Caesar, Cleopatra and the Ides of March | World History | Khan Academy

TL;DR

Julius Caesar conquers Gaul, crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey, allies with Cleopatra, and is ultimately assassinated.

Transcript

• [Instructor] Where we left off in the last video, we saw Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul as proconsul. And, near the end of his term as proconsul, the senators in Rome were afraid of him. He was this popular, populist, charismatic figure, he had just had these significant military victories in Gaul, and they said, all right, Caesar, why don't yo... Read More

Key Insights

• ✌️ Julius Caesar's military victories in Gaul made him a popular and charismatic figure in Rome.
• 😵 His decision to cross the Rubicon and enter Rome sparked a civil war with Pompey and his supporters.
• 🇪🇬 Caesar's support for Cleopatra in Egypt established Ptolemaic Egypt as a client state of the Roman Empire.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why did Julius Caesar cross the Rubicon?

Caesar crossed the Rubicon because he believed returning to Rome without his army would put him in danger since the senators were already threatened by his popularity.

Q: Who did Julius Caesar put in charge of Italy while he led his legions across the Adriatic?

Caesar put Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), one of his generals from the Gaelic Wars, in charge of Italy.

Q: How was Cleopatra able to come to power in Ptolemaic Egypt with Julius Caesar's support?

Cleopatra had a civil war against her brother Ptolemy XIII, and when Caesar arrived in Alexandria and discovered that Ptolemy's supporters killed Pompey, he decided to support Cleopatra instead.

Q: How did Julius Caesar's reign as dictator come to an end?

Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15th, 44 BCE, by his opponents led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Julius Caesar, as proconsul, conquers Gaul and becomes a popular and charismatic figure in Rome.

• The senators in Rome fear his growing power and ask him to leave his position, but he decides to cross the Rubicon and enter Rome instead.

• Caesar engages in a civil war against Pompey, defeats him at the Battle of Pharsalus, supports Cleopatra in Egypt, and eventually becomes dictator of Rome before being assassinated.