Julius Caesar Trivia

1. What was Julius Caesar's first job?

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: a priest

He became Flamen Dialis, the high priest of Jupiter, around the age of 16, with the help of his father-in-law, Cinna. In this function, he could not ride a horse, handle metal objects, or view a dead body. This would have made a military career impossible, but he was stripped of his title when Sulla began another dictatorship.

From Quiz Tales of the Ides of March

Answer: New Year Celebration

The old Roman calendar did not count days in the way calendars do today. There were three established times of the month, depending on its length. The "Nones" was on the 5th or 7th, the "Ides" on the 13th or 15th, and the "Kalends" was the first of the following month. Even though March was the third month on Caesar's revised calendar, it was the beginning of the New Year on the old calendar, and also the first full moon of the year, and the Ides of March continued to be a date of several religious festivals and observances.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: Veni, vidi, vici

Supposedly, Julius said this to his friend Amantius. Amantius asked Caesar to tell him about his military capture of the city of Zela, and Caesar gave this as his account of the action.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: 49 BC

On crossing the Rubicon Julius Caesar famously said "iacta alea est", which translates as "the die is cast."

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: Aurelia Cotta

Julia, or a derivation thereof, was generally the name given to females born to a Julian father. Caesar's daughter, sister and aunt were all named Julia. Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus was his mistress and Cornelia his first wife.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Patrician

Though of stellar lineage (they claimed to trace their family line back to the goddess Venus) the Julian clan was not wealthy.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: 23 times

On the Ides of March, March 15th, 44 BC, senators conspiring against Caesar who were led by Brutus and Cassius, stabbed him on the senate floor. The senate floor happened to be Pompey's Theatre at the time, because the senate building was under reconstruction. According to Suetonius, only one stab to his chest was fatal.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: He told them to ask for fifty instead

Caesar is said to have laughed at the pirates for not realizing the value of the person they'd captured, so he told them to demand a higher price. During his captivity, he acted as if he was in charge of the kidnappers, also reading them his speeches and poetry (and mocking them for not understanding).

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was elected to the post of Consul seven times in his lifetime, this being highly unusual as one man could only be consul for one term every 10 years. His reformations of the Roman legions meant that each legion was seperated into different cohorts, usually consisting of 500 men each.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: Venus

Julius Caesar claimed descent from the goddess Venus via Aeneas (Iulius) her son.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Gaius Marius

Caesar's grandfather arranged for his daughter to be married to the wealthy general so that his sons would have enough money for political careers.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: Leap months were needed and incorrectly applied, so moments like the equinox had no specific date.

There had been many issues with the Roman calendar, which counted only 355 days. Priests were in charge to regularly add leap months, but failed to do so in a scientific way. While Julius Caesar was in Egypt, he learned of their solar calendar, which had 365 days. Back in Rome, he put a team of mathematicians and philosophers to work to reform the Roman calendar. They came up with a year which had 365 days, and added a leap day every 4 years. This was based on the calculations of Eudoxus, who had calculated the solar year as 365.25 days.

From Quiz Tales of the Ides of March

Answer: Dictator Perpetuo

After the last of the seven legendary kings was overthrown and a new Republican government was formed, the ancient Romans vowed to never have a "rex" again. There were instances, however, when a powerful leader called a dictator was needed; in the case of such an occurrence the power of the dictator was limited to a certain amount of time. The idea of Caesar being appointed "dictator for life" or "Dictator Perpetuo" made it appear to some that he planned to become another "rex". As it turned out, he only held this title for less than two months before his assassination. Even though Caesar's true plans and ambitions have been debated for centuries, there is, of course, no way of knowing if he planned to rule as a king or would eventually resign the position. In addition, there is no way to know if Caesar's opponents were concerned about his absolute power - or if they coveted it for themselves.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: He had the pirates crucified

During his captivity, Caesar had promised the pirates many times that he would have them crucified as soon as he was free. At the time, they thought he was joking.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Hispania Ulterior

Many historians say that Caesar was alloted a province in modern day Spain because of the threat that he posed in Rome. He was popular with the people and highly ambitious. His posting in Hispania Ulterior was very sucessful as he managed to bring both military and economic stability to the region. On his return to Rome he demanded a Triumph, usually an event reserved for successful Roman generals. He was given two options: either he could have a Triumph or he could become senior Roman consul.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Cornelius Sulla

Caesar refused to divorce his wife and marry a more politically acceptable one.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: Brutus was Caesar's ex-girlfriend's son.

According to some historians, Servilia was the love of Caesar's life. It is generally believed, however, that their relationship started when Brutus was already a teenager. Caesar had been some kind of mentor to Brutus, but they were far from best friends. Three years before the assassination, Caesar and Brutus were on opposing sides on the battlefield, at the Battle of Pharsalos, where Caesar defeated Pompey.

From Quiz Tales of the Ides of March

Answer: Calpurnia

Apparently Calpurnia was frightened by dreams about the danger to her husband on the Ides of March. It is said, however, that one of the conspirators, Brutus, had stopped by Caesar's home, telling him it would be an insult to miss the meeting of the Senate and insinuating that a "real man" wouldn't pay any heed to a woman's dreams. Calpurnia wasn't the only one who was concerned for Caesar's safety that day. Other friends, as well as his doctor, had suggested it would be better if Caesar stayed home. With all of the conspirators who were said to have been involved, it would have been next to impossible to keep the plan secret, so one must wonder if they had heard something or possessed uncanny intuition.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: The Consulship of Julius and Caesar

Bibulus proved mostly ineffectual at stopping Caesar's political moves. He worked with the Senate to try to block Caesar's proposals, but Julius' supporters ended up dumping a chamber pot on Consul Bibulus, and the poor man retreated to his home, refusing to come out. So the shared consulship became known as the Consulship of Julius and Caesar.

From Quiz The Military Career of Julius Caesar

Answer: Used scorched earth tactics

Vercingetorix was the Chieftain of the Arverni tribe.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: He was probably the wealthiest man in the Roman world

Crassus was the general who supressed Spartacus' slave rebellion, he was not as good general as Caesar or Pompey, and his place in the first Triumvirate was the result of his money and his popular support in the senate.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Malaria

The Romans called the variety of malaria which Caesar had 'quartain fever' because it operated in a four day cycle. Their word for malaria in general was 'the ague.'

From Quiz Tales of the Ides of March

Answer: Lucius Tillius Cimber

Tillius Cimber presented Caesar with a request, which was to allow his exiled brother to be recalled to Rome. Said to have been at one time one of Caesar's strongest supporters, little is known about why he would have joined the group of assassins. It was written by both Plutarch and Suetonius that Caesar tried to send him away, but Cimber grabbed him by the shoulders, and pulled down Caesar's tunic. The attack had begun.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: Cato the Younger

Cato found a sure-fire way to stop the proposals Julius put forth to the Senate: he kept talking until the close of business every time Caesar called for a vote. Julius eventually grew enraged and ordered Cato arrested for disrupting the Senate, but the action prompted every other senator to abandon the senate floor, with one declaring "I would rather be in jail with Cato than in the Senate with YOU."

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Alesia

While Caesar was away in Britain with some of his legions, he left a single legion to guard Gaul, when in Britain it was rumoured that a Gallic warlord called Vercingetorix was trying to unite all the tribes of Gaul with aim of ridding Gaul of Roman rule. He was unsucessful, however, and in 52 BC was defeated at Alesia by the experienced and well trained legions under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: The horse's hooves were cloven into five parts such that they looked like toes

Caesar was highly superstitious about his luck, insisting that he rode his "toed" horse during battle.

From Quiz The Life of Julius Caesar

Answer: Pontifex Maximus

Pontifex Maximus ('supreme bridge builder') survives to this day as a title of the Pope. Caesar became Flamen Dialis as a child.

From Quiz Julius Caesar

Answer: two years after his death

Julius Caesar, as the first historical Roman, was deified by the Senate on January 1, 42 BC. The deity was given the name Divus Iulius, or "divine Julius". His successor, Augustus, took on the name of Divi Filius, or Son of the Divine.

From Quiz Tales of the Ides of March

Answer: Theatre of Pompey

The Theatre of Pompey, completed in 55 BC, was a structure that was built to house, in part, the art and other works collected by Pompey the Great on his travels and conquests. It also contained meeting rooms; the Roman Senate would use the Theatre of Pompey for meetings because it was large enough to hold everyone. On the Ides of March, 44 BC, the group of conspirators was waiting for Caesar in this location, where they had planned a gladiatorial contest. They stopped him, and took him to one of the rooms there, although some sources claim that the room was nearby the Theatre. It was written that he fell at the base of the "curia", or Senate meeting room, and laid there for quite some time before three slaves came to collect his body.

From Quiz The Divine Julius

Answer: Land allotments for veterans

Caesar wanted to take unused land owned by Senators and give it to veterans for use as farmland. His support for this plan was one of the things which made him an ally of the general Pompey Magnus, whose veteran soldiers stood to benefit.

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