8. Caesar

• Caesar was born into the Julii family, which was an ancient patrician family where their lineage traced back to the goddess Venus. This gave them strong connections around Rome.
• Marius had been Caesar's uncle, so Caesar supported him in the civil war. Due to this, he was promoted to priesthood.
• After Sulla won the civil war, Caesar was added to his proscription list (but was later removed) and was stripped from his priesthood. Caesar then leaves Rome to join the military.
• Due to having his priesthood removed, Caesar was free to join the military, so he joined the army to gain glory a military career.
• While in the military, Caesar was awarded a civic crown for saving a person's life. He gained many honours for this such as the everyone being required to stand for him when he enters the senate.
• Whilst attempting to return to Rome to pursue a political career when Sulla retired, he was held for ransom by pirates for 20 talents of silver. Caesar told them to increase it to 50, and told them that when he is free, he will come back and crucify them all.
• Caesar gains political success due to his family background and military standing and becomes quaestor in 69 BC.
• Caesar also forms a patron-client relationship with Crassus, who funds a large amount of his campaign
• Caesar served as curator of the Appian way to maintain relevance, but ran up large debts, such as making statues of himself.
• The fame Caesar gained while being curator of the Appian Way allowed him to be elected aedile in 65 BC.
• While being aedile, Caesar put on public games and banquets using money he had borrowed from Crassus (Patron-client relationship)
• Caesar was elected as Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC, which offered him a lot of visibility as he was given a large house in the centre of Rome.
• It was unexpected for Caesar to become Pontifex Maximus, as it carried a huge risk of being seen as over-ambitious if he failed. This was due to it being one of the most important positions which only ex-consuls were expected to hold.