The history of the late Roman Republic is a rather bloody period due to the numerous murders of prominent political figures, so any historian, and even an ordinary person, is interested in knowing why and how Caesar, Cicero and other famous people of antiquity were killed. The death of the Roman dictator is also interesting in that the struggle for power in Ancient Rome entered its final stage with it and ended only with the collapse of the republican government.
Caesar's early years
The future dictator was born on July 13, 100 BC. e. His youth was spent in an atmosphere of crisis in the republic. The struggle for power flared up more and more until it resulted in the Allied War. The situation in the eternal city was not the best: Sulla, who came to power, published proscriptions, that is, lists of those who allegedly threatened the security of the republic. Those faced the death pen alty. Caesar was also included in the lists, as one of the generals of the opponent of Sulla - Gaia Maria. To escape death, he fled to the state of Bithynia, where he was at the court of the kingNicomedes IV. In 68 BC. e. he managed to return to his homeland.
An extraordinary military gift allowed Caesar to quickly climb the then career ladder. In seven years, he managed to achieve the position of propraetor in Lusitania - a territory in modern Spain. This position meant the actual leadership of the province. Despite internal troubles, Rome continued to expand into neighboring territories, and Caesar repeatedly led his legions into battle. For numerous victories, he was awarded a triumph, and this gave him the opportunity to receive the highest position of consul.
Civil wars and rise to power
Caesar strengthened his influence in the capital by entering into an alliance with Crassus and Pompey - also famous commanders, participants in the suppression of the uprising of slaves led by Spartacus. However, disagreements soon arose between them. Realizing that republican institutions were in decline, Caesar made the decision to seize power by force. Civil wars that engulfed the Roman Republic in 49-45. BC e., ended in a decisive victory for Caesar. All of his opponents, including Pompey, were physically eliminated.
Under these conditions, the Roman Senate went to the appointment of Caesar as dictator for life. Such an abundance of power could not but alarm the old Republicans. In fact, it is the victory in civil wars and lust for power that are the answer to the question of why Caesar was killed.
Conspiracy and its causes
Perhaps the main reason for the conspiracy is that Caesar was ahead of his time. Despite the significant weakening of republican institutions during the period of civil wars, loy alty to the old principles did not dry out. Meanwhile, Caesar defiantly accepted honors that had not previously been given to any political figure, concentrated enormous power in his hands, and after visiting Egypt, he tried to spread in Rome the local ideas about the supreme ruler as a god.
The conspiracy has developed in the Senate environment. It was led by Gaius Cassius and Caesar's adopted son Mark Junius Brutus. The situation favored this: one of Caesar's edicts reduced bread distributions in the city, which caused discontent among the masses. The more affluent strata were irritated by the laws against luxury. Caesar abolished the transfer of direct taxes to farming, directing funds to the state treasury, which also did not suit the patrician elite. But these are not the only reasons why Caesar was killed. Both the fight against divorce and the flooding of Rome with personally loyal police units could not help but raise fears that Caesar was seeking monarchical power.
On the eve of death
For everyone, including Caesar, it was obvious that the dictator was in mortal danger. Too abruptly, he undertook to reshape the existing order. Sources say that on the eve of his death, Caesar received several notes about the existence of a conspiracy, and some tried to warn him personally. The illogical behavior of the dictator, who headed for the Ides of March (March 15), 44 BC. e. into the buildingSenate, allowed some historians to put forward a version of a kind of suicide. However, a close examination of how Caesar was killed proves that such versions are mere speculation. Most likely, the dictator hoped to convince the senators that he was not going to become king.
Murder
It was the Senate that became the place where Caesar was assassinated. Several of its members surrounded the dictator, allegedly wishing to submit to him a very important issue for consideration. Application sheets were prepared. Caesar, not suspecting the danger, stopped and began to study the documents submitted to him.
Meanwhile, the senators came to the meeting armed. There were various rumors about their weapons already in antiquity. Some ancient authors claimed that under the togas the senators hid sharpened sticks, others speak of short swords, and still others of daggers. Such discord indicates that Caesar was killed with several types of weapons.
The signal for the attack was that Lucius Tullius Cimber tore the toga from Caesar's shoulder. The conspirators surrounded the dictator and began to strike him. Due to the closeness and crush, most of them passed on a tangent and did not pose a threat to life. According to ancient historians, out of 23 blows, only one was fatal.
The consequences of the murder
Modern historians agree that the phrase "And you, Brutus?" In reality, Caesar did not say - the attack was too swift. But the murder of his adoptive father did not bring political benefits to Brutus. In Romethey knew too well who killed Julius Caesar, and the people's love for the dictator, despite the reduction in bread distributions, did not completely dry up. Therefore, Brutus could not take any leadership position, especially since Caesar's associates, in particular, Mark Antony, unleashed another civil war.
With the support of the people, Antony and Octavian and Cassius, who joined him, managed to defeat the Republicans. The circumstances of how Caesar was killed became for them an additional means of attracting the masses to their side. The Republican period in the history of Rome was coming to an end. The war, which dragged on for more than thirty years, ended with the victory of Octavian and the establishment of the principate regime.
