This system was 10 ¼ days shorter than a solar year, the amount of time required for the Earth to make one complete revolution around the sun. He’s considered the father of leap year.īefore Caesar came to power, the Romans used a calendar system based on the lunar cycle, which dictated that there were 355 days in a year. His only known daughter, Julia, died in childbirth in 54 B.C. 14.Ĭaesar had no other known sons besides Caesarion. Taking the name Augustus, he ruled from 27 B.C. The following year, Antony and Cleopatra both committed suicide, leaving Caesarion as Egypt’s sole pharaoh however, his reign was brief because not long after his mother’s death, Caesarion was murdered on orders from Octavian, who went on to become the first Roman emperor. In 31 B.C., the forces of Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony were defeated at the Battle of Actium by Octavian, Caesar’s great nephew and chosen heir. (Her previous co-ruler, Ptolemy XIII, had died around 47 B.C.) Although never proven, there was suspicion Cleopatra poisoned Ptolemy XIV so she could name Caesarion her co-ruler, which she did that same year. Shortly after Caesar’s murder in 44 B.C., Cleopatra’s brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV was killed. The Egyptians referred to him as Caesarion, meaning little Caesar. Caesar and Cleopatra, who was half the Roman general’s age, became romantically involved, and around 47 B.C., she gave birth to a boy, Ptolemy Caesar, who was believed to be Caesar’s child. When Ptolemy’s army stopped Cleopatra from traveling to the palace where Caesar was staying, she had herself smuggled in a laundry bag to meet him for the first time, according to some accounts. Caesar, who declared himself executor of the will of the siblings’ late father, ordered the pair to come see him so they could settle their feud. In 48 B.C., Caesar went to Egypt to track down one of his rivals, the Roman general Pompey, and while there he met Cleopatra, who was embroiled in a civil war with her younger brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIII (per ancient Egyptian custom, the two ruled under the formal title of husband and wife). A noted womanizer, he also had multiple mistresses, including Cleopatra VII, the Egyptian queen, and a woman named Servilia, whose son Marcus Brutus took part in Caesar’s murder in 44 B.C. Although it was unknown whether Pompeia had been willingly involved in the incident, Caesar decided to divorce her, declaring that his wife “must be above suspicion.”Ĭaesar wed his third wife, Calpurnia, in 59 B.C., when she was a teenager and remained married to her until his death. Scandal ensued and it was reported that the man was in love with Pompeia or trying to seduce her. At some point during the evening, he was found out. The event was strictly women-only, but a young nobleman disguised himself as female and crashed the festivities. In 62 B.C., with Caesar serving as the “pontifex maximus,” or chief priest of the state government, Pompeia took part in an annual gathering of Roman woman called the Bona Dea (“good goddess”) festival, held at Caesar’s house. Caesar married Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla. The couple had a daughter, Julia Caesaris, in 76 B.C.Ĭornelia died in 69 B.C., and in 67 B.C. Eventually, some of Caesar’s influential friends and relatives persuaded Sulla to let Caesar return to Rome, where he was reunited with Cornelia. During his time on the run, he contracted malaria and later was caught by one of Sulla’s men, who forced Caesar to pay him a huge bribe, almost all of his money, in order to remain free. Knowing such defiance could cost him his life, Caesar fled Rome and became a fugitive. As a result, Sulla ordered Caesar to divorce Cornelia, but Caesar refused. Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Cornelius Cinna (d. Within several years, a general named Lucius Cornelius Sulla became dictator of the Roman republic and ordered the execution of anyone he considered an enemy of the state. His love life was complicated.Ĭaesar married his first wife, Cornelia, in 84 B.C., when he was a teenager. Soon after, he sought revenge against his former captors by commandeering a group of ships and men to help him hunt down and swiftly capture the buccaneers, who he then had executed. Eventually, the higher figure was raised and Caesar was freed. When his captors named a ransom price for his release, Caesar thought the number was insultingly low and insisted a greater sum be demanded. However, along the way to Rhodes, Caesar’s ship was hijacked by pirates off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. In 75 B.C., Caesar, then in his mid-20s, set out from Rome for the Aegean island of Rhodes, a noted center of learning where he planned to study with Apollonius, a Greek rhetorician whose students had included Cicero, who became one of ancient Rome’s most famous orators.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |