Julius Caesar: Well-Known Roman Leaders

Julius Caesar is one of the most well-known Roman leaders of all time. He was admired both for his bravery and the concern he showed for his people, especially the poor. Although his reign was before Christ, many modern people are familiar with him from the many biographies that have been written about him by well-known authors, and probably most famously, Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”. Gaius Julius Caesar was born in July 100 BC to an aristocratic family. When he was 15 years old, his father died and he became the head of his family. He got caught in the middle of a civil war between his uncle Marius and his enemy Sulla. His loyalty was to family, but when Sulla became the leader, Caesar left Rome and joined the military. Caesar was very skilled in his military missions, and he quickly rose to power. He also became well-known for his legal skills. When he decided to return to Rome, he began to get …show more content…
A group of Senators, led by Brutus, began a plot against him. On March 15, 44 BC, a date known as the Ides of March, this group surrounded him and stabbed him to death at a Senate meeting. There is a popular quote attributed to Caesar as he was dying “Et tu Brute?”; however, most scholars believe this is just a dramatic addition by Shakespeare when writing his play. The average middle class and poor Roman citizens were furious at Caesar’s assassination and began to revolt. Caesar’s death marked the end of the Roman Republic and the empire fell into many years of civil war. I believe that Julius Caesar was a good man to an extent. He did care for the poor and wanted to reform the Roman government for the people, but he also loved power and wanted things his way. He was ruthless in battle, but also showed mercy to his enemies. This shows that he was a complex person and it is very hard to judge a famous figure based only on the writings of historical