Julius Caesar’s Love Scandals Your History Teacher Skipped

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Julius Caesar wasn’t just a great general—his love life was just as legendary! He had affairs with powerful women, including Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, which caused quite the scandal in Rome. Some even whispered that he had relationships with men, shocking Roman society even more. His many romances made him enemies, as jealous rivals used his love affairs to question his loyalty and ambition. Despite the gossip, Caesar knew how to turn his charm into political power. His love scandals were so wild that your history teacher probably left out the juiciest details—but don’t worry, we’ve got them all!  Credit: Retrato de Julio César: By Ángel M. Felicísimo, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Retrato_de_Julio_C%C3%A9sar_(26724093101)_(cropped).jpg Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00This is Jeff, a typical American man, and his body count is 7, or at least he claims

00:07it so.

00:08And this is Julius, a not so typical Roman man, and his body count looks more like a

00:13phone number.

00:15He had loyal and unfaithful wives, multiple love affairs, and he was even intimate with

00:21someone who contributed to his demise.

00:24Since one of his lovers gave birth to the man who took his life, let's take a sneak

00:29peek at Caesar's bedroom, shall we?

00:35One important thing you need to understand is that Caesar wasn't born an emperor.

00:39There weren't any in his bloodline and usually you need your daddy to reign the empire to

00:44be able to take over when you grow up.

00:47Duh, he had an ancient pedigree and all.

00:50His father was a senator, but his family wasn't that politically influential.

00:55So his first wife was Cornelia, a noblewoman from a really good family.

01:01Together they had Julia, who is the only legitimate daughter of Caesar, and no one can really

01:06tell how many best non-legitimate ones he had.

01:11The big question is, was Caesar a good, loving, and loyal husband to Cornelia?

01:16Well to know that for sure, we'd need a Ouija board, since there's no real evidence about

01:21their feelings documented in the books.

01:24But there's no evidence concerning why he refused to divorce her either, though he was

01:28literally forced to.

01:31Here's the tea.

01:32Back in 8281 BCE, there was Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman general who turned dictator.

01:40He was even the rival of Cornelia's dad and he was forcing people to leave their wives

01:45and marry into his family, and guess what?

01:48Many people did comply.

01:51Sulla wanted Caesar to dump his wife Cornelia, but instead, Caesar chose to flee Rome.

01:57Because of that, he lost his titles and inheritance, and Sulla even hired people to liquidate him.

02:04Although he was caught, he managed to bribe his captor and, with some help from influential

02:10allies, returned to Cornelia.

02:13Who knows, he may have stayed with her happily ever after, but she passed away pretty young

02:18in 69 BCE.

02:20To sum up, this marriage made him lose money, home, position in society, and he could even

02:26lose his life.

02:27Yet, it was her untimely demise that did them part.

02:32Maybe Caesar did really love Cornelia after all.

02:37Anyways, two years later, Caesar officially remarried.

02:42In a way, that was Sulla's dream coming true.

02:45Caesar married someone from his family because Pompeia was his granddaughter.

02:50Needless to say, it was more of a marriage of convenience rather than a marriage for

02:55love.

02:56Time went by, and four years later, Caesar got a serious promotion, becoming in 69 BCE

03:03the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of the Roman state religion.

03:08It all came with an official residence on the Via Sacra, and you can still take a walk

03:12down this street if you visit the Roman Forum.

03:16Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly, until one day in 62 BCE, when his wife Pompeia

03:21decided to throw a party that put an end to her marriage.

03:26She hosted a festival called Bona Dia, and there was only one condition, no man was allowed.

03:33However, a young patrician managed to sneak in because he was disguised as a woman, apparently

03:40for the purpose of seducing Pompeia.

03:44He was caught and prosecuted for sacrilege, and at that time, rumors about adulterous

03:49Pompeia started circulating around Rome.

03:53It turned out pretty fine for Clodius, he was free from any criminal charges as Caesar

03:58gave no evidence against him at his trial.

04:02Things ended less happily for Pompeia as Caesar divorced her.

04:07Ever heard the proverb, Caesar's wife must be above suspicion?

04:10Well, that's about this very unfortunate situation.

04:14We'll never know if Pompeia was really unfaithful, but Caesar didn't want to take a risk, though

04:20it could have been just a lame excuse to ditch Pompeia, who he may have never really loved.

04:28The same year Caesar divorced Pompeia, he married another woman, Calpurnia, a humble

04:33young lady of noble descent.

04:36We already know that he was becoming more and more influential in Rome, and he needed

04:41to think about what was the best for his career.

04:45Despite being just a convenience wife, records say that Calpurnia was a good and faithful

04:50one to Caesar, which can't be exactly said about him.

04:54He had numerous lovers, and the most famous of them was surely Queen Cleopatra, but we'll

05:00speak about their spicy affair a bit later.

05:04That was a very much unequal marriage, starting with the fact that Calpurnia was 17 and Caesar

05:09was 41 when the two wedded.

05:12Get this, she was probably younger than Caesar's daughter, yet it's not something unbelievable

05:18in the 21st century, duh!

05:21It's hard to judge whether Calpurnia was gifted by nature with an outstanding appearance,

05:26yet what she was definitely gifted with was patience.

05:30Otherwise it's impossible to explain how she tolerated the Casanova lifestyle Caesar

05:34adopted in the years of their marriage.

05:37Rumor had it that he took advantage of the wives of a number of prominent men.

05:42He also seduced the wives of two of his allies in the First Triumvirate, a political alliance

05:48among three prominent politicians.

05:50One of them was Caesar himself.

05:53Do the math, and you'll see that no wife of his allies hadn't been seduced.

05:58Weird, right?

06:00There weren't records of him being this adulterous before, but after a marriage where he thought

06:04he was cheated on, he just went nuts and started treating women like Kleenex.

06:10All Rome was buzzing about his relationship with Servilla, who was a Roman matron.

06:15No one knows when their relationship started exactly.

06:18Some records say it was 59 BCE, but Plutarch insisted it all started way back when they

06:25were teenagers.

06:26And if Plutarch was right, then the rumor about Caesar being the real father of Brutus

06:30– yep, the one who betrayed him and one of those who took his life – might be true

06:36after all.

06:38Caesar definitely had a thing for taken ladies.

06:41Like, Caesar also had love affairs with the Mauritanian queen, but it wasn't as memorable

06:46as his affair with the one and only Cleopatra.

06:50When Caesar met her, he was in his 50s and had a wife back in Rome.

06:54But something about the 21-year-old Cleopatra caught his eye.

06:58I guess it was her charm and intelligence.

07:02The drama kicked off when Julius Caesar got involved in her family feud with her brother,

07:06Ptolemy XIII, whom she was married to at the time.

07:11Their relationship was rocky, leading to Cleopatra being kicked out of Egypt while Ptolemy tried

07:17to rule alone.

07:19When Caesar arrived in Alexandria, he was greeted with the severed head of his rival,

07:25Pompey.

07:26Outraged, he wanted Cleopatra and Ptolemy to reconcile, but Cleopatra had other plans.

07:32She famously snuck into the palace, hidden in a bed sack, to charm Caesar.

07:38Their connection was both romantic and politically strategic.

07:43Caesar eventually put Cleopatra back on the throne, arranging for her to marry her younger

07:48brother, Ptolemy XIV, after her first brother-husband drowned.

07:54Despite the awkward situation, Cleopatra took charge of the kingdom.

08:00They celebrated their alliance with a lavish cruise down the Nile, during which Cleopatra

08:05announced her pregnancy with Caesar's son, nicknamed Caesarian.

08:10He was never acknowledged by Roman law, though.

08:13Even though their situation-ship faced challenges due to Roman laws and Caesar's existing marriage,

08:19Cleopatra spent about 18 months in Rome.

08:23The official wife, Calpurnia, didn't magically disappear.

08:26She was always there and loved him, turning a blind eye on all the shame he put on her.

08:32The night before Caesar's life was taken, Calpurnia had a nightmare where she saw Caesar

08:37hurt and breathing his last in her arms.

08:41The next morning, she pleaded with him not to go to the Senate as he had planned.

08:46Her worries really got to him and he decided to stay home.

08:49But then, Brutus showed up in his house and convinced him to brush off the bad signs and

08:54head to the Senate anyway.

08:56The rest is history.

08:58After Caesar was eliminated, Cleopatra didn't think long and returned to Egypt, only to

09:03begin an affair with Marc Antony, Caesar's ally.

09:07Like Calpurnia, she handed all the Caesar's papers to the same Marc Antony and grieved

09:12her late husband, surrounded by her servants.

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