Julius Caesar as a Baby Julius Caesar Brutus
Julius Caesar Was Non Born via C-Section, and nine Other Little-Known Facts Virtually Him
Beyond his conquests, Rome's nigh well-known effigy led a colorful life
I received a phone phone call from a friend who was overjoyed about his newborn son. His infant was born via C-section, and he joked well-nigh it "Prateek, my son was born via C-section, simply similar Julius Caesar. Maybe 1 day he'll be as famous as him."
"I am certain your son will achieve great things," I replied, "just Caesar was not born via C-department."
He was stunned. My friend idea the C-department, also known every bit a Caesarean section, was named afterwards Julius Caesar. He assumed Caesar was the first babe to be built-in via C-section. Though nosotros associate Caesar with C-sections, he was not built-in that way. A C-section was a death sentence for a woman in aboriginal times.
Caesar died over 2000 years ago, but his legacy lives on in our daily lives. Let the states look at 10 fascinating facts about Julius Caesar, Roman history'southward most popular effigy.
#one. He was not born via C-Section
Contrary to popular belief, Julius Caesar was not born via C-department. The technique for delivering babies by C-section was well known in ancient Rome. However, doctors merely used it in extreme cases when there was no promise of the mother surviving and they had to save the child'due south life. Historians reject the theory that Julius Caesar was born via C-section because his female parent, Aurelia, lived a long and healthy life.
"In those days, a C-section was near always a expiry sentence for a mother, simply Caesar'south mother lived 50 years after his birth." — Dr. Phillip Freeman, author Julius Caesar
Y'all might wonder where the idea of Caesar being born via C-section came from. Co-ordinate to the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, 1 of Caesar'south ancestors was born through this method. Simply he doesn't say who was the ancestor which raises questions on the brownie of his story.
The Caesarean procedure was part of a Roman police force called Lex Caesarea (made 600 years before Caesar was born) which stated that if a pregnant woman died, the babe had to be removed from her womb. For religious reasons, this was done so that they could coffin the baby separately. Later, doctors realized that a baby's life could be saved, but not the mother's. With advances in surgery and medicine since the nineteenth century, doctors could save both the mother and the infant and the C-department became an accepted procedure for delivering babies.
Thus, the proper name Caesarean section comes from Roman law Lex Caesarea rather than Julius Caesar or his ancestors.
# 2. He is the male parent of the leap twelvemonth and the modern calendar
We credit Julius Caesar with inventing the leap year and laying the groundwork for the modern calendar. Prior to Caesar, the Romans, like most ancient peoples, used a lunar calendar with 355 days in a year. This caused confusion regarding the holidays because the calendar was 10.25 days shorter than the actual length of a twelvemonth. The extra days were supposed to exist added at the discretion of Roman officials. Sounds like a bad idea!
Caesar teamed up with astronomer Sosigenes to create the Julian calendar, which went into outcome in 45 BCE. In that location were 365 days in the agenda twelvemonth. However, the year was calculated to be 365.25 days long. To compensate for the lost time, Caesar proposed adding an extra day every 4 years, resulting in the concept of the leap yr.
The Julian calendar was in use until 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar. He shortened the calendar year from 365.25 days to 365.2422 days. A leap year was any year that was divisible by four, unless it was a centurial year, in which case information technology had to be divisible past 400 rather than 100. For instance, the years 1700 and 1900 were not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 were. With this minor change, the Gregorian calendar became the nearly widely used agenda in the world, but we should give thanks Caesar for laying the groundwork for it.
#3. He was kidnapped past pirates when he was young
Julius Caesar, then 25, prepare sail for the Aegean Sea city of Rhodes in 75 BCE. He intended to written report with Apollonius Molon, a Greek scholar. His ship, however, was captured near the coast of modern-day Turkey, and the pirates demanded a ransom for his release. They wanted 25 silver talents. In the ancient world, a talent weighed 32.3 kg (71.2 pounds).
The ransom amount offended Caesar, who said he was worth more and that the pirates should double their asking corporeality. The pirates were taken aback. Caesar paid the ransom for his release, just he refused to forgive his kidnappers. He apace gathered a fleet of ships to chase down his captors. He captured and executed the pirates, thus putting an end to their menace.
#four. He was a prolific writer, poet, and a paper publisher
Julius Caesar was a learned man whose writing and oratory abilities were lauded even by his opponents. He was a poet as well. Plutarch, a historian, claims that Caesar offered to read his poems to the pirates who had captured him. Although many of Caesar's poems take been lost to time, nosotros can still find references to them in historical works. He wrote Laudes Herculis in praise of Hercules when he was a young man. Iter or journey, his final known piece of work, describes his journey in Spain during the Roman Civil War (49–45 BCE).
Like his poems, much of Caesar's writings are lost to the passage of time. Anticato , a diatribe he wrote confronting Senator Cato, is a well-known example. The Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic Wars) and Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil State of war) are Caesar's virtually famous literary works. These books contain valuable information nearly Caesar's campaign in Gaul and the Ceremonious War against his one-fourth dimension friend turned enemy, Pompey.
Caesar was the first person in Europe to publish a newspaper, the Acta Diurna . It began as a daily newspaper that reported on Caesar's campaign in Gaul. His administrators scribbled daily news briefings on stone tablets and hung on public bulletin boards. It was like an ancient regime gazette, and it helped Caesar connect with the masses. Romans published the Acta Diurna until 222 CE, long after Caesar's death, with public officials informing the people of Rome near the activities of the government.
#five. His last words were not "Et Tu Brute"
The assassination of Julius Caesar is shrouded in conspiracy theories and legends. The phrase "Et Tu Beast," which ways "You too, Brutus?" is a legend spun past William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar. Shakespeare claims that those were Caesar's last words. According to Shakespeare, Caesar collapsed after Brutus, a shut friend and loyal follower, stabbed him.
Shakespeare made a few mistakes. Brutus was not a close friend of Caesar's, although his mother was Caesar'due south mistress. Merely Shakespeare may take confused Marcus Brutus with some other Brutus who was among the assassins, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, improve known equally Decimus Brutus. Decimus Brutus was a close friend of Caesar'due south and was rumored to exist Caesar's illegitimate son. He was overlooked considering he was non a charismatic statesman like his distant cousin Marcus Brutus.
Co-ordinate to the Roman historian Suetonius, Caesar spoke at the start of the bump-off while being attacked. "Why, this is violence," Caesar exclaimed, and then said naught else. According to Plutarch, Caesar said, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?" referring to senator Servilius Casca, who stabbed him first. However, neither historian mentions anything about his terminal words. Another Roman historian, Cassius Dio, mentions Caesar being mobbed by assassins and unable to speak.
Mod forensic investigation suggests that Caesar may have said something before dying from internal bleeding or a collapsed lung, only his last words may not have been "Et Tu Brute," as Shakespeare imagined nearly 1600 years later.
#6. He was stabbed 23 times but simply i wound was fatal
The conspirators stabbed Caesar 23 times, but simply ane wound killed him. The knife stabbed in the side of his chest proved fatal. Caesar's murderers were politicians not professional assassins. Hence, they had footling experience killing people. The assassination was a sloppy chore. The conspirators stabbed Caesar one at a fourth dimension, not all at in one case, and only ane turned out lethal.
According to forensic investigators, Caesar could have died in one of ii ways. The first possibility is that a claret vessel in his center ruptured, resulting in internal bleeding and death. The second possibility was that blood flowed from his chest into his lungs, filling them to capacity and suffocating him.
#vii. He knew nigh his assassination plot and let it happen
Suetonius mentions in his book The Twelve Caesars that Caesar knew almost the assassination plot but allow it happen anyhow . We've all heard the famous story about a soothsayer warning Caesar about the "Ides of March." Caesar was the Pontifex Maximus of Rome, the highest religious official, and it is unlikely that he would have dismissed the soothsayer'southward warnings. He had an extensive information network and was well-liked by the public. He most probable knew something was going to happen, merely he allowed it to happen anyway.
You lot may wonder why.
Caesar desired a glorious ending and did non want to dice naturally. Medical evidence revealed that he was suffering from strokes and his health was deteriorating. He may also take had a heart affliction. Because of his poor health, he believed that a glorious death would make him immortal in the optics of the people of Rome. And he was right; it did. After his death, they alleged him a god, and his legacy lives on to this mean solar day.
#8. A comet appeared after his death and he was the commencement Roman to exist deified
Following Julius Caesar's expiry, there were reports of a comet appearing, which became known as Caesar's comet.
"A comet shone for vii successive days, rising about the eleventh 60 minutes, and was believed to be the soul of Caesar." — Suetonius
The recording of the comet is sketchy, only most historians and scientists believe a comet appeared in the World's temper in September 44 BC, based on accounts from China and Rome. This served as political propaganda in Caesar's favor. Information technology was used to push button for his deification by his adopted son Octavian, later known as Caesar Augustus. The Roman senate declared Julius Caesar a god in 42 BC, with the title Divus Julius meaning the divine Julius. In his laurels, they built a temple. This was the start time in Rome's history that they declared a citizen equally a god.
#9. He left a substantial amount of money for the people of Rome in his will
Caesar was popular amidst ordinary Romans, despite the Senate'due south hostility toward him. Withal, the love was not 1-sided. Caesar felt the same way virtually his people. In his will, Caesar left 75 drachmas, the equivalent of $6000 in today'due south currency, to each Roman citizen. They could also use his gardens, walkways, and orchards. Such a generous gift polarized public opinion against his murderers, who believed Romans would regard them every bit heroes for assassinating a tyrant.
#x. He was the first Roman to mint coins with his prototype while alive
No living Roman's image was minted on a coin prior to Julius Caesar's in 44 BCE. Considering Rome was a republic, information technology despised the depiction of living politicians on coins as it would be akin to a monarchy. In Greece, coins begetting the ruler'due south image were common during their lifetime, but Rome was unlike.
Caesar's showtime coin depicted him as a dictator for the quaternary time. In the second image, he is referred to as the "father of his nation." These coins fueled his opponents, who had had enough of Caesar, and began plotting his assassination.
Caesar'southward legacy lives on even today. His name became a regal title, and Roman emperors were known equally the Caesar. Caesar inspired the German Kaiser and Russian Tsar titles for emperors.
Which of these Caesar facts surprised you lot the most? Delight let me know in the comments. Caesar's life was not without controveries. He was unfairly defendant of called-for the library of Alexandria. If y'all want to know more on Julius Caesar and other legends of Roman history, check out the following story.
etheridgepasto1975.blogspot.com
Source: https://historyofyesterday.com/julius-caesar-was-not-born-via-c-section-and-9-other-little-known-facts-about-him-26005a0d39c9