All Roads Lead to Rome
to their talented engineers, the Romans built long, straight roads that lasted for centuries. A few are still used today, and some modern roads follow the same paths that Roman ones did. The Romans had a Latin saying that meant "All roads lead to Rome." This notion was once true, because all major roads started in the center of Rome, like spokes spreading out from the center of a bicycle wheel. The idea also referred to the fact that Rome was the center of the empire, and important decisions were made there. Today, the saying is still used to mean that many different approaches can lead to the same goal, or all paths lead to the same thing.
Roman roads are still found all over Europe. This one leads to the Forum in the old center of Rome.
After Sulla’s death in 78 b. c.e., various generals fought for power. Their armies battled foreigners in Iberia and Gaul, and sometimes battled each other as well. Fighting also broke out again in Asia Minor, as Mithridates VI was still trying to extend his influence in the region. During the next several decades, three generals emerged as Rome’s main leaders: Pompey the Great (106-48 b. c.e.), Crassus (115-53 b. c.e.), and Julius Caesar. At first, the three men made an informal agreement, called the First Triumvirate, to help each other achieve their political ambitions. But eventually they ended up competing with one another for control of Rome, with Pompey and Caesar the main rivals.
Pompey fought in Iberia and against Mithridates. He and Crassus also ended a slave rebellion in 71 b. c.e. Caesar served as governor of the Iberian peninsula for nine years, where he won several small battles.
Caesar then set out to conquer new territory in central and northern Gaul, fighting German tribes across the Rhine River and making Rome’s first entry into the British Isles. Caesar’s military operations extended Rome’s area of control far to the west and north. With his successes, Caesar emerged as the most powerful general and
Political leader in Rome, and he was eager to assert his strength. He returned to Rome in 49 B. C.E., and the next year he issued orders to cancel the debts of some Romans. The civil wars had created economic chaos, and Caesar’s actions led to a slow improvement. to his military victories and his economic success, Caesar won popular support. By 47 B. C.E., the Senate had twice named him dictator.
During this time, Caesar’s troops battled forces loyal to Pompey. The rivalry between the two generals had turned into civil war, with each man hoping to take full control of the Roman government. Battles took place in Iberia and on the Adriatic Sea. Early in 48 B. C.E., Caesar led his troops against Pompey in Greece, winning a victory that forced Pompey to flee to Alexandria, Egypt. The rulers there, Ptolemy XIII (61-48 B. C.E.) and his sister Cleopatra VII (69-30 b. c.e.), killed Pompey, hoping to build an alliance with Caesar.
Soon after, Caesar arrived in Egypt. The Egyptians showed him the severed head of the dead Pompey. Caesar cried for his rival; he did not hate Pompey, he just wanted total power and Pompey had stood in his way.
Crossing the Rubicon
In 49 B. C.E., Julius Caesar faced a major decision in his drive for control of the Roman Empire. He needed to return to Rome to declare himself a candidate for the consulship. At the same time, his opponents in the Senate wanted to take away his army and give more power to Pompey. At the Rubicon River, Caesar made the most important decision of his life—and one that shaped the future of Rome. The Rubicon marked part of the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul, which Caesar governed, and the Roman Republic. Under Roman law, a general could not bring his troops from his provincial territory into the republic. Caesar knew, however, that if he did not invade he would be defeated. He crossed the Rubicon with just one legion and some foreign allies, on his way to winning complete control of the republic, and then the empire. Today, someone who "crosses the Rubicon" makes a crucial decision with results that cannot be changed.
Caesar then began a famous romance with Cleopatra. He also angered some powerful Egyptians by declaring Roman rule over Egypt and demanding they repay debts
Owed to Rome. Caesar had to fight the Egyptians to assert his control over the country. After several more quick victories in the east, Caesar made a statement about Egypt that is still quoted today in many contexts: Veni Vidi Veci-”I came, I saw, I conquered.”
When Caesar returned to Rome in 46 B. C.E., the city greeted him as a hero. He had shown his skills on the battlefield and added to Rome’s glory. The senators made him a dictator for 10 years-later extended to life-and gave him other important political positions. These powers made Caesar Rome’s first
Emperor, although he refused to accept the title. As Plutarch describes it in his biography of Caesar, the Romans hoped that “the government of a single person would give them time to breathe after so many civil wars and calamities.”
Triumphs and Ovations
Successful Roman generals earned public acclaim in Rome. In a tradition dating back to the Etruscans, some winning generals, called triumphators, were awarded a high honor known as a triumph. They paraded into the city on a chariot covered in a thin layer of gold, with four horses pulling it down the streets. (A chariot is a twowheeled cart driven while standing.) Behind them marched magistrates, soldiers, and prisoners. The celebration ended with the execution of prisoners at a temple. For less important victories, generals were given an ova-tio, or ovation. In this simpler procession, a victorious general rode into Rome on horseback. Today, an ovation, or public applause, is still used to honor great achievements.
Caesar’s coup-overthrowing a 500-year-old democracy-is perhaps one of the most studied and controversial revolutions in history.
In his own time, and in ours, he was viewed by some as a great military and political leader and by others as a man who would stop at nothing to get and keep power. No one can deny the enormous changes in Rome that Caesar and his allies wrought. The political culture of Rome was changed forever, and many political freedoms were permanently lost.
Caesar tried to give the peoples of the Italian peninsula more equality with the Romans and strengthen Rome’s rule over its other lands. He also sent former soldiers and other citizens to new colonies overseas. Building the new colonies provided jobs and homes for the returning troops and brought Roman influence to foreign lands. Many of the new towns he founded still exist today, including Seville in Spain, Arles in France, and Geneva in Switzerland. Caesar also gave Roman citizenship to a large group of provincial residents who moved to Rome. Under Caesar, Rome was truly becoming an international empire. The formal founding of the empire, however, would not come for several more years.
World History
