Caesar's Triumphs Over Gaul and Rome
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CAESAR’S TRIUMPHS OVER GAUL AND ROME Sarah Midford Rhiannon Evans LA TROBE UNIVERSITY EBUREAU La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia www.latrobe.edu.au Published in Australia by La Trobe University © La Trobe University 2017 First published 2017 Copyright Information Copyright in this work is vested in La Trobe University. Unless otherwise stated, material within this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Non Derivatives License CC BY-NC-ND http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ISBN 978-0-9953727-4-0 DOI https://doi.org/10.26826/1003 Other information Edited by Margie Beilharz Design Concept by Oetomo New Designed by Kerry Cooke Enquiries: [email protected] 3 About the authors Dr Sarah Midford is a Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University. She teaches Classics, Australian Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies and in 2016 received an Australian Award for University Teaching for online curriculum design. Her research focuses on the cultural impact of war in history, literature and commemorative processes throughout history, and draws connections between the ancient and modern worlds. She is particularly interested in how Australian national identity has been constructed using classical ideas, texts and aesthetics. Sarah’s PhD, from the University of Melbourne, examined ways in which classical narratives were drawn upon when composing the Australian Anzac narrative. Her MA explored the political exploitation of the Roman triumphal procession during the Republican and early Imperial periods. Dr Rhiannon Evans is a Senior Lecturer in Ancient Mediter- ranean Studies at La Trobe University. Her research interests focus on Ancient Rome’s literature, culture and empire in the first centuries BCE and CE, most recently the works of Julius Caesar. She has published several articles on ancient ethnicity, as well as a book on Roman culture and utopianism, and is the academic consultant and contributor to the podcast ‘Emperors of Rome’. CAESAR’S TRIUMPHS OVER GAUL AND ROME SARAH MIDFORD AND RHIANNON EVANS 4 Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank: • Professor Ken Sheedy and the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies at Macquarie University - see their collection of Caesar coins: http://www.humanities. mq.edu.au/acans/caesar/Home.htm • The Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay • Matt Smith, Sonya Wurster and John Howell for their generous help. CAESAR’S TRIUMPHS OVER GAUL AND ROME SARAH MIDFORD AND RHIANNON EVANS 5 Contents Introduction .....................................................................7 Who was Julius Caesar? ............................................................9 Early life ......................................................................9 Marriage and politics ...........................................................9 Climbing the political ladder ....................................................10 Part 1: Caesar in Gaul . 12 Where was Gaul? ................................................................13 The people: Gauls, Germani and Britanni ...........................................14 The gods of the Gauls ..........................................................15 Caesar’s ‘Roman interpretation’ ..................................................15 Comparative ethnography ......................................................16 The Gauls’ culture and religion ..................................................16 The less civilised Germani ......................................................17 Four-way cultural critique ......................................................18 Gaul as a ‘developing nation’? .................................................19 Evolving society versus environmental determinism. 19 Vercingetorix ..............................................................20 Mapping Gaul ...................................................................21 Crossing boundaries in Caesar’s Gallic War ..........................................22 The Rhine: the Gaul–Germani border ............................................23 The Germani threat .........................................................23 Ocean: crossing to Britannia ....................................................25 Symbolic conquest ..........................................................26 Part 2: Caesar’s triumphs at Rome . 28 Triumphal processions. 29 How to win a triumph .......................................................29 The triumphal procession ....................................................31 The riches of conquest .........................................................32 Triumphal logistics ............................................................33 The triumphal route .........................................................34 Celebrating victory over people and their gods ....................................35 The conquest of kings .......................................................35 Captive people .............................................................38 Captured gods .............................................................40 CAESAR’S TRIUMPHS OVER GAUL AND ROME SARAH MIDFORD AND RHIANNON EVANS 6 Mapping Caesar’s conquests .......................................................40 Representations and personifications .............................................41 Models ....................................................................41 Personifications ............................................................42 Caesar’s geographical representations ..........................................42 Triumphal art .................................................................44 Exhibitions after the procession ...............................................46 Permanent display in temples ................................................46 Caesar and crossing boundaries in Rome ............................................47 Crossing the Rubicon ..........................................................48 Rome’s sacred boundary ........................................................48 Triumph or consulship .........................................................49 Jupiter Optimus Maximus ...................................................50 Military honours, divinity and royalty ............................................52 Pushing the boundaries of the triumph ........................................56 Caesar’s death and immortality ....................................................58 Imperial rule .................................................................59 Caesar mythologised ...........................................................59 Caesar’s legend lives on ........................................................60 Podcast transcriptions ............................................................61 The early years of Caesar .......................................................61 Caesar the politician ...........................................................65 Caesar and Gaul ..............................................................70 Caesars triumph ..............................................................75 Caesar and civil war ...........................................................81 The death of Caesar ............................................................85 Glossary ........................................................................90 CAESAR’S TRIUMPHS OVER GAUL AND ROME SARAH MIDFORD AND RHIANNON EVANS 7 Introduction Posterity will be staggered to hear and read of the military commands you have held and the provinces you have ruled … battles without number, fabulous victories, monuments and shows and triumphs. Cicero, Pro Marcello 28 aius Julius Caesar was born on the 12th Quintilis 100 BCE (Before the Common Era). GAfter his death, that month was named ‘July’ in his honour and the Rome into which he was born was transformed forever. During his lifetime, Julius Caesar changed his world. When he was born, Rome was ruled by a senate composed of the patrician elite.1 By the time he died, Rome was ruled by Caesar and he had started a chain reaction that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the instigation of imperial rulership. Throughout his life, Caesar did not simply seize opportunities that presented themselves; he also created his own opportunities and forged his own path to power and glory. Caesar was an intelligent, ambitious and charismatic man. He was clever enough to ensure he was popular with the people and fortunate enough to be born a member of the Roman elite. This winning combination allowed him to craft a position for himself that changed his world and the world around him, and established an enduring legacy which lasted for millennia. In the years after his death, Caesar’s great-nephew (and later adopted son) Octavian ensured that his uncle’s name would live forever by quashing the last of Caesar’s opponents to become the first emperor of Rome. In 27 BCE, Octavian was declared princeps and used his adoptive father’s name as a title to become Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus (Emperor Augustus, son of the divine Caesar). Every subsequent emperor of Rome followed his lead and took the name Caesar, whether or not they were his descendant. Even after the Roman Empire fell, Caesar’s name lived on in the titles of new rulers spread throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asian continent. Whether pronounced Kaiser, Qaysar or Tsar, Caesar’s name has endured for more than two