As Caesar pursued Pompey loyalists in North Africa, he became politically and romantically entangled with the queen Cleopatra and had a son with her named Caesarion.Ĭaesar returned, triumphant, to Rome in 46 B.C. Pompey fled to Egypt, but he was betrayed and killed when he came ashore.
Learn about the rise and fall of Ancient Rome and how its influence still endures today. Though Pompey had assembled an army twice the size of Caesar’s, Caesar defeated him decisively at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. Caesar drove Pompey out of Italy and chased him to Greece. The act was a declaration of civil war and a direct challenge to Pompey and his troops, who were enlisted to protect the interests of the Senate. In January 49 B.C., Julius Caesar and his army crossed the Rubicon River into Italy, the boundary beyond which he could not legally command troops.
In all, Caesar’s campaign killed or enslaved more than a million Gauls, a crushing victory that deepened the growing rivalry with Pompey, who had taken Caesar’s place as consul. The Gaul leader Vercingetorix was paraded in chains through Rome before being ritually strangled. Caesar’s seven-year Gaul campaign ended triumphantly in 51 B.C. He knew he needed a great military victory to win lasting glory beyond politics, so he set out to conquer the long-defiant Gauls-Celts who lived in modern-day France. But when he led his troops across the Rubicon River in defiance of the Roman Senate, he distinguished himself for the ages and set Rome on a path of transformation from republic to empire.Ĭaesar made the political prime time at around age 40 by forging the First Triumvirate with Pompey the Great, noted general and statesman, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of Rome’s richest men. Few Romans would have chosen young Julius Caesar (ca 100–44 B.C.) as the man most likely to succeed on a grand scale and dominate their world.
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