Two years after his death, the Roman Senate declared Caesar a god. This gave Roman biographers the unusual task of recounting the life of a man who was, by official proclamation, a divine being. By the time the biographer Suetonius writes his Life of the Deified Julius, the Roman people has worshiped Caesar as a god for more than 150 years. Please read through Divus Julius, and pick out a line that shows especially well why the Roman people might have accepted Caesar as divine or a line that shows that regarding Caesar as a god was more than a little strange. Explain your choice.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Caesar the God (due 11/1)
Two years after his death, the Roman Senate declared Caesar a god. This gave Roman biographers the unusual task of recounting the life of a man who was, by official proclamation, a divine being. By the time the biographer Suetonius writes his Life of the Deified Julius, the Roman people has worshiped Caesar as a god for more than 150 years. Please read through Divus Julius, and pick out a line that shows especially well why the Roman people might have accepted Caesar as divine or a line that shows that regarding Caesar as a god was more than a little strange. Explain your choice.
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Julius Caesar lived a very strange lifestyle compared to the traditional Roman values. Womanizing, divorce; Caesar was not a virtuous man. One quote that I thought summed up why the Roman people thought of him as something more then a man of indecency
ReplyDelete"was In Gallia he pillaged shrines and temples of the gods filled with offerings, and oftener sacked towns for the sake of plunder than for any fault. In consequence he had more gold than he knew what to do with, and offered it for sale throughout Italia and the provinces at the rate of three thousand sesterces the pound"
The Roman's liked Caesar simply because he offered them easy money, something the gods did not ensure. He gave the Roman people an easy way of living, simply by taking what he wanted. Still, one must take note of the breakdown of Roman character at this point to understand why Caesar was able live the lifestyle he did and still come out as a savior to much of the Roman populace.
-Zack Krage
They have a whole section devoted to Caesar's horse "He rode a remarkable horse, too, with feet that were almost human; for its hoofs were cloven in such a way as to look like toes. This horse was foaled on his own place, and since the soothsayers had declared that it foretold the rule of the world for its master, he reared it with the greatest care, and was the first to mount it, for it would endure no other rider. Afterwards, too, he dedicated a statue of it before the temple of Venus Genetrix." One has I believe has to reach god status for ones horse to be mentioned in detailed. Trent Dean
ReplyDeleteWhen compared to other leaders of Rome it seemed like Caesar had more tolerance of miniscule things then other leaders. There is one line that talks a banquet that Caesar was holding and one of servants served stale oil and wine to them. The other men at the banquet would have nothing of it and were furious, but Caesar was kind hearted about it and forgave the servant for not knowing that they had gone bad. Anybody else would have fired the servant and make a public mockery of him but Caesar forgave the man for his mistake. This sheds a good light on the character of Caesar and shows he was a kind hearted leader
ReplyDeleteDuring his life Caesar did make some claims of divine lineage, which would give those who would call him a god some sort of evidence to do so. For instance during his Aunt Julia's eulogy he claimed that her family live was descended back to Venus herself. he claimed that "[his] stock therefore has at once the sanctity of kings, whose power is supreme among mortal men, and the claim to reverence which attaches to the Gods, who hold sway over kings themselves." Sean M.
ReplyDeleteThe one that I chose to write was the fact that it was a tad bit strange that the Roman people accepted Caesar as a god the line is this " He also bribed a man to bring a charge of high treason against Gaius Rabirius, who some years before, had rendered conspicuous service to the senate in repressing the seditious designs of the tribune Lucius Saturninus; and when he had been selected by lot to sentence the accused, he did so with such eagerness, that when Rabirius appealed to the people, nothing was so much in his favor as the bitter hostility of his judge." I say it is strange because here it shows that he made some very unmoral decisions and was caught bribing an official to get what he wanted. This did not show very godly behavior in this instance and it also showed that in a lot of his life he was looking out for number one, himself.
ReplyDeleteCaesar emerges as a god when Augustus is giving a speech and a comet is seen in the sky. Augustus claims this to be Caesar's soul joining the gods. This move is significant because the Roman people agree and accept Caesar as a god and begin worship of him as such. Augustus is helped out to be it allows him to be seen as the son of a god and gains even more favor in what would eventually become his Pricipate.
ReplyDelete-Jackson Pasco
The paragraph VII tells of how Caesar visited Alexandria and saw Alexander the Great's statue which he looked up at in envy. It describes how the soothsayers told him he was destined to rule the world in a dream. These as well as a few others in this passage tell me that the Romans believed that he was destined to greatness his whole life. They believed that it was his destiny to become dictator of Rome. Could this be just justification for a mistake the people made or do they actually believe he possessed this destiny? I am not sure. Either way this adds to his image of being god like and all powerful.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Remmich
Caesar was not a great man. He was ruthless in his journey to power. However, he did give back to the people of Rome. He gave them part of his wealth and he gave them food which was a lot more than most other emperors had done. The people liked him because of this and it caused his popularity to rise to enormous levels. The peoples love for him helped him achieve God status after his death.
ReplyDeleteKaycee Teppo