How much of an influence was Julius Caesar on Jesus?
After listening to the podcast, “Hardcore History” by Dan Carlin, I got to questioning this:
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Caesar died in 44 BC and Jesus was born in 1 BC. Their lives never intersected, but were very closely cropped. There would have been people still alive who remember meeting Caesar while Jesus was alive. If someone was 20 when Caesar died, they would have been about 64 when Jesus was born. Much of the education that Jesus received would have involved some of the philosophy of Caesar. This is because Rome still had a strong influence over the people of Jerusalem.
If you think about it, Jesus could only be influenced by the people who came before him. He learned of other people’s mistakes and triumphs. There was a lot of well documented stories and accounts about events that occurred in Rome and around the area for Jesus to learn from. Many stories have been passed down to us in great detail with great detail.
Although, Jesus and Caesar may not have spoken the same language, the translators would have had about 40 years to translate the stories from Roman Latin to Israels Aramic language. Many motivated and ambitious traders were trading goods, slaves and services across the Mediterranean Sea quite prolifically. Inscription and translation of stories would have been big business back in the early 1 ADs.
Information passed rather swiftly during Roman times. Even today we get to read about the thoughts of Cicero or other famous leaders of Rome during important events. In fact we have preserved text on payrus from Ciceros many speeches. There is no doubt that Jesus was learning the same kinds of stuff about Rome that we can today. Although, the difference is that he lived during the fear and abuse of Rome while we can look back upon it and call them savages.
The reason I think Caesar was probably a great influence on Jesus was because Caesar was a very forgiving man in battle. He allowed enemy soldiers to forfeit and disband with their lives. He greatly swayed public opinions through pardoning people’s deaths. When other Generals were quick to execute their enemies, Caesar would let them go out of mercy. It was called the “Caeser Clemency”.
Caesar learned from people before himself to allow enemies to live rather than murder them. Many famous leaders he learned about met their own deaths by being too aggressive and violent in their tactics. Many revenge killings came as a result from people’s aggression toward each other.
Because Caesar forgave many of his enemies and let them live to fight another day, this came back to haunt Caesar later in his life. The very people whom Caesar could have eliminated, instead of being thankful for still being alive, turned around and stabbed Caesar to death in 44 BC at age 55.
Caesar wasn’t exactly a saint. But as a leader he was one of the most beloved for his mercy and willingness to go to the people to appeal decisions. Caesar wanted the public support to achieve his power. His ambition was to become Emperor of Rome, but he still needed to respect the power of the Republic. Previously, Rome had driven out kingship’s about 500 years ago and did a fairly good job preventing another one from returning.
Jesus went to the people himself to appeal to their needs and wants. He was born into a failing republic. There was a lot of loose policies in provinces where Rome was losing control, such as Jesus’s homeland. Rome couldn’t support the same communities like it could in the past and the people were making a transition from Roman influence to their own local subsistence.
Usually when the economy fails, people turn more religious. Jesus had a great opportunity to secure more faithful to his beliefs because the people were losing their faith in the Roman culture. Everyone was probably well aware of the news that was coming out of Rome at the time. They would have learned about leadership that was running Rome.
Caesar never knew about Jesus, but Jesus certainly knew about Caesar. Jesus would have known that even the most forgiving leaders could get killed by treacherous people. Much of the reason that Caesar died was because he became an emperor after 500 years of being a Republic with Senators. The Romans hated the system of kingship or monarchy by one man. They learned from their history that dictators were not desired.
Jesus was given a crown of thorns because he was being mocked as trying to act like a king of his local people. The Romans were usually swift in removing powerful influences by one man. Whether Jesus gained power through religion or Caesar gaining power through military conquest, they were seen as taking on too much power as single individuals without the support of senators or bishops.
When you forgive someone rather than kill them, this can be an insult to their character. Sometimes the agony of living in shame feels worse than death itself. We all have heard that some people would rather die than perform public speaking. In Japan, they practice turning their backs and shaming wrong doers. It is a very isolating feeling for the accused.
Turning the other cheek may seem like a generous proposition. But we all know the memory still remains. Guilting someone into your own will is very powerful indeed. Of course, some people are more susceptible to the powers of guilt than others. It just so happens to be that Roman personalities were influenced greatly by the powers of guilt and shame.
Jesus came up among a people who easily felt guilt and shame. Plus the economy and government was failing. His take on the world was different enough, yet similar enough to Julius Caesar to have the impact which resonates today. Had Caesar taken a more religious approach, he too could have had the impact that Jesus did with his clemencies. Instead, Caesar has been remembered as a very famous and popular dictator of Rome who died about 40 years before Jesus was born.
Ask yourself who are your influences in your own life. There is a good chance we can relate to people who exist in our more recent lives. Our lifestyles have had to change a lot since the times of Romans and this makes us relate to the more recent heros who have come before us. Jesus Christ most certainly would have taken some of the lessons from Julius Caesar in some way.
Carefully Choosing Words 