Julius Caesar: The Head Of Pompey The Great

Book Report The General of Rome, Julius Caesar, was traveling to Alexandria, Egypt to meet the son of the late King Ptolemy XII and to request the dues he was yet to be paid for his service to the late king (Spackman 5). After the king's death, young King Ptolemy was left to reign alongside his sister Cleopatra who was older than him by only a few years (3). On the trip to the Egyptian Palace, Julius Caesar received a severed head from the young king Ptolemy: the head of Pompey the Great (2). Pompey the Great would go on to symbolically mark the beginning and the conclusion of the final chapter of Caesar's life. While in Alexandria, Caesar was a headache to the young King Ptolemy's kingship and his advisors, refusing to bow to King Ptolemy: an act that consequently angered his advisors (5). Caesar never received his dues. But while in Alexandria on this first visit, Caesar was gifted another gift, this time from Cleopatra who was entangled in a beautiful Egyptian rug (6, 7). Cleopatra had come from her banishment to greet Caesar. Cleopatra had been return from her forced exile. Cleopatra was forced to exile after her brother, King Ptolemy's advisors sought …show more content…
Caesar undoubtedly answered Cleopatras plea for help: to help Cleopatra return to her reign, taking the reign away from her younger brother who was only blindly being lead by his evil advisors (7, 8). Caesar decided to hold a feast at the Egyptian palace (8). In the midst of the feast, one of the servants told Caesar that they had heard that an advisor of king Ptolemy's was plotting to gather an army against Caesar. Caesar immediately orders his guards capture the advisor, and they do promptly (9). They, too, capture king Ptolemy (11). Caesar then realizes that outside the Egyptian leading general, Achillas, has the Egyptian army outside (10). Caesar orders the remaining Roman soldiers to set fire to the Egyptian army, and they