Caesar, Julius Gaius (ca. 100/102–44 b.c.)
Roman statesman and general
Julius Caesar was not just a leader of Rome: He was a
soldier-statesman, one of the first in world history to
combine the running of government with the manage-
ment of the military. Although historians dispute the
exact date of his birth, he was probably born about 100
or 102 b.c. into a patrician family with deep and his-
toric ties to Rome; one of his alleged ancestors was the
mythological Iulus, the grandson of Anchises and Venus.
Because of this bond, his family was known as the Iulus
Caesares. Caesar’s own father served as a praetor (judicial
magistrate), and his uncle was a consul. Another uncle
was the famed Roman general Marius, the husband of
his mother’s sister.
When Caesar won election as a Roman consul in
60 b.c., it appeared that his life would be one of a politi-
cal figure. However, he sensed a power vacuum in the
leadership of Rome, and he worked with several other
political leaders to reduce the power of the Roman
Senate. Toward that end, in 59 b.c. he formed and alli-
ance with his fellow consuls Gnaeus Pompeus (PomPey)
and Marcus Licinius crassus; this was the so-called
First Triumvirate, in which each man would handle a
specific portion of the Roman government. Caesar was
granted control of the areas of Cisalpine Gaul, or north-
ern Italy; Narbonese Gaul, or southern France; and
Illyricum, or the present-day Balkans. He was also
given the command of an army of approximately 20,000
men, which he used to consolidate Roman power over
Gaul, or what is now France. He also dealt with a threat
from a nomadic group called the Helvetii: When these
tribes moved from their home in what is now Switzer-
land into central Gaul, he moved his army before them
and, in a major clash at Bibracte (58 b.c.), forced them
to return back home. Historian Frank Abbott writes:Caesar’s achievements in the West between 58
and the outbreak of the Civil war in 49 were
as noteworthy as those of Pompey in the East.
When he went north in the spring of 58 to take
charge of the three provinces, Cisalpine Gaul,
Illyricum, and Transalpine Gaul, he found two
very serious questions facing him: For nearly
three years the Helvetii had been preparing to
leave their old home and migrate westward into
Gaul. In the early part of 58 their arrangements
were complete, and the migration began. They
had intended to go through the Roman province,
but by a rapid march northward Caesar closed
this route, forced them to pass through the terri-
tory of the Sequani, ultimately inflicted a crush-
ing defeat on them near Bibracte, and forced the
remainder... to return to its own country.