Explanation: Caesar was a notorious adulterer who had numerous affairs with aristocratic women, including at least two queens. His own soldiers called him a “bald adulterer”, and his political enemies referred to him as “Every woman’s man and every man’s woman” (bicon Caesar!).
His affair with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra resulted in Cleopatra later coming to the city of Rome - with a child in tow she claimed was his! He does not appear to have been put off by this, and received her and the child courteously, hosting them both at Rome in comfortably aristocratic fashion.
This serial adultery does not actually appear to have seriously impaired his relationship with his third wife, Calpurnia, who remained affectionate and fond of him. What a silver-tongued devil Caesar must have been!
This serial adultery does not actually appear to have seriously impaired his relationship with his third wife, Calpurnia, who remained affectionate and fond of him. What a silver-tongued devil Caesar must have been!
I guess once you’ve seen him cheat on the other two wives, still choose to marry him, then see him cheat on you as well, you gotta have seen this coming.
I imagine there must’ve been an angle of “men away at war have needs” for many women like Calpurnia
Perhaps to some degree, but at least in Caesar’s case, he was also a philanderer inside of the city of Rome. Notably, he carried on a lifelong affair with the Roman aristocrat Servilia (the half-sister of his inveterate enemy Cato the Younger), and, later in life, her daughter Tertia as well.
Sometimes it seems like there wasn’t anyone in Rome Caesar hadn’t slept with at some point.
While a man could only take one wife (at a time) under Roman law, most people of higher status were pretty much expected to be sleeping around with concubines, slaves, or just friends… The men and the women. We’re talking about the civilization that gave us the orgy.
I mean, orgies predate Rome.
Concubinage in Rome was actually not recognized except for unmarried folk, and then concubinage was still a (legally) monogamous contract that did not acknowledge one man with multiple concubines, while a man sleeping with his male friends would have been frowned upon - because a friendship is founded between equals, while Romans saw sexual penetration as inherently involving the domination of one party over the other. Sleep with actors and male prostitutes, like a decent citizen!
Honestly, caesar and Cleopatra were just made for each other. Didn’t Cleopatra also entertain an entire Harem of men?
I bet it was propaganda by Octavian to question Caesarion’s parentship.
That’s possible. There’s a surprising lack of reputable sources when it comes to the last queen of the Ptolemaics.
Not to my knowledge, though I’m not an expert on Cleopatra or Ptolemaic Egypt.
