![]() In 63, he was elected to both the office of praetor - one step away from the consulship - and the pontifex maximus - Rome's highest religious position. From this low position and sad occasion Caesar resurrected the memory of his uncle and made a direct connection between himself and Rome's third founder. That was the year he was elected quaestor, the lowest rank on the cursus honorum. When Caesar's aunt, Marius' wife, died, he gave the funeral oration and unilaterally rolled out the images of Marius for the funeral. Marius' party lost Rome's first civil war, and Sulla banned images of Marius from appearing in public. His uncle Marius was the only Roman before Caesar to hold seven consulships, six of them consecutively, to fight off the threat of the Teutones and Cimbri (a Gallic/Germanic confederation), and became known as the "third founder of Rome" for that accomplishment. Caesar was born into a situation that put a spotlight on him. You're maybe wrong about your assumption about conquering sophisticated people rather than great tracts of land, but you're certainly overlooking several important things.Ĭaesar didn't just conquer Gaul - and remember that the Gauls were Rome's historical bogyman. It's a great story, and my guess is that that's why Caesar is such an icon. ![]() By changing the senate to a dictatorship, Caesar revolutionized an ancient (and very successful) political order, betrayed the trust of his fellow Romans, defeated a powerful rival in Pompey, and was ultimately assassinated by those very senators that he had threatened. Of course, Caesar was the catalyst of this. People love a great story, and few dramas from history are as grand as the downfall of the Roman Republic. Having said that, this is more of a historiographic question than an historical one, so I'll offer my best guess. Maybe one of my assumptions is wrong, and I need to be corrected. He came close, but was killed before that could happen. And when we're talking about sheer political power, Caesar never even became an emperor. Caesar was also far from the first Roman to win a civil war, so that fact should not distinguish him too much. Because of this, I would suspect that Scipio Africanus's victory over Carthage, Aemilius Paullus's victory over Macedon, and Pompey's victories in the Near East gave Rome more pride than Caesar's victory over the Gauls, who were a somewhat "barbaric" people compared to Rome's mediterranean adversaries. I remember reading from one of Adrian Goldsworthy's books that the prestige of a Roman conquest was based more on the sophistication and power of the conquered people than on the sheer amount of land that Rome acquired. If you ask any average person in a Western country if they can name a Roman, they would likely name Caesar, and it's also striking that so many leaders from history referred to themselves as Caesars - the Prussian and Austrian Kaisers, Russian Tzars, I just read a bio of Charles V and he referred to himself as "Caesar." Even the Roman emperors would call themselves Caesars. The current rotation is:Ĭaesar is clearly the most well-known Roman. Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. May 25th | Panel AMA with /r/AskBibleScholars Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing. Report Comments That Break Reddiquette or the Subreddit Rules. Serious On-Topic Comments Only: No Jokes, Anecdotes, Clutter, or other Digressions. Provide Primary and Secondary Sources If Asked. Write Original, In-Depth and Comprehensive Answers, Using Good Historical Practices. Questions should be clear and specific in what they ask, and should be able to get detailed answers from historians whose expertise is likely to be in particular times and places. Nothing Less Than 20 Years Old, and Don't Soapbox. Be Nice: No Racism, Bigotry, or Offensive Behavior. Downvote and Report comments that are unhelpful or grossly off-topic.Upvote informative, well sourced answers.New to /r/AskHistorians? Please read our subreddit rules and FAQ before posting! Apply for Flair This Week's Theme is Clothing & Costumes.
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