F I S H I N G

100 Caesar’s birth

75      Caesar was captured by some pirates.

60 Caesar becomes Consul and forms the Triumvirate. The coin shows the mint signature.

The coin says “Caesar cos ter”. On Roman coins “cos” is the abbreviation for “consul”. I have not  found out what ” ter” could mean.

58 Caesar defeats the Swiss and the Germans

55 He invades Britain

49 He crosses the Rubicon, launches a civil war and wins it.

The coin says ” CAESAR DICT PERPETVO” meaning “Caesar Dictator forever”.

44 Caesar is assassinated on March 15 = the Ides of March.

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Consul = an elected  member of the government of the Roman Republic and Empire.

Triumvirate = a group of three men governing the country

Ides of March = a decisive day.  In the Roman calendar it was the middle of the month.

Rubicon = point of no return. It was the boundary between Italy and Germany. Caesar’s crossed it with his army in 49 BC. It became for him the point of no return

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The Story

Though he belonged to the aristocracy of Rome, he began his political career by addressing the people directly instead of relying on his peers.

Together with two of his friends he started to grab political power. When one of those friends died,  the other one, Pompey, needed the Senate’s help to restrain Caesar.

But Caesar also had military power. He conquered Germany and invaded Britain. He could no longer tolerate any rivals in Rome and started a war against his own people. He won and became a dictator. The people loved him, but the aristocracy didn’t.

Those who assassinated him thought they could restore the law. But there was another war and finally Caesar’s heir took over.  Rome wasn’t anymore ruled by the law, but by an emperor.

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From Shakespeare’s play:

the speech where a friend of Caesar’s needs just 5 minutes to turn Rome’s populace against the assassins:

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears:
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him
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