar in Latin: “Scoundrel Casca, what are you doing?”, and Casca in Greek, addressing his brother: “Brother, help!” The senators who were not privy to the conspiracy, struck by fear, did not dare to run, nor to defend Caesar, nor even to scream.

Either the murderers themselves pushed Caesar's body to the plinth on which the statue of Pompey stood, or it ended up there by accident. The base was heavily splattered with blood. One might have thought that Pompey himself had come to take revenge on his enemy, who lay prostrate at his feet, covered with wounds and still trembling. Caesar is said to have received 23 wounds. Many of the conspirators, directing blows against one, wounded each other in the confusion.”

Before attacking Caesar, the conspirators agreed that they would all take part in the murder and, as it were, taste the sacrificial blood. That is why Brutus struck Caesar in the groin. Fighting off the assassins, the dictator rushed about and screamed, but when he saw Brutus with a drawn sword, he threw a toga over his head and exposed himself to the blows.

This dramatic scene of the murder of Caesar is depicted by ancient historians quite consistently, with the exception of certain details: Caesar, defending himself, pierced the hand of Casca, who struck him the first blow, with a sharp stylus ("style"), and seeing Marcus Junius Brutus among his killers, he allegedly said: Greek: “And you, my child!” - and after that he stopped resisting.

Brutus's mother, Servilia, was one of Caesar's most beloved concubines. One day he gave her a pearl worth 150,000 sesterces. In Rome, few doubted that Brutus was the fruit of their love, which did not prevent the young man from taking part in the conspiracy.

“After the murder of Caesar, writes Plutarch, Brutus stepped forward, as if wanting to say something about what had been done. But the senators, unable to bear it, rushed to flee, sowing confusion and insurmountable fear among the people. Some locked their houses, others abandoned their money changers and trading premises unattended; many ran to the scene of the murder to look at what had happened, others fled from there, having already seen enough.

Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, closer friends of the dictator, escaped from the curia and hid in other people's houses.

The conspirators, led by Brutus, not yet calmed down after the murder of Caesar, flashing their naked swords, gathered together and headed from the curia to the Capitol. They did not look like fugitives: they joyfully and boldly called the people to freedom, and people of noble origin who met them on the way were invited to take part in their procession.

The next day, the conspirators, led by Brutus, went to the Forum and made speeches to the people. The people listened to the speakers, expressing neither displeasure nor approval, and by their complete silence showed that they pitied Caesar, but honored Brutus.

The Senate, caring about the oblivion of the past and about general reconciliation, on the one hand, honored Caesar with divine honors and did not cancel even his most unimportant orders, and on the other hand, distributed the provinces among the conspirators who followed Brutus, honoring them with appropriate honors; therefore everyone thought that the state of affairs in the state had strengthened and the best balance had been achieved again.”

“He often said that his life was dear not so much to him as to the state - he himself had long ago achieved the fullness of power and glory, but the state, if anything happens to it, will not know peace and will be plunged into even more disastrous civil wars,” he wrote Suetonius.

These words of Caesar turned out to be prophetic. “After opening Caesar’s will, it turned out that he left a significant sum of money to each Roman citizen,” notes Plutarch. Seeing how his corpse, disfigured by wounds, was carried through the Forum, the crowds of people did not maintain peace and order; They piled benches, bars and money changers' tables from the Forum around the corpse, set it all on fire and thus burned the body.

Then some, grabbing burning brands, rushed to set fire to the houses of Caesar's killers, while others ran throughout the city in search of the conspirators in order to seize them and tear them to pieces on the spot. But none of the conspirators could be found, since they all hid safely in their homes.”

When, after many years, the flames of a brutal civil war subsided, the victorious emperor, Caesar's heir and founder of the Roman Empire, built a marble temple of the Divine Julius in the center of the Forum on the spot where the dictator's funeral pyre burned.

Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, all emperors bore the name of Caesar: it became a common noun and turned into a title.

Conspiracy and murder

Versions about the details are numerous and essentially indifferent; the only important thing is that the conspiracy was not betrayed by any of the participants and that it could still have been prevented if this had not been prevented by a number of accidents and the complete fatalism of Yu. Caesar.

Known Conspirators

Gaius Cassius of Parma
Lucius Minucius Basil (?)
Pacuvius Antistius Labeo
Publius Servilius Casca Longus
Lucius Tullius Cimbri
Gaius Sentius Saturninus

Consequences of the murder

The unintended result for the assassins was that Caesar's death hastened the end of the Roman Republic. The middle and lower classes of Rome, among whom Caesar was popular, were furious that a small group of aristocrats had killed Caesar, especially after Antony's appeal to the common people. Antony gathers a large crowd of Romans and threatens to turn them on the optimates, perhaps with the intention of taking control of Rome. But, to his surprise and chagrin, Caesar named his great-nephew Gaius Octavian as sole heir, bequeathing to him the enormous power of the cognomen Caesar, as well as making him one of the richest citizens in the Republic. Gaius Octavian became the son of a great emperor, and therefore inherited the loyalty of most of the population of the Roman Empire. Octavian, who was only 19 years old at the time of Caesar's death, showed considerable political skill, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the civil wars, Octavian strengthened his position.

To fight Brutus and Cassius, who were with a huge army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, cash and the legitimacy that Caesar's name could provide. With adoption on November 27, 43 BC. e. Lex Titia, the Second Triumvirate was officially formed consisting of Antony, Octavian and Lepidus. Since Caesar in 42 BC. BC was formally deified, Emperor Octavian henceforth becomes Divi Filius (“Son of God”). Seeing that Caesar's mercy led to his murder, the Second Triumvirate introduces proscription. The triumvirate engages in the legally sanctioned murder of large numbers of its opponents in order to fund the forty-five legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius. Antony and Octavian defeated them at the Battle of Philippi.

Mark Antony later married Caesar's mistress, Cleopatra, intending to use Egypt's wealth as a base to dominate Rome. The third civil war broke out between Octavian on one side and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil war, which culminated in the defeat of Antony at Actium, led to the ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor under the name Augustus.