Julius Caeser
Gaius Julius Caesar (IPA: 'gaɪ.us 'jul.ius 'kaɪ.sar; Classical Latin: IMP•C•IVLIVS•CAESAR•DIVVS1), July 12, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader. He played an important part in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, with the first Roman invasion of Britannia in 55 BC. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders. In 42 BC, two years after his death, the Roman Senate officially proclaimed him as one of the Roman deities.
Caesar fought in a civil war which left him undisputed master of the Roman world, and began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and he heavily centralized the government of the Republic. Caesar's friend Marcus Brutus conspired with others to assassinate him, to restore the Republic and because they were afraid that Julius might try to make himself a king. This dramatic assassination on the Ides of March (March 15th) in 44 BC sparked a new civil war between the Caesarians, including Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus, and the Republicans, including Brutus, Cassius, Cicero and the sons of many men who were killed by Caesar in the civil war. This conflict ended with a Caesarian victory at the Battle of Philippi, and the formal establishment of the Second Triumvirate (The First Triumvirate having been established c. 60 BC between Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Caesar himself) in which Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus shared control of Rome. Tensions between Octavian and Antony soon plunged Rome into further civil war, culminating in Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium, and leaving Octavian as the undisputed leader of the Roman world. This period of civil wars transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire with Caesar's great nephew and adopted son Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus) installed as the first emperor.
Caesar's military campaigns are known in detail from his own written Commentaries (Commentarii), and many details of his life are recorded by later historians such as Suetonius, Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and Strabo.
