Face of Julius Caesar 

The face of the Roman dictator, Julius Caesar.  When Julius Caesar served as proconsul of Gaul (ancient France), he conquered countless Celtic and Belgic armies in the hundreds of thousands. He invaded Britain twice before it became a province in 43 A.D. under the Emperor Claudius. Later Pompey persuaded the Senate to force Caesar to retire as proconsul of Gaul when his term was up. Caesar immediately rebelled against them and crossed the Rubicon River in 49 B.C., and started a civil war. Though Pompey had a much larger army he was easily defeated by Julius Caesar on the plains of Pharsalus in northern Greece. Pompey fled to the great port of Alexandria, Egypt but he was murdered as he landed. Julius Caesar arrived a short time later and met Queen Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic rulers in Egypt, whom he became infatuated with. He actually met with great opposition in Alexandria and defeated them with the help of the Jews.

Hyrcanus and his advisor Antipater the Idumean (Herod the Great's father) acted shrewdly once they knew that Pompey was defeated and Julius Caesar had the victory, they went over to Caesar's side and gave him vital support when he was besieged in Alexandria by Ptolemy XII, King of Egypt. Once he had defeated Ptolemy's army, Julius Caesar made an effort to set the affairs in Judea in order, Hyrcanus was confirmed as the High Priest and Ethnarch, the walls of Jerusalem that Pompey destroyed were rebuilt, and the port of Joffa was given back to Judea. Julius Caesar ruled Judea from 45-44 B.C. and he was sympathetic to all Jews throughout the empire, and he even regarded them as allies.

Caesar had great plans for Rome, and many reforms in mind. He revised the calendar, the same calendar we use today (Julian), he planned to rebuild Corinth, and much more. But because he was arrogant enough to take the powers of dictator, some of his closest friends, including Brutus, plotted to assassinate him in 44 B.C., on the Ides of March, the 15th. Soon after Mark Antony heralded the famous cry "friends, Romans, countrymen" and rallied up the mob against the assassins, who had fled the country. But strangely enough Mark Antony discovered that he himself was not named in Julius Caesar's will, but his young nephew Octavian (Augustus) to become his successor. This led to another war, this time between Antony and Octavian. But first they needed to deal with Caesar's murderers, and together they formed the Second Triumvirate in 43 B.C. along with Lepidus. They immediately condemned Cicero for his speeches attacking Mark Antony, and then they fought Brutus and Cassius and Philippi in Macedonia in 42 B.C. Once they knew they were defeated Brutus and Cassius committed suicide.

Octavian and Antony divided the empire between themselves, Octavian took the West, and Mark Antony took the East. This is when Antony met Cleopatra, and fell in love with her, even though he was married to Octavian's sister, Octavia. He soon divorced her and made Caesarion, Cleopatra's son, the legal heir of Julius Caesar. Octavian and Antony went to war in 31 B.C. outside the bay of Actium, in northwest Greece, and Mark Antony was defeated, mainly because of Octavian's brilliant Admiral, Agrippa. Mark Antony and Cleopatra both fled and returning to Egypt they both committed suicide, and were buried together in Alexandria.

The bust of Julius Caesar is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology. It reveals the image and reality of a person who was the first real dictator of Rome and the one who befriended the Jews, giving them favor in the growing Roman Empire, which helped in the spreading of the gospel. The Roman authorities treated Christians as a Jewish sect and allowed Christians to meet just as the Jews were allowed their synagogues. It was only when the Emperor Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire which devastated much of Rome, that the Christians were accused of starting an entirely new religion and persecuted throughout the empire.

"He was skillful with sword and horse, and had amazing powers of physical endurance. He always was at the head of his army more often walking than riding, and went bareheaded both in sun and rain. When he encountered rivers too deep for wading, he would either swim or propel himself across on an inflated skin."  SEUTONIUS

          Julius Caesar Bust Vatican Museum

Daniel 2:40 - "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all [things]: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."

Acts 23:11 - And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.