Galaxy/The codex of Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and author who served as dictator of the Roman Republic from 49 BC until his assassination on the Ides of March 44 BC. The Julii claimed descent from Iulus (Ascanius), son of Aeneas and grandson of Venus — the Trojan genealogy Ovid later crowns with Caesar's apotheosis as a comet, the Julian star.

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Julius Caesar" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.Career and dictatorship

Caesar rose through the cursus honorum, formed the First Triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey, conquered Gaul, and crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC to fight Pompey's faction. After victory he held dictatorship almost continuously and was proclaimed dictator perpetuo in early 44 BC.

Senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated him on 15 March 44 BC. His adoptive heir Octavian (Augustus) emerged from the ensuing civil wars as Rome's first emperor.

II.Trojan ancestry and Ovid's star

The Julii advertised descent from Venus through Aeneas and Iulus of Alba Longa — a claim Caesar himself used in public cult and rhetoric. Ovid closes the Metamorphoses by having Venus raise Caesar's soul to heaven as a blazing comet after the Senate's knives.

In the atlas the node is the Ovidian Julian star at the edge of Greek mythic time — Roman dictator and Venus' Trojan line — not a Greek polis king.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameIoulios Kaisar (Ἰούλιος Καῖσαρ)
Roman nameJulius Caesar
Typemortal
Domainsdictator of Rome · the Julian star · Venus' Trojan line
SymbolsJulian star / comet · laurel crown · civic crown
Cult centersRome · Temple of Divus Iulius (Forum)
EtymologyLatin cognomen Caesar; the gens Julia claimed descent from Iulus/Ascanius. The name later became an imperial title (Kaiser, Tsar).
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