Everyone knows how amazing his father, Julius Caesar, was. But popular culture only remembers on the legendary beauty of his mother. Cleopatra was almost certainly a genius. She could speak 10 languages, and was the first Ptolemy ruler to speak Egyptian (she was actually Greek/Macedonian, the Ptolemy descended directly from Alexanders greatest general). She was educated in math, philosophy and astronomy, introduced Julius Caesar to the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria to help create the Julian calendar, and wrote a medical treatise.
Sad that the product of two of histories great geniuses had to be killed by Octavian to protect his claim to the empire. Though the child seldom matches their parents, seems like an irreplaceable genetic loss.
After Germanicus died, the Roman empire went from bad to worse in it's choice of emperors. Tiberius led to Caligula, then Claudius, then Nero, and his death lead to the tumultuous year of the Four emperors.
He helped put down uprisings by governors intending to become Emperor and twice that year his armies offered to put him on the throne, and he refused both times. In an era where emperors regularly killed anyone who had the political means to be a threat to their throne, he was able to live to the age of 83, where he was again selected as Consul by Emperor Nero.
Something else to note here: Julius Caesar lived most of his life working toward great purpose. It almost seemed like he got bored being in the same place for too long. One of the only true times he took a break in his life was with Cleopatra after the Pompean-Caesarian Civil War turned in his favor. It was actually a bit of a disastrous hiatus for him, but I think it speaks to how absolutely engaging Cleopatra was (although many commentators might just say after 10 years of warfare, he just needed a break).
> Sad that the product of two of histories great geniuses had to be killed by Octavian to protect his claim to the empire. Though the child seldom matches their parents, seems like an irreplaceable genetic loss.
I think this statement jumps on the "nature" bandwagon, but I'd argue that at least Caesar wasn't born a political and military genius, but got there by:
1. Good tolerance of failure. Great Roman military commanders like Pompey and Caesar were known to have an uncanny ability to learn from their defeats.
2. Luck. Certain decision making like going to Britain twice and making the same mistake almost to his end played out well for Caesar. Also decisions to march to save his garrisoned legion during the greater Gallic rebellion during wintertime, while admirable (the safety of his soldiers was of supreme importance to him), worked out where they seemed like they shouldn't most of the time.
3. Stupidity of his enemies. How many times did Caesar attack the Pompeans during the Civil War during winter? They never learned. It's remarkable really. One can also look at Caesar's merciful treatment of enemies during the civil war as evidence of his genius -- he won so many by being gentle, even though he had to fight Ahenobarbus like 4 times because he kept letting him go.
With that, Caesar turned into an absolute master by making reasonable calculated risks and surviving them. By the point he was clearing the last of the Pompeans in Africa at the end of the Civil War, he didn't even leave his tent to give commands -- so confident and expertised in warfare that he didn't even have to see the field of battle.
This is a bit of a ramble. I really admire Julius Caesar and think there's so much to learn by studying his life and habits.
"By the point he was clearing the last of the Pompeans in Africa at the end of the Civil War, he didn't even leave his tent to give commands"
Was this an indication of the experience and initiative of his commanders and non-coms? So Caesar might decide on the overall approach, make sure all his commanders knew what that was, and let them figure out how best to achieve that based on the situation.
> Was this an indication of the experience and initiative of his commanders and non-coms? So Caesar might decide on the overall approach, make sure all his commanders knew what that was, and let them figure out how best to achieve that based on the situation.
This interestingly largely didn't seem to be the case. By Africa most of Caesar's experienced legions (who campaigned with him during the Gallic Wars and the first half of the Civil War) weren't with him (he campaigned mostly with Pompey's newly raised legions out of Greece). His commanders were either new or of questionable skill. In particular, his most capable commander during the Gallic Wars, Labienus, defected to the Pompey early in the Civil War, and was one of Caesar's chief opponents during his African campaign.
As an interesting note, it seems Labienus likely defected from Caesar for two reasons:
1. At the beginning of the Civil War it looked extremely unlikely Caesar would win.
2. Labienus felt as though Caesar took more credit than he ought to have in the Gallic Wars, depriving him of his "auctoritas" (sort of prestige) he felt he rightfully deserved.
Caesar's skilled defeat of Pompey and Labienus show his military skill outside of his use of good commanders.
I hope you see this after all this time. Do you have a trailhead to lend me so I can read about this instance of not having to leave his tent to give commands? I have never heard this before and it's very interesting to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarion
Everyone knows how amazing his father, Julius Caesar, was. But popular culture only remembers on the legendary beauty of his mother. Cleopatra was almost certainly a genius. She could speak 10 languages, and was the first Ptolemy ruler to speak Egyptian (she was actually Greek/Macedonian, the Ptolemy descended directly from Alexanders greatest general). She was educated in math, philosophy and astronomy, introduced Julius Caesar to the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria to help create the Julian calendar, and wrote a medical treatise.
Sad that the product of two of histories great geniuses had to be killed by Octavian to protect his claim to the empire. Though the child seldom matches their parents, seems like an irreplaceable genetic loss.
After Germanicus died, the Roman empire went from bad to worse in it's choice of emperors. Tiberius led to Caligula, then Claudius, then Nero, and his death lead to the tumultuous year of the Four emperors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Four_Emperors
From that year comes interesting parallel to Germanicus, the story of Lucius Verginius Rufus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Verginius_Rufus
He helped put down uprisings by governors intending to become Emperor and twice that year his armies offered to put him on the throne, and he refused both times. In an era where emperors regularly killed anyone who had the political means to be a threat to their throne, he was able to live to the age of 83, where he was again selected as Consul by Emperor Nero.