Caesar Lives 2.0

Excerpt from Antonius Gracchus’ History of the Imperial Federation of Europa

The Reign of Gaius Julius Caesar, Only Emperor of the Roman Empire
3 B.A.E.—1 A.E.

Unlike most historians, I will not speak of Caesar’s rise to power: how he conquered Gaul and defeated Pompey, how he brought the crumbling Roman Republic unprecedented glory. No, instead, I shall focus on his incredibly short reign as emperor of the Roman Empire. Caesar was declared dictator by the Roman Senate in 3 B.A.E., after defeating the pretender Cato. When he assumed the throne, he was faced with several problems already: Pompey was still raging through Spain, the Armenians, to the east, were getting restless, and his popular support was already fading. However, the spry centenarian was perfectly ready for the challenges that awaited him. Caesar first embarked on a legislative whirlwind: first, he instituted the Julian calendar, still used today. Then, he began constructing a personality cult to himself throughout the empire, a personality cult that would later be exploited by his adoptive son, Octavian.

In 45 B.C., after building several thousand statues to himself and commissioning many public projects, he raised a small army, marched to Spain, and in a massive propaganda victory, easily defeated Pompey at the Battle of Munda. The battle was a humiliation for Pompeists—a humiliation they would not have time to wallow in, as many of them were soon executed after Pompey’s death. Caesar quickly returned to Rome in a massive triumphal parade, showing off the thousands of prisoners he had captured. Then, he continued his legislative reforms, centralizing the Roman state in Rome itself.

44 B.C. would have been unexceptional for Caesar: January started normally, and so did February. But March was a different story. On 14 March, a group of Roman senators surrounded Caesar as he entered the Theatre of Pompey. As they did, they pulled out knives and prepared to strike the helpless Emperor. But at the last moment, Marc Anthony, Caesar’s most trusted advisor, burst into the room and drew his sword, his eyes burning with a vengeful light. Caesar, taking advantage of the Senators’ distraction, seized the dagger from Casca’s hand—knowing that they are no advantage for two experienced soldiers, the Senators dropped their weapons. Anthony’s guard quickly escorted the senators outside. Marcus Brutus was, curiously, not among them. Though he had plotted with the senators, he had held back at the last second and thus been saved from their impending doom. In front of a jeering crowd, Caesar made an impromptu speech denouncing the treachery of the senators and demanding their execution, theatrically declaring that he could not make decisions without the people’s agreement. The people quickly assented, and the senators were executed then and there. Caesar then declared, to a cheering crowd, the beginning of a new dawn, or a “People’s Age”, as he called it, in which dictators directly elected by the Roman people would rule wisely over them and lead them to a better tomorrow. The crowd cheered, egged on by their emperor.

And thus was the Caesarean Empire first forged, counterpoint to a human sacrifice to that greatest of politicians’ gods, the People.


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Okay, so, this is a timeline I've done before....buuuut, I sort of let it wither away early into it. So. I'm trying again, and this time with historical prose! Remember: all contributions to the TL are welcome! Also, sorry for the short beginning: I find Caesar himself...uninspiring.
 
Very interesting. I wonder if Caesar might actually try this? I think the man would be capable of anything to further advance his own power and glory, but this is a very radical step, even for one of the Populares faction.

How did Pompey survive the aftermath of Pharsalus? I assume this means a very different outcome to the Egyptian civil war, without Caesar intervening. Has Cleopatra lost?
 
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