Julius Caesar: The Man Who Changed Rome Forever
Isaiah Timm
CHW3MI
Mr. Ballantyne
January 15,2015
Timm 2
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them” (Shakespeare).
Julius Caesar’s name is still on people’s lips. The man went from nothing to controlling
Rome as its first emperor.
Julius Caesar can be considered one of the world’s greatest historical figures because he was a good communicator, he was memorialized by his own people and by future generations.
In 100 BC, a boy was born with a dream to rise to supreme power. This was heavily influenced by the tyranny of the current leader of Rome, Sulla (Mark).
The land was in civil war because Sulla challenged the Roman Republic and took it over by bullying the senators into submission (McManus). He was dictator of Rome and sought to wipe out any Marian sympathizers. Before this time, Roman armies were unpaid militias. This resulted in war heroes coming back to nothing instead of their old farm and family (McManus). When the army become professional, the soldiers of Rome became loyal to their generals, who would give them retirement and rewards, rather than the Republic. Troops were turned into extortion squads, and legions did not care for Rome, but rather fought to protect their general; the man with the money and rewards (Plutarch).
Firstly, Julius Caesar can be considered as a great man because he was a charismatic leader. His powerful friends convinced Sulla to simply exile Caesar for an amount of time instead of killing him (
Plutarch
)
. Upon pardon, he joined the army. He excelled in military tactics and rose in the ranks to become a general, building loyalty from his troops. Upon one of his trips to Greece in 75 BCE, he was captured by pirates and was held for ransom. When Caesar found out the price, he said he was worth double that amount. They were convinced and
Timm 3
ransomed him for double the original value