Before we fast-forward to Caesar's 2022 spiritually sojourned hotspot, we've got to travel back 2,100 years or so. Gaius Julius Caesar (100 – 44 B.C.) was raised in a wealthy aristocratic family in a troubled, politically unstable time in Roman history (via PBS). He must have taken the lessons of his youth to heart, because he rose to power through a combination of brutality, intimidation, cunning, and deft oratory.
As World History says, Caesar became head of his family at age 16 when his father died, and went on to prove his military prowess in the army. One well-known anecdote describes him getting kidnapped by pirates for ransom in 75 B.C. and swearing that he'd hunt them down for the offenses they'd committed against his family. This wasn't just a brazen threat — he actually did it. Later on he found them, slit their throats, had them crucified, and that was that.
Caesar became Rome's military tribune and forged an alliance with the war hero Pompey the Great (whom he later killed) and Rome's wealthiest man, Marcus Licinius Crassus. He then ruthlessly campaigned in Gaul (58 – 50 B.C.), and wielded his renown from that campaign to assault Rome with an army in 49 B.C. From there he marched on Egypt, claimed it for himself, had a son with Cleopatra, and returned to Rome in 44 B.C. to assume the title "Dictator Perpetuus," or "dictator for life." That very year he was assassinated.
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