Julius Caesar Personality

Gaius Julius Caesar was a pivotal figure in European and Middle Eastern history. His life led to the fall of the Roman Republic and creation of the empire. He was polarizing in troubled times, leading to strife and conflict. His life can be seen in three distinct sections, his early days, his military days, and his civil war days. These periods in his life are defining to him as man and as a historical person.

Caesar came of age during the civil wars between Sulla and Marius. At this time, he was appointed the high priest of Jupiter and married Cornelia, the daughter of an ally of Marius. Inevitably, Sulla won the civil war and Caesar was stripped of his priesthood and inheritance, but the major issue was that he refused to divorce his wife.

Caesar and Pompey had a falling out and before that the Persians had killed Crassus. According to many sources had his head loped of and liquid gold poured down his neck; the Persians were said to have kept the skull as a trophy of their victory. This dissolution combined with the enemies Caesar had made previously sparked a civil war. Caesar came down from Gaul and drove Pompey out of Italy. He then made his way to Greece were Pompey had solidified his position. After a difficult start, he defeated Pompey on the battlefield. Pompey fled to Egypt to escape capture, but the local Egyptians killed him to show support for Caesar. However, this outraged Caesar and put Caesar’s plans into disarray. Caesar thus joined the raging civil war between Queen Cleopatra and the nobles who had killed Pompey. Subsequently, after subduing the nobles and placing the Queen on the throne, Creaser marched up to Asia Minor to crush a rebellion. Once he had smashed the rebels Caesar uttered the famous line “Veni, Vidi, Vici”, “I came, I saw, I conquered”. Next, Caesar went to Spain and put down a revolt by the two sons of Pompey. Once he had decimated the brothers, Caesar returned to Rome. There, on the Ides of March, Caesar was assassinated in a senate meeting. Caesar left a large legacy, manly in the form of his great-nephew Octavian, better known as Augustus, the first emperor of