[16] On the Ides of March, 44 BC, Cassius urged on his fellow liberators and struck Caesar in the chest. Denarius (42 BC) issued by Cassius Longinus and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus, from the military mint in Smyrna. After his father’s death, Brutus was adopted by his uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio. In that war he at first commanded part of the fleet of Caesar’s opponent, Pompey the Great. '[35], Sedley agrees that the conversion of Cassius should be dated to 48, when Cassius stopped resisting Caesar, and finds it unlikely that Epicureanism was a sufficient or primary motivation for his later decision to take violent action against the dictator. So we read: “A convert to Christianity, he came to be revered as a great hero and saint by the first Christian community in Jerusalem….it was said for a moment in time he had held the destiny of the whole of mankind in his hands.” Early Life. Alternatively, there could be another centurion by the name of Gaius Cassius. After Crassus was killed fighting the Parthians (53 BCE), Cassius regrouped the remnants of the defeated Roman army & for two years repelled Parthian attacks on Syria. He could be like a serpent’s egg – don’t let it hatch or it will be deadly. After Pompey was decisively defeated by Caesar at Pharsalus in Thessaly (48), Cassius was reconciled to Caesar, who made him one of his legates. As a quaestor in 53 bc, Cassius served under Marcus Licinius Crassus and saved the remnants of the Roman army defeated by the Parthians at Carrhae (modern Harran, Turkey). They crossed the Hellespont, marched through Thrace, and encamped near Philippi in Macedon. Cassius was overtaken by Caesar en route, and was forced to surrender unconditionally.[14]. According to Dio, the Roman soldiers, as well as Crassus himself, were willing to give the overall command to Cassius after the initial disaster in the battle, which Cassius "very properly" refused. Rather, Cassius would have had to reconcile his intention with his philosophical views. In 48 BC, Cassius sailed his ships to Sicily, where he attacked and burned a large part of Caesar's navy. Cassius meanwhile was a stellar military figure. Julius Caesar is a name many of us are familiar with. Gaius Cassius Longinus/Titinius (7) Mark Antony/Julius Caesar (5) Gaius Cassius Longinus/Publius Servilius Casca Longus (4) Gaius Cassius Longinus/Main Character (A Courtesan of Rome) (4) Porcia Catonis/Gaius Cassius Longinus (3) Include Additional Tags Alternate Universe - Modern Setting (16) Canonical Character Death (9) Angst (7) Blood (6) He was Brutus’s brother-in-law and was married to his half-sister, Junia. In one of the final scenes of the play, Cassius mentions to one of his subordinates that the day, October 3, is his birthday, and dies shortly afterwards. This lead him to the idea that he needed to help avenge Rome by killing Julius Caesar, future tyrant of Rome. "[22], Like Brutus, whose Stoic proclivities are widely assumed but who is more accurately described as an Antiochean Platonist, Cassius exercised a long and serious interest in philosophy. Gaius Cassius, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar. The appointment of his junior and brother-in-law, Marcus Brutus, as praetor urbanus deeply offended him. The spear of Longinus plays a significant role in Robin Jarvis' Tales from the Wyrd Museum series of novels. He studied philosophy at Rhodes under Archelaus of Rhodes and became fluent in Greek. When Julius Caesar announced himself dictator perpetua, or lifelong dictator, both his enemies and allies were concerned. was a Roman senator, a leading the plot to kill Julius Caesar and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Passenger List. [26], Cicero associates Cassius's new Epicureanism with a willingness to seek peace in the aftermath of the civil war between Caesar and Pompeius. [30], The dating bears on, but is not essential to, the question of whether Cassius justified the murder of Caesar on Epicurean grounds. He was supported and made Governor by the Senate. See more. [3] Brutus and Cassius planned to murder Caesar in the Senate on the Ides of March (March 15). The Parthians were suddenly surrounded by Cassius' main forces and defeated. Gaius Cassius would convert fully to Christianity and become known as “Longinus” or the spearman. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Cassius (Longinus), Gaius (d.42 bc) Roman general who led the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar.He sided with Pompey during the war against Caesar but was pardoned after Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus (48 bc). Gaius Cassius Longinus is ome of thr main characters in the 1997 Fox series "Roar," starring Heath Ledger. B Brutus and Cassius planned to murder Caesar in the Senate on the Ides of March (March 15). They cut Julius Caesar to death in an area neighboring the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of (March 15), 44 BC. They called themselves liberators. Cassius spent the next two years in office, and apparently tightened his friendship with Cicero. In Caesar's will, he adopted his nephew Gaius Octavius and appointed him as his heir. Based on Plutarch's account, the defeat at Carrhae could have been avoided had Crassus acted as Cassius had advised. Cassius and Brutus dubbed themselves "the liberators." In a letter written in 45 BC, Cassius says to Cicero, "There is nothing that gives me more pleasure to do than to write to you; for I seem to be talking and joking with you face to face" (. Little is known of his early life, apart from a story that he showed his dislike of despots while still at school, by quarreling with the son of the dictator Sulla. Little is known of Gaius Cassius' early life. As cited by Miriam Griffin, "Philosophy, Politics, and Politicians at Rome," in, For a survey of Roman Epicureans active in politics, see, Miriam Griffin, "The Intellectual Developments of the Ciceronian Age," in, For a quotation of the Epicurean passage in this letter, see article on the philosopher, Miriam Griffin, "Philosophy, Politics, and Politicians at Rome," in, David Sedley, "The Ethics of Brutus and Cassius,", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaius_Cassius_Longinus&oldid=1015457538, Ancient Roman politicians who committed suicide, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox military person with embed, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 April 2021, at 16:08. (Make note of this guy—you’ll be seeing a … Cassius returned to Rome in 50 BC, when civil war was about to break out between Julius Caesar and Pompey. Their general Osaces died from his wounds, and the rest of the Parthian army retreated back across the Euphrates.[12]. Reverting from Biblical facts to legend: tradition holds that the soldier was named Gaius Cassius Longinus, a common name in Latin society, who commanded a centuria, a detachment of 100 soldiers. Having lost the battle, Brutus committed suicide, rather than surrender or being captured by the enemy. Near the end of his life, Caesar began to prepare for a war against the Parthian Empire. The terms of peace favoured the Romans, who secured control of…. A grandnephew of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, he was also a descendant, great grandson or nephew, of Gaius Cassius Longinus, one of Caesar 's assassins. 30 41 a Roman jurist and great grandson or nephew of Gaius Cassius Longinus, the tyrannicide Gaius Cassius For the next two years he successfully repelled the … His mother, Servilia, was the half-sister of Cato the Younger and the mistress of Julius Caesar. [25] Arnaldo Momigliano called Cassius' conversion a "conspicuous date in the history of Roman Epicureanism," a choice made not to enjoy the pleasures of the Garden, but to provide a philosophical justification for assassinating a tyrant. He had distinguished himself both during Crassus’ disastrous eastern campaign against the Parthians and during the ensuing civil war between Pompey and Caesar. Cassius' reputation in the East made it easy to amass an army from other governors in the area, and by 43 BC, he was ready to take on Publius Cornelius Dolabella with 12 legions. Noble does not mean rich, however. Cassius is a main character in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar that depicts the assassination of Caesar and its aftermath. Gaius Julius Caesar, or Julius Caesar as we know him, was born into a noble family in Rome in 100BC. Momigliano argued, however, that many of those who opposed Caesar's dictatorship bore no personal animus toward him, and Republicanism was more congenial to the Epicurean way of life than dictatorship. The spear of Longinus plays a significant role in Robin Jarvis' Tales from the Wyrd Museum series of novels. After Caesar's death, the senate realized his popularity and declared that it would pass all of Caesar's planned laws. He followed the teachings of the philosopher Epicurus, although scholars debate whether or not these beliefs affected his political life. LEIBERTAS / LENTVLVS SPINT. 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