The Forum of Caesar: Divus Iulius

“I love the name of honor more than I fear death.”― Julius Caesar

Born into a patrician family, Julius Caesar was a great commander, statesman, and scholar in ancient Rome who conquered the huge province of Gaul and helped Usher in the end of the Roman Republic. Despite his outstanding military prowess, political acumen, and popularity among Rome's lower and middle classes, his reign was cut short when opponents, alarmed by his burgeoning dominance, brutally killed him.

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar built the Forum of Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome. Caesar sought to construct a forum carrying his name in the Forum Romanum's northeast quarter, for which he paid a premium price for a restricted number of plots of land in that area.

The Forum was 160 meters by 75 meters and ran from the Argiletum on the Forum Romanum's southeast corner to the Atrium Libertatis. Caesar sponsored and funded extravagant games as part of the dedication, stressing the huge price and also the personal interest that Caesar had invested in the building.

While Julius Caesar might not have accomplished much during his lifetime, what he left behind is far more important. His deeds not only reshaped Rome, but arguably affected the destiny of much or all of the globe.

Though all Forum of Caesar left now is a platform and three Corinthian columns, Julius Caesar is still significant in modern civilization because of his enormous effect on culture, language, military and political tactics, establishment of a modern calendar, and iconic portrayal of the Roman Empire.