Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Young Julius Caesar

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

Before the Ideas of March, before he crossed the Rubicon, and before he became Rome’s dictator for life, Julius Caesar had led a very interesting life.  We know more about his early life than most Romans simply because of his accomplishments later in life, but what he did and experienced clearly shaped the person he became. As such, they indirectly shaped the fate of the entire Roman Republic. Learn more about the life of young Julius Caesar and the events that shaped him on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month. Use the code EverythingEverywhere for a 20% discount on a subscription at Newspapers.com. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Benji Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the Ides of March, before he crossed the Rubicon, and before he became Rome's dictator for life, Julius Caesar led a very interesting existence. We know more about his early life than most Romans, simply because of his accomplishments later in his life, but what he did and experience clearly shaped the person he became. As such, they indirectly shaped the fate of the entire Roman Republic. Learn more about the life of young Julius Caesar in the events that shaped him on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. When preparing for this episode, I couldn't help but think that this would wind up being like an episode of young Sheldon or Muppet Babies. In fact, it's probably going to be closer to the young Indiana Jones Chronicles, because even if Julius Caesar hadn't had such a monumental impact on history, his life would still have been pretty interesting. The story begins on July 12th in the year 100 BC. Or more appropriately, he was born in the month of Sextilis, because the month of July hadn't been created yet because it was named after him.

He was born Gaius Julius Caesar into the Giuliai Gens. A gens in Rome was an extended family that might include relatives you barely knew, but all of them shared the same family name and the same ancestors. The Giuliai were an ancient patrician family that claimed descendants from Ulius, son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus. Gaius was born into the Caesar branch of the Giuliai. His father had the same name, Gaius Julius Caesar, and was a member of the Senate and had reached the rank of Preator.

The Giuliae Cesar's had three consuls in their history, which was okay but not nearly as prestigious as other families. According to Pliny the Elder, the name Caesar came from an ancestor who had been born by Caesarian Section, the word being derived from the Latin word for to cut. However, other theories in other histories have suggested that the word Caesar meant having a full head of hair, having bright gray eyes, or having killed an elephant. Gaius's mother, Orrelia Cata, came from a much more distinguished family. Three of her brothers alone became consul. And beyond that, all we know is that she supposedly was very strict. Gaius also had two older sisters, Julia Major and Julia Minor. And if you remember back to my episode on Roman naming conventions, that is exactly how they named women back in those days.

The tutor who was hired to teach him was a gall by the name of Marcus Antonius Niffo. Beyond that, we don't really know much about Caesar's life before he became a teenager. The biographies written by Suetonius and Plutarch don't mention anything about this part of his life. We do know that from the years 91 to 88 BC, Rome fought what became known as the Social Wars with other regions in Italy. Right after the conclusion of the Social Wars, the Mithridatic Wars began with the Kingdom of Pontus, which I've covered in a previous episode. Perhaps the biggest thing that came out of these conflicts was the rise of two individuals who were at odds with each other, Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Marius was considered to be a populari, a supporter of the Ployans and the people, and Sulla was an optimus, a more traditional Roman with the support of the elite. More importantly, with regards to Caesar, Gaius Marius was Caesar's uncle. He was married to his father's sister.

Maria served as consular record seven times, but died in the year 86 BC. The year after Caesar's father died unexpectedly while putting on his shoes. That left young Gaias as the head of the family, known as the Patra Familius, at the age of just 16. At the time, he was engaged to a girl named Cosutia, who came from a wealthy Plobrian family. However, the opportunity came up for him to be nominated as the Flamandialis, the high priest of the Temple of Jupiter. However, he couldn't obtain the position if he was married to a Poblian, so he broke off the engagement. He instead married Cornelia, the daughter of Lucius Cornelius Sina, a four-time consul and an ally of Marius. The civil war between Marius and Sulla was extremely bloody, and Rome had never seen anything like it.

After the death of Marius, when Sulla came to power, Caesar, due to his family associations, found himself on the wrong side of the conflict. Sulla issued prescription lists where his enemies, he was a man. on the list were subject to being killed and their property confiscated. It isn't known if Caesar actually became the Flamandialis or not, but if he was, he was removed from the position when Sulla targeted Caesar. Caesar had his fortune taken, as well as his wife's dowry, and was targeted for death. And this is largely because he refused to divorce his wife, the daughter of Sina. Thankfully for Caesar, his mother's side of the family was allied with Sulla.

They petitioned Sulla to have Caesar to have Caesar. removed from the prescription list, and Sulla agreed. However, according to legend, he reportedly said, quote, I see many Marius in Caesar. Here I should note that when Sulla took his army and marched on Rome, it was unprecedented in Roman history. But it did set a precedent. When Caesar later marched on Rome himself, his argument was, well, Sulla did it. While Caesar was glad that Sulla pardoned him, he also didn't want to stick around in case that he changed his mind. So we joined the military and headed east. If he were the Flamandialis, he could never have been able to join the military

because the Flamandialis could not spend a night outside of Rome or touch a horse. This again is a period where we don't know the details of what happened to him, but we do know a few things. We know we served in the Roman province of Asia, which is today the western part of Asian Turkey, and in Cilicia, which is on the southeast coast of Turkey. During a siege on the city of Mitalene in Asia in 81 BC, he was awarded the Civic Crown. I previously did an episode on the Civic Crown, but it was the highest honor that could be besowed to a Roman soldier. It was the ancient equivalent of the Medal of Honor or the Victoria Cross.

The award was a crown of oak leaves that were worn on the head. If you've ever seen a picture of a Roman emperor wearing a laurel on their head, it was the civic crown, which was awarded to every emperor. However, the tradition was started by Julius Caesar, who earned it legitimately in battle. He was also sent on a mission to King Nicomides of Bethinia. He spent several months there, which was later used by his political enemies to insinuate that he had a romantic relationship with the king. In 78 BC, when he was just 22, Sulla died, and he finally felt it was safe to return home. He took up a career as a lawyer, where he earned a reputation as a skilled orator and legal advocate. In 75 BC, he traveled to the island of Rhodes to learn oratory

under Apollonius Molan, the man who taught Cicero, who's considered to be the greatest orator of the era. However, Caesar never made it to Rhodes. As he was crossing the Egeon Sea, his ship was captured by pirates, and he was held for ransom. This was not uncommon during this period. Piracy was rampant in the Mediterranean Sea, and pirates were able to make quite a bit of money if they captured a patrician such as Caesar. Caesar's behavior during his captivity was different. He wasn't timid, frightened, or subservient. In fact, he was just the opposite.

He was arrogant. He'd write poetry and read prose to the pirates, and if they didn't appreciate it, he'd call them illiterate barbarians. He'd tell them to shut up if they were being allowed. He participated in games and competitions with them because the pirates grew to like him and his weird attitude. The ransom they demanded for Caesar was 20-tenths,

of gold. However, Caesar told them to increase it to 50 talents because he was so important. Caesar spent 38 days with the pirates. When his ransom was paid and he was being released, as he was leaving, he told them all that he would return and crucify every single one of them. The pirates had one final laugh with their former captive. However, Caesar wasn't joking. After he was released, he assembled a fleet of ships and went after the pirates. He captured them all, and despite the orders of the governor of Asia, he crucified every last one of them. Having earned the civic crown, and having had his vengeance against pirates, he returned to Rome and began his political career, working his way up the Cursus honorum.

He began his career being appointed a tribune, but where his appointment was is unknown. In 69 BC, at the age of 31, he won the election as Quastor and was appointed to serve his term in the province of Hispania under Antisius Vetus. That same year before he left, he made a big splash by giving the eulogy for his aunt Julia, Marius's wife. During his speech, he mentioned and brought out pictures of Marius, something which had not been done in public since Sulla rose to power.

His wife Cornelia also died that year, and he remarried the granddaughter of Sulla, Pompeia. While in Hispania, at the age of 32, according to legend, he came across a statue of Alexander the Great, who had also died at the age of 32. He wept because Alexander had conquered the known world at that age, and he had accomplished nothing.

He continued his climb up the cursus honorum, being appointed curator of the Appian Way in 66 BC, for which he raised money for reconstruction, and in 63 BC he was elected as Adial. 63 BC also saw one of the most significant milestones in Caesar's young life. The position of Pontifus Maximus came up. The Pontifix Maximus was the highest priest in all of Rome, and it was an elected position that was for life. Caesar was likely to never have an opportunity like this again, so he invested himself and everything he owned in winning the position.

He managed to win the election, but only by incurring massive debts. The position of Pontifus Maximus was later held by his grand-nephew Augustus, and afterwards, it became a part of the bundle of powers that every Roman emperor held. In 62 BC, he was elected Preator, the next step before the ultimate position of Consul. That year, there was a scandal involving his wife. The festival of Bonadilla, or the Good Goddess, was held at the residence of the Pontifex Maximus. The festival was only for women, but a man by the name of Publius Clodius Poulcher, who ran a street gang, entered the festival by dressing as a woman, supposedly to seduce Caesar's wife Pompeia. Even though there was no evidence that anything happened,

Caesar used it as an excuse to divorce his wife, saying, quote, The wife of Caesar must be above suspicion. After his praetorship, he was appointed the governor of Hispania ulterior, and while he was there, still heavily in debt, he formed an alliance with the richest man in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus agreed to pay some of Caesar's debts and guarantee much of the rest. While in Hispania, Caesar conquered several trials.

tribes on the peninsula and was hailed as an imperator by his troops. This entitled him to a triumph back in Rome. However, in order to receive a triumph, he could not enter the city until the triumph took place. However, he also wanted to run for consul, and to do that, he had to appear in person in Rome to announce himself as a candidate. Everyone assumed he would take the higher honor of a triumph as he could just run for consul the next year, an election he would surely win having had a triumph. However, Caesar confounded everyone by foregoing his triumph and instead being elected consul. He won an election with the help of Krasis and his main rival Pompei Magnus. Only later was it revealed that the three had been working together in what became known as the first triumvirate.

And this is the point where the story of Julius Caesar usually starts. He's elected consul, he's sent to Gaul where he spends 10 years conquering all of it, and then returns to Rome starting a civil war that ends the Roman Republic, a story I've told across several episodes of this podcast. The story of Julius Caesar didn't start when he was elected to Rome's highest office. It began years before. His experience was Sulla, his valor in combat, his vengeance against the pirates, and the massive debts he incurred becoming Pontivus Maximus were all part of what made him who he was, and were stepping stones in the fall of the Roman Republic. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel.

The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiefer. Today I have a couple of reviews slash questions that were left over on Spotify. The first comes from listener Sub Zero, who writes, I really enjoy every episode of this podcast and varying topics make it way more interesting than other podcasts that are all basically the same. But I do wish there were some episodes about planes. Well, Sub Zero, if you go into the back episodes, you'll find several episodes about planes. I've done episodes on the SR-71 Blackbird, the H-4 Hercules, aka the spruce goose, and the 747.

I've also done episodes on stealth aircraft, the history of the airplane, and I've touched on them and several others. There will be more in the future, but remember, planes are just one small part of everything. Another listener, whose name is just a very long line of random letters and numbers, asks, is there a transcript? script. Well, I actually post the script for every single episode on my website, Everything Dash Everywhere.com. And there, you can read the script for every episode, including this one. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it read on the show.