Top 10 Facts about The Second Civil War and the rise of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar by H. F. Helmolt from Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Facts about The Second Civil War and the rise of Julius Caesar

One of the final political-military battles fought by the Roman Republic before it was reconfigured into the Roman Empire was Caesar’s civil war (49–45 BC). Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus first engaged in a string of political and military skirmishes.

Caesar had commanded an invasion of Gaul for approximately ten years prior to the conflict. However, civil war broke out due to rising tensions that began in late 49 BC due to Caesar and Pompey’s refusal to give in.  Pompey and his allies eventually persuaded the Senate to demand that Caesar hand over his provinces and armies but finally Caesar managed to outwit him which is why the war is known as Caesar’s war.

Read on the 10 facts about the civil war and the rise of Julius Caesar.

1. Caesar had an alliance with Pompey and Crassus 

pompey by H.F. Helmolt from Wikimedia Commons

Caesar held the proconsulships of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum under the lex Vatinia and Transalpine Gaul at the direction of the Senate beginning in 58 BC, the year following his consulship in 59. During his tenure as consul, Caesar formed the so-called First Triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey.

The three men’s collaboration “caused a radical reorganisation of alliances and alignments,” which was beneficial to them immediately but harmful over time as opposing aristocratic groupings coalesced. The three’s immediate gains came from their own objectives, which included approving Pompey and Crassus’ joint agriculture policies and ratifying his eastern settlement.

The political pact between the three started to deteriorate in the middle of the 50s BC, but it was stopped by a new agreement and the joint consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 55 BC. The new provincial commands were given to the consuls by their combined consulship, with Pompey obtaining Spain and Caesar gaining the proconsulship of Gaul. Crassus was given the province of Syria to battle the Parthians.

2. Caesar’s choice to fight the civil war was from his stumbling efforts to attain a second consulship

Caesar was accused of breaking a number of laws passed by Pompey in the late 50s and would face exile infamy if found guilty, which was one of the justifications offered for his decision to declare war.

There isn’t any proof that anyone had any real intentions of putting Caesar on trial between 50 and 49 BC. Caesar’s decision to engage in the civil war was prompted by his largely unsuccessful attempts to win a second consulship, as failure to do so would have jeopardised his political future.

3. Caesar tried to negotiate to prevent the war

Julius Caesar by George E. Koronaios from Wikimedia Commons

Cato refused to agree to anything unless it was presented in front of the Senate and publicly debated. Cato’s representatives in the city met with senatorial leaders with a more amiable message, in which Caesar offered to cede Transalpine Gaul in exchange for the ability to keep two legions and the right to run for consul without giving up his imperium (and, therefore, right to triumph).

4. Caesar was declared an enemy of the state by the senate

On the eve of the war (7 January 49 BC), when Pompey and Caesar were still gathering forces, the Senate was convinced to demand that Caesar resign his position or else be labelled an enemy of the state. A few days later, the Senate also removed Caesar’s right to run for office in absentia and named a new proconsul for Gaul; pro-Caesar tribunes vetoed these proposals, but the Senate overrode them and passed the senatus consultum ultimum, giving the magistrates the authority to do whatever was required to protect the state. Some of those pro-Caesar tribunes in response dramatised their predicament and fled the city for Caesar’s camp.

5. Caesar captured 4 cities without much resistance

Julius Caesar by Jaques de Gheyn from Wikimedia Commons

With his forces having already infiltrated the city, Caesar easily seized Ariminum (modern-day Rimini), and then swiftly followed it up with the conquest of three more cities. At around 17 January, Rome received word of Caesar’s invasion of Italy.

Pompey responded by issuing an edict in which he acknowledged a state of civil war, commanded all the senators to follow him, [and] proclaimed that he would treat as a partisan of Caesar everyone who remained behind. This prompted many senators who weren’t committed to supporting him to leave the city, along with his allies, out of concern for the gory repercussions of earlier civil wars. Other senators chose to retreat to their country villas outside of Rome in an effort to maintain a low profile.

6. Caesar’s march along the Adriatic coast was unexpectedly polite and orderly

Caesar’s march along the Adriatic coast was remarkably orderly and disciplined; unlike the soldiers who had pillaged the countryside during the Social War a few decades prior, Caesar’s soldiers did not seek revenge on their political adversaries as Sulla and Marius had done. Caesar’s nonviolence stopped the Italian people from rising up against him, which made his clemency policy very useful.

7. Caesar managed to trace Pompey back to Egypt 

Pompey was welcomed by a group of Egyptians and two Roman officers who had previously served with him when he arrived in Egypt. He was killed shortly after getting on their boat, right in front of his wife and friends who were sitting on the deck.   As Pompey posed the greatest threat due to his expertise and clientele, Caesar actively pursued him.

Travelling first to Asia before continuing on to Cyprus and Egypt he arrived three days after Pompey’s murder. The head of Pompey and his signet ring were given to Caesar at that location. Caesar sobbed when he saw the ring and backed away from the head, and it’s possible that his disgust and sadness were sincere because he had always taken great satisfaction in his benevolence.

8. Caesar got into a relationship with Cleopatra while under siege in Egypt 

Cleopatra Before Caesar by Jean-Léon Gérôme from Wikimedia Commons

Caesar and Cleopatra became lovers after she hid herself in the royal part of Alexandria while it was under siege. Caesar also made a decision regarding the dynastic conflict around this time, stating that both had to be co-rulers because the will’s conditions were explicit.

Probably already aware of the romance between Caesar and Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIII was impressed.  After a few months of siege, Syrian forces under Mithridates of Pergamum freed Caesar’s soldiers, bringing the Egyptians into conflict with Caesar’s forces, where the Egyptians were completely destroyed. In his attempt to escape, Ptolemy XIII’s boat capsized, and he drowned.

10. Caesar was given the title “liberator”

The triumph caused the Senate in Rome to proclaim fifty days of thanksgiving, bestow the title “Liberator” upon Caesar, and erect a temple to Liberty. A sycophantic Senate bestowed more honours on Caesar in the ensuing months, such as the right to sit in a special chair between the consuls in the Senate and the placing of an ivory statue of him in the Quirinus temple and close to the kings on the Capitol.

Quinctilis, the month of his birth, was renamed in his honour and eventually became modern July. A shrine was built in his honour, and he received the titles of Imperator and Parens patriae (father of his country).

Three days before Caesar travelled to Parthia in the east, a plot to assassinate him on the Ides of March in 44 BC was successful. This was due to Caesar’s nomination to the dictatorship during the civil war, first temporarily and then permanently in early 44 BC.  A large number of Caesarian officers who had performed admirably during the civil wars and men who had been granted pardons by Caesar were among the conspirators.