31 Julius Caesar Childhood Facts: You Will Enjoy Reading This!

Julius Caesar, named Gaius Julius Caesar after his father, was one of the most important and influential men in the history of Rome.

He vanquished the Republic of Rome, which was led by two consuls, and became its first and only dictator, up until his assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Julius Caesar was known for his magnificent oratory skills, which gained him many followers, and for conquering the territories of Gaul for Rome.

Caesar raised his own private army to keep off invaders from Roman provinces, and to prevent any rebellions. He was a great statesman and managed to subdue the entire Senate in order to name himself the supreme leader of Rome.

He also famously helped Cleopatra take control of Egypt, after which Caesar led his armies through Asia, conquering a few territories there.

By the time of his death, the soon-to-be Roman Empire was quite large, all thanks to Caesar's work as a Roman General. To learn more amazing facts about this influential Roman, read on!

If you enjoyed this article, you can also check out our pages on Walt Disney's childhood and Mahatma Gandhi's children.

Facts About Julius Caesar's Childhood

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC in Subura, Rome. He was born into an aristocratic patrician family, who claimed that they descended from Julus, the son of Prince Aeneas of Troy, who was believed to be the son of goddess Venus, the Roman deity of beauty.

Aeneas was also a descendent of the Roman twins Remus and Romulus, who founded Rome. Caesers's bloodline was quite powerful indeed!

Caesar's father, also named Gaius Caesar, was a very powerful man in the government. He was made the governor of the province of Asia.

His mother's father, Lucius Aurelius Cotta, was even more powerful, and was one of the consuls of the Roman Republic. The Caesar family was held in quite high regard in Ancient Rome, as their achievements were commendable.

Due to his family's prominent background, Caesar was taught about Roman law and politics from an early age. He began his schooling at the age of six with his tutor Marcus Antonius Gnipho, who taught him how to write, read, and speak in public.

His education was highly focused on how to become an important leader, as he was prepared to be one from an early age.

Unfortunately during his early life, his father died when he was just 16, making him the head of the family.

This occurred at the same time Caesar's uncle, Gaius Marius, became locked into a bloody civil war with his political rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Around this time, Caesar was made the high priest of Jupiter (the flamen Dialis) and married Cornelia, the daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, a political ally of Marius.

Julius was in love with a girl of Plebian background at that time, however for him to strengthen his political career it was important for him to be married to a Patrician woman, and Cornelia was chosen.

However, Sulla ultimately won the war which led to Caesar being targeted by the new regime as he held an influential position under his uncle's rule. He was stripped of his wealth and position, and it was demanded that Caesar divorced Cornelia.

He refused and decided to go into hiding instead. Though his mother's side of the family helped to hide him, he felt it would be safer to pursue a life away from the rule of Sulla and decided to join the military service.

Caesar left Rome and spent many years traveling with the army, participating in sieges in various regions. Caesar returned to Rome upon the death of Sulla, which occurred in 78 BC.

Julius Caesar's Accomplishments

Once Julius Caesar returned to Rome, he entered the world of politics. His oratory skills helped him win the trust of the people and helped him to rise quickly through the ranks, first earning him the title of tribune, and subsequently of quaestor in 69 BC.

Caesar served his quaestorship in a Roman province of Spain, after which he was elected as its governor.

He successfully commanded four Roman legions during his time in Hispania and was able to stop all the rebellions there, before returning to Rome as a hero.

He was also elected as Pontifex Maximus, the chief high priest, in 63 BC. He made a lot of rich and influential friends during this time, which included Pompey the Great and the patrician noble, Marcus Licinius Crassus.

His friendship with Pompey greatly helped him to secure the position of consul, the most important position in the Roman government, which he ran for in the year 60 BC, while he was the Imperator of the Roman army.

During his time as consul, his bonds with the powerful men Pompey and Crassus became much stronger. Caesar's daughter Julia even married Pompey, which cemented their relationship even further.

They formed the first Roman triumvirate and divided the administration of Rome among themselves. Caesar became the governor of Gaul and conquered more land for Rome. He was soon respected as the greatest Roman general for his accomplishments, which brought him the respect of the common people.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Pompey and Caesar began to sour due to the rise of political tensions, and they soon became rivals.

Caesar decided to return to Rome at the height of these tensions and decided to run for consul again. However, the Roman Senate was not amused, and demanded that he gave up control of his private army in order to do so.

Caesar refused to give in to their demands, which caused him to be branded a traitor.

This led Caesar to march upon Rome with his army and managed to wrest power from the Senate in 49 BC. His old friend Pompey tried to resist Caesar's rule, which resulted in a bloody battle between them for the next 18 months.

It ended with Caesar's legions defeating driving Pompey's armies out of Rome, and the general himself fled to Egypt as a refugee, where he was assassinated by the then Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII.

The young Pharaoh had the head presented to Caesar in a bid to receive his favor. However, his efforts to do so were squashed by his sister Cleopatra, who garnered Julius' support instead.

Caesar joined Cleopatra's forces and they defeated Ptolemy XIII, after which she became the last queen of Egypt and gave birth to a child fathered by Caesar.

The End Of Julius Caesar's Life

After these incidents, Julius Caesar returned to Rome in 46 BC and he was the most powerful man. He established a dictatorship and took all the Senates power away.

He passed many reforms in the governing system and built many new temples and buildings to honor the gods to win the favor of the people. He made many land reforms as well and planned to build a large-scale library, a theater to showcase plays, and a massive temple to Mars.

Unfortunately, this temple remained unbuilt due to his assassination.

His status was soon elevated to that of a deity, and he was given the title Divus Iulius, meaning 'divine Julius'. He put his own image on a coin, was given a golden throne in the Senate, and even had his own following, of which his comrade Marc Antony was the priest.

Caesar's life came to an end because the Senators were growing afraid of his ever-growing power. Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus schemed to carry out his assassination during a session of the Senate.

They executed their plan in 44 BC when Caesar was 55 years old. The assassination occurred on the Ides of March, March 15, according to the Roman Calendar. Caesar was infamously stabbed 23 times.

He is believed to have uttered the famous words 'Et Tu, Brute?' after seeing Marcus Brutus among the conspirators, who he considered as his ally, however, there are no records stating whether this is true or not.

After the fall of Caesar, a temple was built in his honor called the temple of Caesar. Only the altar of the temple remains where a life-sized statue of Caesar was erected, showcasing the stab wounds. The scene of Caesar's death was made famous in William Shakespeare's play 'The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar'.

His formed comrade Marc Antony, his grand-nephew Octavian Caesar (also known as Augustus), and the Pontifex Marcus Aemilius Lepidus formed the second triumvirate, which led to the formation of the Roman Empire and the end of the Roman Republic. Augustus Caesar ruled Rome as the first Roman emperor.

Caesar's first wife, Cornelia, unfortunately, died young after 13 years of marriage, around the time he was elected as questor. His aunt Julia, the widow of his uncle Marius, died the same year.

He then remarried a wealthy girl named Pompeia in 67 BC, who he divorced after a few years due to irreconcilable differences. He finally married his third wife, Calpurnia in 59 BC. She was faithful and a good wife, and they had no children together before his untimely assassination by the Roman Senate.

Why is Julius Caesar important?

According to the historian Suetonius, Caesar was 'tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes', which must have made him quite an imposing figure indeed!

Julius Caesar was born in the month Quinticlis, the fifth month of the year according to the old Roman calendar which began in March and had only 10 months. A new 12-month calendar, which is similar to the one we use today, was actually instituted by Julius Caesar in 45 BC after correcting a few astronomical inaccuracies.

The month of Quinticlis was renamed Julius (July) in his honor after his death, as part of the new Julian calendar.

The first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, followed suit-naming the sixth month, Sextillia, as August after himself.

Once when Caesar was traveling across the Aegean Sea, he was captured by pirates and held for ransom. During this period, he was presumably believed to have got along quite well with them, with his domineering personality, great oratory skills, and participation in their daily activities.

The pirates grew quite fond of him. However, once his ransom was raised, Caesar hired a fleet to go after the pirates to hunt them down.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked reading these Julius Caesar's childhood facts then why not take a look at Moonchild meaning, or Children of Adam and Eve.