Who was julius caesar astronomy trial#

In 44 B.C.E., Caesar declared himself dictator for life. He also granted citizenship to foreigners living within the Roman Republic. At the same time, he sponsored the building of the Forum Iulium and rebuilt two city-states, Carthage and Corinth. He wielded his power to enlarge the senate, created needed government reforms, and decreased Rome’s debt. Returning to Italy, Caesar consolidated his power and made himself dictator. This sparked a civil war between Caesar’s forces and forces of his chief rival for power, Pompey, from which Caesar emerged victorious. When his rivals in Rome demanded he return as a private citizen, he used these riches to support his army and marched them across the Rubicon River, crossing from Gaul into Italy. Throughout his eight-year governorship, he increased his military power and, more importantly, acquired plunder from Gaul. His Roman troops conquered Gallic tribes by exploiting tribal rivalries. Returning to Rome, he formed political alliances that helped him become governor of Gaul, an area that included what is now France and Belgium. Seizing the opportunity, Caesar advanced in the political system and briefly became governor of Spain, a Roman province. During his youth, the Roman Republic was in chaos. Adrian Goldsworthy characterized it as 'a very good piece of gossip, playing on well-established Roman stereotypes'.Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician who named himself dictator of the Roman Empire, a rule that lasted less than one year before he was famously assassinated by political rivals in 44 B.C.E.Ĭaesar was born on July 12 or 13 in 100 B.C.E. Modern biographers of Caesar, such as Matthias Gelzer, Christian Meier or Antony Kamm acknowledge the episode, mainly supporting Suetonius' notion that Caesar's stay at the Nicomedes' court directly caused allegations of a sexual relationship. Caesar's own soldiers upon victorious return from the Gallic Wars sang in parade that 'Caesar conquered Gaul, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar'. Consul Gaius Scribonius Curio called Caesar 'every man's wife and every woman's husband'. At a debate in the Senate, when Caesar recalled some benefits Rome had received from Nicomedes, Cicero interrupted him with 'we all know what he gave you and what you gave him in return'. A man named Octavius, at a public assembly, addressed Pompey as 'king' and Caesar as 'queen' in their presence.

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus used the epithet in the edicts he issued during his joint consulship with Caesar.

Who was julius caesar astronomy trial#

Another example was the trial of Marcus Caelius Rufus, where one of the prosecutors, Sempronius Atratinus, called him a 'pretty-boy Jason' ( pulchellus Iason). In Roman rhetoric, with modesty ( pudicitia) at the forefront, allegations of passive homosexual activity, along with other sexual misconduct, were commonly used against young men, or the youthful period of a man's life. The rumour was spread further when a few days after his task, Caesar returned to Bithynia. Caesar successfully completed his task of summoning an allied fleet.

According to Suetonius, Caesar dawdled at the Bithynian court, so that a rumour emerged of sexual relationship with Nicomedes. Thermus had been engaged in bringing Mytilene under Roman control via a siege, and dispatched Caesar to solicit a fleet from allied Bithynian king Nicomedes IV. Background Īround 80 BC, Caesar, then a young man, joined the staff of Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia for military training. Caesar himself denied such allegation under oath. The epithet and related rumour were repeatedly invoked by several of Caesar's contemporaries, such as Cicero, Licinius Calvus, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Memmius. The Queen of Bithynia ( Latin: Bithynica regina) was a mock ancient epithet of Julius Caesar referencing his alleged homosexual relationship with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia. Nicomedes IV of Bithynia on a contemporary coin