ILLUSTRATES Rafael Sarmento
READER’S QUESTION Tatiele Praia da Silva, Boa Vista, RR
1.Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC) came to power in Rome in 46 BC after a civil war against conservative nobles. The officers who accompanied him in this battle expected him to share in the political power and wealth after victory. At first, it even worked. But in 44 BC, Caesar declared himself perpetual dictator, against the Roman republican tradition
two. His thirst for power was not well regarded by the Senate, which decided to eliminate him. Caesar planned to leave Rome on March 18, 44 BC, for a military campaign. But three days earlier, when he arrived for a meeting with the Senate, he was approached by Tílio Cimbro, who filed a petition to bring his brother back from exile. It was just a pretext
3. The first to stab him was Publius Servilius Casca. The statesman tried to resist, but other senators took turns in the attack. Caesar was wounded in the hands, arms, head, and especially the torso, a total of 23 stabs. One of the leaders of the plot was Marco Júnio Bruto, a close friend. But the phrase “Even you, Brutus?” was invented by William Shakespeare, in the play Julio Cesar
4. The conspirators fled the city and the rest of the senate had to calm the people, excited by the crime. Over time, things normalized, but the republic did not last long, affected by internal power struggles. Octavian, great-nephew and adopted son of Caesar, hunted down his father’s assassins and, in 29 BC, became the first emperor of rome
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SOURCES Websites DW, National Geographic, Biography, History, PBS It is British
CONSULTANCY Campbell Grey, Professor of Classical History at the University of Pennsylvania (USA), and W. Jeffrey Tatum, Professor of Classical History at the Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)