Caesar - Greatness Is Fleeting & Death is Eternal

Caesar Greatness Is Fleeting & Death is Eternal Gaius Julius Caesar b. July 100 BC d. March 15, 44 BC Roman dictator role in demise of Roman Republic & rise of Roman Empire [wikipedia] Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxff0fCe9TM Gaius Julius Caesar b. 102 BC - 100 BC d. March 15, 44 BC parents: Aurelia Gaius Julius Caesar, a praetor (army commander or magistrate) -- noble, patrician roots -- not rich or influential in this period -- aunt: Julia - married to Gaius Marius (leader of Popular faction) Sources of info available re Caesar: Roman historians: Suetonius & Plutarch (abt 100 years after Caesar death) Caesar memoir: 'Caesar:  The Gallic War' Character Ruthless, supremely ambitious Upbringing Brought up Rome -- in seedy brothel-lined alleyways of Subura -- well aware of glorious past of family / decides to climb social & political ladder to where he believes he should be -- Roman army the place to start Roman Army -- hero consul Sulla - power at the point of a spear / uses military might to seize control of Rome in civil war -- joins army age 20 / distinguishes self for battlefield bravery in Greece Homosexuality -- Caesar said to have had sexual relationship with King of Bithynia [Nicomedes IV] (northern Turkey) on what is business / diplomatic trip -- Caesar in Turkey to negotiate with king Nicomedes for warships to aid Roman cause -- gossips call Caesar the 'Queen of Bithynia' -- in that era, the issue wasn't male-to-male sex; it was taking the submissive position - role seen as too much like woman -- Caesar response:  seduction of all women in sight -- Caesar uses gossip to his advantage:  social climbing factor (ie King of Nicomedes, of Bithynia) -- vigorous & frequent sexual exploits both men & women inspire poets -- scribe Catullus:  suggests in verse Caesar has come down with something bad -- but this is unlikely  - various diseases ruled out: -- syphilis transmitted later from America w. conquistadores - eliminated -- herpes - would have left physical marks / would have mentioned - eliminated -- gonorrhoea - would have left physical marks / would have mentioned - eliminated -- chlamydia - possible (but no male symptoms) Politics / Law -- Caesar moves from army into politics & law - in 20s -- powerful & persuasive speaker; court cases draw large crowds Pirates [comment:  following is probably derived from Caesar's own boastful account] -- trip to Greece / captured by Greek pirates -- pirates major problem, infested Mediterranean -- pirates demand a large ransom:  20 silver talents (abt $130,000) - a lifetime's wages for Roman soldier -- Caesar laughs at pirates & says he's worth way more:  50 silver talents -- move shrewd:  increases his chances of remaining alive & of maintaining control of situation -- demonstrates that he can remain cool in face of danger -- turns into guest from hell:  demands quiet, orders pirates around, recites own poetry, berates them for not appreciating it -- pirates sick of him; will kill him if they don't get ransom -- Caesar issues threat of his own:  if they release him, he'll return & kill them -- promises he'll come back & crucify them all -- ransom eventually paid; Caesar released Crucified Pirates -- Caesar raises small naval force & makes good his threat -- crucifies the pirates:  painful & lingering death  |  however, he orders their throats cut first -- was the talk of Rome -- doco commentary:  story has ring of truth to it, as what is known of Caesar's later life indicates he was in control Women -- Julius Caesar, pirate slayer, attracts women:  said to have slept with almost all the wives of Rome's aristocrats -- has a series of wives:  4 -- Caesar uses sex with women to dominate women &, by extension, to show dominance over their husbands Ambition -- over the years, aims for top job:  consul, head of govt of Republic of Rome -- just as today's political campaigns are costly, Caesar accumulates debt which could kill his career -- on look-out for allies & money -- suggests an alliance with wealthy Crassus & military hero, Pompey the Great - they agree First Triumvirate - 3 Conspirators - here -- it doesn't matter that he's had affairs with both their wives -- forget the titles, this is equivalent of the city of Rome being divided up by three powerful 'mafia bosses' -- it's about patronage & power:  it's about deciding who gets the large contracts. Gaul Caesar's share of the spoils = Roman Gaul (northern Italy & parts modern France) -- Caesar becomes governor & that gives him absolute power -- but he has a problem, he has a debt -- decides to go to war / in Roman times it is good business -- money to be made in pillaged treasure & slaves -- target:  unconquered parts of Gaul -- main concern was how much profit to be made -- Rome was essentially a system of:  robbery with violence -- 'I came, I saw, I conquered' - battle-line dispatch from Caesar -- battle progress reported in Rome & Caesar is his own reporter via dispatches -- obsessive attention to detail:  crucial element of personality - psychologically needs to be in control of his image -- not leaving it to other people; Caesar the one to decide who Julius Caesar is -- described as master of self promotion & propaganda Bibracte -- Bibracte - scene of bloody battle with Gallic Helvetii tribe (occupied modern Switzerland) -- Bibracte 2,500 ft elevation / highest place for 150 miles - completely dominates landscape -- crucial for Gauls to hold Bibracte / equally crucial for Caesar to take it -- major clash - ruthless:     -- skulls pitted with sword marks     --  Caesar:  Helvetii bravest of all Gallic tribes     -- incendiary bomb unearthed from abt 1,000 years ago     -- a head of arrow shot from Roman catapult / wire cage to contain sticky substance on fire     -- designed to set Gallic settlement on fire     -- example of high-tech weaponry Gauls up against defending against Caesar     -- Caesar armed his legions with the pilum, a javlin-like weapon     -- spears tearing through shields & skewering Gallic warriors     -- pilum = uniquely Roman weapon, specifically designed for army     -- designed to kill / to be thrown at very short distances     -- Gauls never stood chance against pilum     -- shields penetrated to 6" depth, rendering shields useless = exposure to swordsmen     -- Gauls have numbers in their favour -- Caesar on a mission to make himself a hero in Rome -- Caesar sacks & pillages Gallic towns & villages one by one, adding to his wealth Avaricum -- 150 miles south of modern Paris -- Gallic defenders behind fortified walls -- Caesar lays siege to town for 25 days -- when he storms the walls, he overruns weakened defenders -- Caesar's legions slaughter 39,000 men, women & children -- 800 left alive to carry message to other Gauls:  resistance is futile -- Caesar's standing order:  after victory, soldiers to be turned loose to do as they please -- Caesar brags that his men do just as well stinking of perfume -- sex with captives & prostitutes who follow the Roman army = Roman custom -- climax of war with Gaul, Caesar reveals extent of cruelty on battleground 125 miles east of Avaricum Siege of Alesia Siege of Alesia - September, 52 BC -- hill fort, Alesia -- battle site was probably atop Mont Auxois -- Caesar faces army of 80,000 led by Gual's most successful commander, Vercingetorix* *account refers to 'beheaded' but 'strangled' more frequently stated elsewhere Roman Commanders -- cavalry commanders Mark Antony, Titus Labienus + Gaius Trebonius aid Caesar -- against a confederation of Gallic tribes -  under leadership of Vercingetorix of the Arverni -- last major engagement between Gauls and Romans - marking turning point Gallic Wars in favour of Rome -- marking end of Celtic dominance in France, Belgium, Switzerland + Northern Italy Siege -- Vercingetorix retreated with his 80,000 men to immensely strong natural fortification, with sheer cliff faces -- unable to storm fortification, Caesar builds wall around outside, 10 miles long -- 18 kilometres of 4 metre high fortifications - constructed in abt. 3 weeks -- this line was followed inwards by two 4.5 metre wide ditches, also 4.5 metres deep -- one nearest to the fortification was filled with water from the surrounding rivers -- supplemented by mantraps & deep holes in front of ditches & regularly spaced watchtowers, equipped with Roman artillery -- known as:  circumvallation -- to pen in Gauls until starved into submission -- Vercingetorix had inflicted heavy casualties on Caesar's army -- Gallic riders break through fortification / reinforcements inevitable -- Caesar responds with another barricade around own men, finished just in time (a contravallation) -- contravallation extended for 21km -- 250,000 Gallic reinforcements turn up Caesar Refuses Passage to 20,000 Non-Combatants - Watches Them Starve -- over the weeks that pass, penned in Gauls in fort starve -- desperate, Vercingetorix lets 20,000 women & children leave fort, believing Caesar will let them pass -- old people, women & children, useless mouths in terms of war - denied escape by Caesar -- die of starvation - collateral damage / Caesar does not count the numbers -- Gauls watch helplessly as wives and children slowly die Ends Justify the Means -- Are these the actions of psychopath or does this make good strategic sense? -- David Mallott, Analytical Psychiatrist, University of Maryland:     -- tremendously ruthless act; however, Caesar has calculated that ends justify the means. -- Siege of Alesia ends with final pitched battle -- Vercingetorix & 60,000 Gauls break out of fort & storm weak point in Roman lines -- battle lasts all day - Gauls mentally & physically exhausted -- Caesar leads last reserve in person wearing a scarlet cloak so he can be recognised -- Gallic army falls apart & battle is over -- retreating Gauls were slaughtered -- Caesar writes that not a Gaul would have been left alive had his men not been so exhausted from battle Battle at Alesia is the last real organised resistance by the Gallic armies -- Vercingetorix - taken to Rome & held at Tullianum, located in the Comitium in ancient Rome     Tullianum = Mamertine Prison DETOUR:    Others imprisoned at Tullianum:          Saul of Tarsus - Jewish founder of Christianity     -- of 27 books in New Testament, 14 attributed to Paul (ie Saul)     -- later prisoner at Tullianum (Mamertine Prison)         -- conflict with Asian Jews (Roman Asia = Phrygia / pt. Anatolia (now Turkey)         -- led to 2 years imprisonment for Saul              Simon bar Giora, Jewish revolutionary leader     -- captured in Judea     -- brought to Rome to be displayed during the triumphal procession     -- executed in 70 AD     -- leader of a rebel faction during the First Jewish-Roman War in 1st-century Judea     -- helped in defence against Roman advance to Jerusalem 66 AD     -- assault on hindmost Roman troops / put into disarray     -- led many animals carrying weapons of war into Jerusalem     -- rejected by Jerusalem authorities     -- bar Giora = popular leader of rebellious peasantry     -- Jerusalem leaders wanted means of moderating revolt & negotiating with Romans     -- bar Giora then gathered large numbers of revolutionaries & robbed the wealthy in Acrabbene     -- safe retreat = Masada     -- after Ananus ben Ananus killed in Zealot Temple Siege, bar Giora went to the hills         Ananus ben Ananus (ie Hebrew:  Hanan ben Hanan)         -- Jewish priest         -- former Herodian-era High High Priest of Israel         -- allegedly ordered the execution by stoning of James the Just         -- James the brother of Jesus (ie Yehoshua) - brothers:   James, Jude, Simon & Joses         -- popular opinion turned against him over stoning of James & he was replaced by Roman governor         -- Ananus ben Ananus incited the people to rise up against the Zealots                  Zealots         -- religous/political movement - 1st century         -- to incite Judaea Province to rebel against Roman Empire         -- reportedly robbing the people and using the Temple of Jerusalem as base of operations                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealot_Temple_Siege                  Saint Peter         -- ie Shim'on Bar Yona         -- founded the church in Rome with Paul         -- served as its bishop, authored two epistles         -- Peter crucified Rome / Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamertine_Prison Vercingetorix  held captive 5 years Tullianum in Rome -- Vercingetorix paraded through Rome streets in chains in triumph -- at climax of parade, Vercingetorix is strangled Gaul Campaign  | Systemic Use of Terror -- Gaul campaign came at an enormous cost in human suffering - almost 20% of the entire population of Gual killed -- equivalent of 50 million US citizens today -- takes Caesar 9 years to subjugate the Gauls -- garrison of Alesia was taken prisoner as well as the survivors of the relief army -- they were either sold into slavery or given as booty to Caesar's legionaries (ie as slaves to legionaries) -- members of Aedui + Arverni tribes, released to secure alliance to Rome -- Caesar wants to make sure they know defeat   2,000 captured rebel hold-outs to carry the message -- Caesar orders that both hands of every man should be cut off -- mutilated men were then sent back to their villages to act as a warning -- systemic use of terror as a means of intimidating targets into not fighting back against the Romans Roman Civil War -- Alesia = major military & political success for Caesar -- senate declared 20 days of thanksgiving for this victory -- but refused Caesar the honour of celebrating a triumphal parade -- 2 years later, 50 BC - Caesar crossed Rubicon (Caesar age 50) -- Roman Civil War 49-95 BC -- each of the years of the civil war, Caesar elected consul -- appointed to several temporary dictatorships -- finally made 'dictator perpetuus' (dictator for life) 44 BC by Roman senate -- increasing personal power = end of Roman Republic & beginning of Roman Empire Caesar's Commanders -- Labinus sided with Optimates, conservative aristocratic faction in civil war -- Labinus killed - Battle of Munda 45 BC -- Trebonius, a most trusted lieutenant - appointed consul by Caesar 45 BC -- Trebonius later involved in Caesar assassination (Ides of March, March 15, 44 BC) -- Trebonius murdered a year later -- Antony, faithful Caesar supporter -- Antony appointed second in command as Master of the Horse - in charge of Italy during civil war -- Antony elected as Caesar's consular colleague 44 BC -- after Caesar assassination, Antony pursued assassins & vied for supreme power with Octavian -- first formed alliance w. Octvian & Marcus Aemilius Lepidus -- Antony then defeated in Battle of Actium 31 BC -- Antony committed suicide Egypt w. Cleopatra 30 BC -- Octavian later became Caesar Augustus First Triumvirate - 3 Conspirators - here -- Caesar made fortune conquering Gaul -- debt free, sets sights on his real goal:  Rome -- alliance has broken down:     -- wealthy Crassus is dead;     -- warrior Pompey, now in charge, is having second thoughts re Caesar -- political opponents accuse Caesar of war crimes -- if Caesar sets foot in Rome, will be persecuted -- Caesar having blackouts & seizures -- 49 BC River Rubicon - border to Italy -- as Governor of Gual, Caesar cannot be prosecuted -- as soon as Caesar crosses Rubicon, he loses immunity -- his only protection is to take his army with him -- but doing so would be declaration of war -- knows if he crosses river, he's launching a military coup -- big decision -- Caesar response:  Let's roll the dice Iacta alea est  |  Cast dice it is ie.  "Caesar chose to rebel, quoting his favorite poet Menander, "the die is cast" (alea iacta est)" [livius] -- Caesar knows the odds are in his favour -- psychologically, crossing the Rubicon means he's thrown out the rule book completely -- whole new ballgame; Caesar in charge -- former ally Pompey is all that stands between Caesar and absolute power -- in that era, where life expectancy low, 50 years was old -- narrator suggests Caesar knew he was living on borrowed time -- Caesar decides to force events -- Caesar chases Pompey & his army around southern Europe -- following 4 years civil war, Caesar defeats Pompey -- Caesar becomes absolute leader of Roman empire -- other victories:  sexual conquest - queen of Egypt, Cleopatra (22 years) -- beds wife of king of Mauritania - later 2 provinces:  Morocco & Algiers -- Richard McLachlan, MD (University of Western Ontario):     -- Caesar's fits likely caused by worm caught on conquest in Egypt     -- 1 year before first seizure, Caesar had spent considerable time in north Africa (Egypt, specifically)     -- Cysticercosis endemic in Egypt at that time - evidence seen in mummies Cysticercosis tissue infection caused by the young form of the pork tapeworm usually acquired by eating food or drinking water that has tapeworm eggs uncooked vegetables are the major source eggs enter the intestine / develop into larvae larvae enter bloodstream and invade host tissues pork tapeworm is particularly common in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America some areas believed to 25% of affected 2010 - caused about 1,200 deaths uncommon in developed countries earliest reference to tapeworms = works of ancient Egyptians abt 2000 BC infection of pork with tapeworm was known to ancient Greeks (384-322 BC, Aristotle 'History of Animals') also known to Jewish physicians (& later Muslim physicians) proposed as one of the reasons pork is forbidden [wikipedia] -- effectively, worms have invaded his organs (incl. brain), caused cysts & seizures Consolidation of Power -- Caesar moves to consolidate power - calls himself dictator for life -- Roman public does not want king -- waters tested w. Mark Antony crown to Caesar & refusal -- Caesar opts to behave as a king, without the title -- decision will cost him his life -- Caesar 56 years old / orders that his statues be placed beside those of old kings of Rome -- orders new calendar, including a month named after himself (July) -- orders coin minted bearing his laurel-leaf crowned image -- first time in Roman history a living person was depicted on a coin -- very close to declaring he is like a king -- for 400 years, Romans have not wanted kings - hence the Republic -- Caesar takes no notice -- discontented body of senators since Caesar had pushed through reforms until 44 BC -- senators among them:     -- Cassius (Caesar's rival) - Caesar slept with his wife     -- Marcus Junius Brutas the younger (someone Caesar considers a friend) - Caesar slept with his mother -- sexual exploits to come back to haunt Caesar -- goodwill Caesar had with senators is long gone -- Ides of March - March 15, 44 BC - Caesar stabbed 23 times -- Caesar described as a goal-driven killer + high on sexual dominance scale -- most similar to Genghis Khan -- people did not believe Caesar a tyrant -- to honour him, built a funeral pyre & burnt his body -- then turned on conspirators who killed their conquering hero -- statue of Caesar is put in Pantheon, building dedicated to gods of Rome -- in death, Caesar is made a god -- first person to receive that honour since Romulus, founder of Rome, 700 years before -------------- Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxff0fCe9TM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alesia More http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar03.html http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/caesar.html Info from documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxff0fCe9TM Otherwise, supplemented with info from look-ups in Wikipedia or sources, as marked. ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT The psychiatrist in this documentary makes it sound like it's 'not' psychopathy if it's goal directed psychopathy, where the ends justify the means and the individual is in a position of power.  Or that's how it comes across to me.   Will need to come back to this to follow up on the linked materials that I've only skimmed over so far. The brain-eating tape worm sounds absolutely revolting.  Another good reason for quarantine, but negligent governments don't care about that -- they're from a class that's buffered from the consequences of their decisions.  Making war meant profit in Roman times, just as it is today.  Only it was more straightforward and less costly to domestic populations in Roman times, where sale of the defeated into slavery and mass killing of the conquered appears standard.  I like the busts of Caesar, but I'm not sure I like Caesar.  Ruthless, power hungry, sexually exploitative / hedonistic sounding, manipulative propagandist, mass murder.  On the other hand, his military record seems impressive (so far, I think) and he seems fearless (so he probably was a psychopath).  But brain worms and screwing anything that moves aren't so appealing, despite the military prowess.  So maybe he's not all that impressive. Didn't like the facial reconstruction they did on the documentary.  Made him look horrible, where the features were otherwise appealing in statue form. It looks like Caesar will have been dead 2,060 years this 15th March ...  I think.  The backwards dates are confusing. The Christian / Gregorian / Roman dates are insane.   Even the dates are a lie.  The world needs to quit lying and adopt the Hebrew calendar (or whatever's older than that).   It's at least  5776, from when the Hebrews started counting. Not sure I'll remember the mountain of Caesar stuff to follow up on, but it's fun looking.