Caius
Julius Caesar, a Roman consul, was a great leader and a terrible dictator.
Many of his
reforms were excellent, but he also was hungry for the power of Roman Dictator,
which would give him absolute power for as long as he required it. Throughout his life he did many things
including creating the calendar that we know today, advancing mathematics, and
many other scholarly things. When he
became dictator in 44 B.C., those in power knew he must be stopped, and so he
was assassinated.
Caesar was born in 100 B.C., sometime in
July. Around the age of 22, unable to
gain a political position in the Forum, he went to Rhodes to study
rhetoric. There he became a priest and
scholar. During the Next 20-30 years,
Caesar became a triumvir (consisting of Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar), governor,
and finally sole dictator of Rome.
In 48 B.C. the Roman Senate gave Caesar the
power of dictator for one year. During
this time he defeated Pompey. In 45 B.C.
the Senate made him consul for ten years, but in 44 B.C. after winning his
final victory and pacifying the Roman world, Caesar decided to became dictator
for life. This prompted Gaius Cassius
and Marcus Junius Brutus to plot an assassination to preserve the Roman
Republic. On March 15, 44 B.C. Julius
Caesar was killed in the Senate house.
The reason behind the assassination of Gauis
Julius Caesar was very clear. He just
had too much power. Cassius and Brutus
knew that if Caesar became the dictator he would destroy the Roman
republic. Caesar knew that by becoming
the dictator he would have those who did not like him, so he inacted the
Sanctity of the Tribunes, which enabled him to be unharmed without dire
consequences. When Caesar was killed,
Rome became divided on who should have the power. Eventually Octavius "Augustus"
Caesar became sole emperor of Rome, and from there out Rome declined.
Bibliography:
[1] Funk & Wagnalls Corp. (1994).
"Caesar, Gaius Julius", Microsoft (r) Encarta.
[2] Perry, Marvin. (1988) "A History of the World", Houghton
Mifflin Company.
[3] Concord Reference Books, Inc.
"The New American Desk Encyclocpedia", Signet Classics & Nal Books
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