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slides
Ashley Boozer
Cleopatra Honors 141
Prof. Daugherty
What Were Caesar's Plans?
I. Earlier Years
A. Caesar defeats Pompey in the civil war
B. Consulship 59
C. Wars in Gaul (58-52 BCE)
D. Civil Wars (51-450, Crassus murdered by Parthians)
E. Alexandrine War (47 BCE)
II. Dictatorship and question of monarchy
A. 47 BCE - honeymoon trip with Cleopatra down the Nile
B. 46 BCE - sends for Cleopatra and Caesarion, lists political aims
for Rome
C. 44 BCE Caesar named dictator perpetuus
a. Feast of Lupercalia
b. Campaign in the east to avenge Crassus's Death
III. Conspiracy and Murder
A. Anger building up against Caesar, both in common people and Senators
B. Killed on the Ides of March by conspirators, chiefly Cassius
and Brutus
IV. Ties with Egypt
A. Was Cleopatra in Rome during Caesar's death?
B. If Caesar was going to invade Parthia, he would have needed Cleopatra's
help
C. Marc Antony invades Parthia-maybe to follow up on Caesar's plans?
Primary Sources
House of Ptolemy website - www.houseofptolemy.com
Julius Caesar: Historical Background - http://www.vroma.org
Kagan, Donald. Problems in Ancient History. Pp.244-273.
Plutarch. Roman Lives. Pp. 350-359.
Gregory Daugherty Professor of Classics
Summary:
Kate Tiffany
Summary: Julius Caesar's Plans
Julius Caesar gained the consulship of Rome in 59 BC and took
his armies to fight the Gallic wars from 58-52 BC. When returning
from the Gallic Wars, Caesar began the civil war with Pompey, in
which Pompey's army was defeated in the battle of Pharsalus. During
this time Crassus was murdered by the Parthians, which is an act
that Julius Caesar will later avenge. Later, Caesar's Alexandrian
war was fought, in 47 BC.
After his victory in Alexandria in mid 47 BC, Caesar takes a cruise
down the Nile River with Cleopatra, and in 46 BC he sends for Cleopatra
and Caesarion and sets them up beside the Tiber River. Caesar's
political aims for Rome were to revise the Roman calendar, institute
extensive canal building projects, and address the debt problem.
In 44 BC Caesar is given the title "dictator perpetuus"
or dictator for life, and during the Feast of the Lupercalia he
declined the crown. Caesar also went on a campaign in the east to
avenge the murder of Crassus.
Anger was building up against Caesar among both the Senators as
well as in some of the common people. The Senators were all after
personal power and did not want Caesar to have sole power. Caesar
was murdered on the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BC by the conspirators,
most well know Brutus and Cassius. It is unknown as to whether Cleopatra
was in Rome at the time of Caesar's murder, but if her were going
to invade Parthia he would have surely needed her help in funding
the invasion. Later Marc Antony invades Parthia, perhaps to follow
up on Caesar's plans or to finish what he didn't accomplish.