Julius Caesar is one of history’s most famous figures. But before his legendary conquests and romance with Cleopatra, how did he rise to power?In this episode of The Ancients, host Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Catherine Steel to explore Caesar’s early life, political struggles, and key allies and rivals - from Marius and Sulla to Pompey and Crassus. Together Tristan and Catherine uncover the defining moments that shaped Rome’s most famous leader.Presented by Tristan Hughes. The producer and editor is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Listen to The Ancients episode; the Rise of Cicero: https://shows.acast.com/the-ancients/episodes/theriseofciceroSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on
What is the rise of Julius Caesar about?
kind of is spending his 20s and then he gets back to Italy and there's something for him to do because there's the Spartacus revolt which the Romans have been making a total mess of in terms of suppressing so he turns up just in time to claim all the credit for wrapping it up Which is maybe one of the reasons why he and Crassus disliked each other so much.
And then, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, does agree to dismiss his army. But surprise, surprise, he's allowed to stand for the consulship, considerably ahead of the legal age and not having held any earlier offices. So that's what a really spectacular career looks like, okay?
Yes, exactly. I mean, Julius Caesar up to that time, although yes, he's been in the Eastern Mediterranean, he's sorted as stronghold and been captured by pirates in these stories, compared to these other figures at the time, Crassus and Pompey, it's nothing near the same level. And he sees that, yeah.
Yeah. So Pompey and Crassus are consuls in 70. They are probably consuls at the time at which Caesar has to stand for the quaestorship.
The bottom, right. The lowest rung.
And okay, he's elected, but there are 20 Quaestors every year, so it's hardly that big a deal.
I'm loving this. I'm loving this, Catherine. Actually, just before we go on to that and how it kind of progresses, I mean, this political ladder, you mentioned how Crassus and Pompey, so they're the consuls and Caesar's looking up almost from several rungs down as the Quaestor. This whole process, it's called the Cursus Honorum, isn't it?
So, I mean, could you explain just very briefly what we mean by the Cursus Honorum?
So it emerges over the course of the res publica, but it's very clearly standardized. One of the things that Sulla does is he reaffirms what happens. So you can stand for the priestesship when you're 30, and that's kind of pretty much an essential office now because that's the office that also gets you into the Senate. At 39, you can stand for the priestesship.
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