When in Rome...

Now, I don’t know why, but I never really showed an interest in history or anything related when I was at school. But now I find the subject extremely interesting. Take ancient Rome for example. It all started with the TV series “Rome”. I started watching and wanted more information. The internet is a wonderful place! I found a wealth of information. One of the most interesting characters, was Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar only became a title after he was in power. The naming convention is also most fascinating. For instance, they only had about 18 first names which they used. Caesar’s father was also Gaius Julius Caesar. The “Julius” refers to the clan he belonged to, the Julii. The last part “Caesar”, normally referred to a nickname or some sort of attribute of the person. It was often used in irony: Caesar means “hairy”, although he was balding! For the women, the names were just as weird. Sisters would often have the same name, the only way to discern would be the postfix of either “major” or minor”, depending on who was first born. For instance, Caesar had two sisters, both called Julia. One was Julia major and the other Julia minor. This obviously caused great confusion for historians, who often did not know who was referred to in ancient texts. Also, if the father’s name was Lucius, the daughter would normally be called Lucia.

Another thing I found interesting was Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius’s (not Marc Antony as the series calls him) infatuation with the co-ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra. Caesar had a son (Caesarion) with her, and Marcus Antonius had three children with her, twins (boy and a girl) and a boy. Caesarion later became Ptolemy Caesar and ruled Egypt. Cleopatra was in fact not Egyptian, she was Greek. Her father was a lieutenant under Alexander the Great.

On my bedside table is the “"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries by Julius Caesar”. What a fascinating read. It is all about Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (France) and describes many intricacies of Roman life at the time. I will post an update on this later when I’ve finished reading it. I’ll finish with this: many of Caesar’s quotes are famous, such as “Veni Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered), which he said after defeating Pompey. When he crossed the Rubicon river into Italy from Gaul, on his way to Rome to take care of Pompey, he said “Alea jacta est” (the die is cast), because he was not supposed to enter Italy with his legions, according to Roman law. One very famous quote by Marcus Antonius, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” was apparently poetic licence by William Shakespear. He never said those words after Caesar’s assassination.

Lastly, on that note, Caesar was not just assassinated by Brutus, there were about sixty men involved. Brutus was merely one of them and Caesar asked "Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi" ("You also, brutus, my son?"). Therefore most people think its Brutus.

So, I leave you with the Latin : curate ut valeatis (take care that you fare well).