Julius Caesar Impact

In this essay I’m going to share with you some important facts about Gaius Julius Caesar and his impact on the Republic of Rome. How he contributed to the wellbeing of his people and country before and while he was dictator. Also the impacts he made with the help of his son after he was assassinated.

Rome was a republic starting at 509 BC and ending at 27 BC before it became an empire. Lucius Junius Brutus established the system called the Roman republic. As war and expansion occurred, Rome was gaining more and more power, which lead to corruption, greed and the over reliance of foreign slavery. Rome divided its people with certain ideology up into two different classes. The ruling classes were called Optimates (the best men) and the lower
class were called the Populares (the people). Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar formed the Triumvirate (ruling board or commission of three men) of Rome. Crassus and Pompey both were apart of the optimate political line, while Caesar was apart of the popular. There became a big gap between the wealthy and the poor. Caesar and Pompey were very good generals and were respected by their military success. After the death of Crassus they battled at Pharsalus in Greece, during the battle Pompey fled to egypt but was assassinated once he arrived. Caesar was victorious against an overwhelming army, the news spread and former allies of Pompey allied themselves with Caesar because they believed he was favored by the gods. Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC into a popular but not wealthy family. He was made dictator for the remainder of his life in 49 BC.

While Caesar was in power and Dictator over Rome for only 5 years as he would be assassinated in 44 BC he started changing the things that needed change. He took the crooked senators and replaced them with loyal men who weren’t corrupt. After Rome’s civil war he had to deal with a widespread of debt which caused a shortage of coins. To fix this problem he forbid people of holding 60,000 sesterces ( Rome's money) to get the flow of money moving again since people weren’t spending it. To improve grain trade over seas he had constructed a new harbour at Ostia and a canal from Tarracina. Caesar wanted to reconstruct the city and enhance the looks of it because he was disgusted with the view of Rome in comparison to Alexandria. This provoked him to start new projects like the Forum Julium which were law courts, the Saepta Julia, a grand colonnaded plaza, used for voting purposes. After there was no need for voting it turned into a plaza used for gladiatorial games and in the walkways were famous paintings and statues. He made plans to build a grand temple of Mars, a theatre of Pompey and a library of Alexandria. Caesar had died before any of these projects were completed.

Then came his son Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus who became the first emperor of Rome.
This position wasn’t just gave to him, he had to earn it by defeating Cleopatra the 7th and Mark Antony who both wanted power in Rome. He was victorious! While being emperor he wasn’t greedy or corrupt, he made Rome peaceful and prosperous. He also finished all the projects his father had begun but never lived to see. Augustus died on August 19th 14 AD in Nola, Italy. The emperors who were in power would create sculptures of themselves either for their home or garden, those statues still stand today. Most of them would have one arm up symbolizing their authority. These life size sculptures are made out of either stone, precious metals, glass and terracotta but they favoured bronze and marble. They got the idea from the Greeks, but added greater aspiration for realism. Most of the artwork you would see carved into walls are of war heroes looking victorious in battle. They were created as if someone had taken a photo because of the way the sculpture portrayed the figures in a state of action. This was created by carving the figures closer to the foreground with a higher relief, from the centre having the highest relief and the background panel curve slightly inwards. A scene of depth and movement is created through perspective. Through those iconic sculptures we can learn and understand more about ancient Rome. This empire lasted over 200 years, there were good and bad emperors and like all governments it eventually
collapsed.

This era has changed history dramatically. From the Roman republic to Julius Caesar’s war battles to his son Augustus becoming the first Emperor, and all the Emperors after. Stories were created, pictures were painted, sculptures were chiseled, history was made. Like Bill kean said “Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery”.