While Caesar had been away fighting, the rest of the First Triumvirate was not faring well. Crassus had died in 53 BCE while in battle. Pompey was growing worried about the power Julius Caesar had and was receiving and began to associate himself with Caesar’s enemies in Senate, who wanted Caesar to stop his armies and basically not fight anymore. Caesar did not want to do this, but not doing what Senate wanted him to do was considered an act of treason.
In 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the Rubicon and into the Cisalpine Gaul province, which was considered illegal. In crossing the Rubicon, Caesar was crossing into the Roman Republic, which was illegal to the people of Rome. This started Caesar’s Civil War.
Even though the crossing of the Rubicon was big progress for Rome, Senate was wary because Caesar only had one legion with him at the time, so they supported Pompey. Pompey was staying by the saying “Rome can not be defended”, which is basically saying Rome was supposed to be doing the attacking and not be on the defensive. Pompey then left Rome with supporters who were in politics and left what he thought was impending battle.
Pompey went to central Italy. While there, he and his companions had to dispose two legions and some Italian legions under the command of Domitius. Caesar was coming south and Pompey went to Brundisium, ordering Domitius to go south and prevent Caesar from going to Rome. However, Domitius ignored most of his instructions. He went south and was trapped and surrendered thirty cohorts who went to join Caesar’s army.
Caesar went after Pompey to Brundisium and was expecting to still have an alliance with him. He suggested that they stop fighting, but Pompey told Caesar that he must stop campaigning. Caesar had directly disobeyed by crossing the Rubicon and therefore was an enemy of Rome. Pompey escaped to Epirus, in Roman Greece.
With Pompey gone, Caesar made an attempt to destroy Pompey’s forces in the Battle of Ilerda. In 49 BCE, he was named dictator of Rome. He was dictator for eleven days. He then went to find Pompey.
In Brundisium, Caesar had acquired an army of 15,000 soldiers. He crossed the Strait of Otranto and into Palaesta. Pompey had been considering his options and had decided to fight Caesar in battle. In 48 BCE, they faced off in the Battle of Dyrrhachium. Pompey won, but was disbelieving and thought Caesar was playing him into a trap. Pompey missed his chance to end Caesar’s ambitions and the Civil War. Caesar was able to escape southward. They had another battle, but Caesar won this time.
Pompey went to Egypt where he was killed by someone from King Ptolemy XIII’s army. Caesar continued to pursue Pompey’s army and ended up in Alexandria. In Alexandria, Caesar became part of the Alexandrine Civil War happening between Ptolemy and Cleopatra. Caesar agreed more with Cleopatra (this may be because it was one of Ptolemy’s men who killed Pompey and Caesar was upset at his army). Caesar defeated Ptolemy’s army and made Cleopatra the ruler of Egypt. Caesar and Cleopatra had a child, Ptolemy XV Caesar, but could not marry because of Roman law (a Roman may not marry a non-Roman).
After his time in Egypt in the first part of 47 BCE, Caesar moved on to Syria and Pontus to fight Pharnaces II. Pharnaces II had made himself ruler of Colchis and lesser Armenia. He had also captured Amisus, a Roman ally. He knew Caesar was a big threat and offered compliance. However, Caesar beat him in battle with a quick victory. Pharnaces II was able to escape to Bosporus and gain control over a few more cities, but he was assassinated.
Caesar had to go back to Rome because of some angry legions. Caesar had placed Mark Antony in control of these legions (he had told them he would give them a raise, but had been unfaithful). The legions were tired of waiting and Antony lost control over them. Caesar returned to talk to them and fired them for their disloyalty. These soldiers were very loyal to Caesar and pleaded with him to take them back. Caesar first said he could get by without them, but then re-hired all of them. With these legions, he was able to be victorious over Pompey’s supporters in Africa.
An end came to Caesar’s Civil War in 45 BCE when Caesar defeated Pompey’s sons in Hispania. He was elected consul in 46 and 45 BCE.
