Julius Caesar and the First Triumvirate

Sulla stepped down from being dictator after finishing his grand plan to reform the Republic. Everything he had done was to make sure he would be the last person to ever again hold complete control over Rome.

He failed.

The underlying economic, political, and social crises remained, and in only a few years the Republic would again be on the brink of collapse. This time, however, it would be an alliance of three men who would try to hold it all together. That is, until each tried to seize Rome for himself.

You haven't met them, yet. You haven't had the chance. It's time to meet the First Triumvirate: 

• Crassus, the wealthiest and most corrupt man in Rome who defeated Spartacus' slave army

• Pompey the Great, the plebeian general who conquered Egypt and solved Rome's food crisis

• Julius Caesar, the populist rising star and master of propaganda who conquered Gaul (modern France)

Directions: Read “Gaius Julius Caesar” to help fill in the chart and answer the questions on your worksheet.

As the supposedly temporary dictator governed from a gold-and-ivory throne, rumors swirled that Caesar would declare himself king. In the first weeks of 44 BCE, Caesar's loyalists in the senate proclaimed him “dictator for life.” His life, though, wouldn’t last much longer.

Fearful that the concentration of absolute power in a single man threatened what remained of the republic’s democracy, dozens of senators, calling themselves the “liberators,” plotted to kill the dictator. Two months later on March 15, a day known as the Ides of March,  they cornered Caesar in the senate hall and stabbed him dozen of times. The Republic died with him.

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a shrewd businessman, but his methods were more than a little questionable. He wasn't above letting people die to make money, and he bought fame and adoration rather than attempting to earn them. He allied with Julius Caesar, squabbled with Pompey, and violently ended slave rebellions in Rome. But Crassus's military ambitions were bigger than his abilities, and he ultimately caused his own downfall. Once the richest man in Rome, he ended up decapitated and mocked by his enemies.

Using a private army and navy that he financed and ruthlessly led himself, Crassus was the one to finally defeat Spartacus and his slave army. He crucified any survivors while celebrating his victory, though he had earlier killed 1 out of every 10 soldiers, a practice called decimation, when they weren't victorious over the slaves in their first battle. He would later leverage this military victory to partner with Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar in seizing effective control of the Republic, including purging opposing senators and holding veto power over laws. 

Although Crassus was best known for his military and political careers, it should also be noted that he was incredibly wealthy. He was rumored to own the majority of property in Rome, and supposedly amassed more money in his lifetime than any Roman ever would. Crassus liked to strategically spend in order to gain power, and he loved luxury. Sources disagree on the amount of money he had, but the highest estimates value his fortune at 200 million sesterces, equal to the annual budget of the entire Republic. That would make him a billionaire by current standards, and perhaps even a trillionaire.

Crassus amassed so much property in two ways: buying auctioned estates of political rivals whom he helped get exiled and by refusing to let his personal fire department save a home that was on fire until the owners sold it to him well below what it was worth. If the owners refused to sell, Crassus would let the buildings burn.

He would ultimately meet his end while seeking more military honors in a poorly planned invasion of Parthia, the successor to the Persian Empire. Legend says the Parthians poured molten gold down his throat before beheading him.

The Roman civil war that followed lasted five years. It ended with Caesar being named Rome’s “dictator for life.” Years later, the Roman Republic dissolved and the Roman Empire emerged—with Caesar’s adopted son, Augustus, serving as its first emperor.