Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Was Julius Caesar ever wounded in battle?
#1
The reason I asked is that-well given the proximity he was to his enemies in the field of battle I am utterly amazed that no scratch or wound is ever documented in his or other writings? (Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili [all english translations-hardbook and KINDLE])
Battle of Alesia he rides close to his legions to give encouragement.

[attachment=12762]TWRII_CIG_Campaign_Alesia.jpg[/attachment]


Battle of Munda he is in the thick of it to rally his men
[attachment=12759]Munda.jpg[/attachment]

At the debacle at Dyrrhachium-not even a scratch-Though his bodyguard step into protect him from a panicked legionnaire.
[attachment=12758]CeasarandGermanicBodyguard.jpg[/attachment]


The coin image supposedly shows scars from neck wounds. I am unfamiliar with how he got neck wounds. Yet a GOOGLE search does uncover several Julius Caesar profiles with these scars?/furrows?/ sinew? If you input Julius Caesar coin in GOOGLE search.
[attachment=12760]caesardictquart_boston.jpg[/attachment]


Maybe not being wounded led to his fatal hubris at being untouchable.
[attachment=12761]HBORome3.jpg[/attachment]


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
                   
-Rod Dickson
Reply
#2
Senenca De Beneficiis 5.24 is the only source I know which mentions any debilitating injury, when Caesar sprained an ankle and was hobbled up after the battle of Sucro, bad enough that he was stuck sitting under a tree and needed a soldier to fetch him water.

Contrary to the opinion that he was foremost a politician and not a soldier, Caesar spent a good part of his adult life campaigning and had fought in numerous battles, on the front lines. Most likely he had received small wounds in battle, just nothing debilitating or serious. An errant spear or sword point to the arm or leg, a missile weapon such as a stone to the helmeted head, etc.

Few other notable Romans are mentioned in sources to have been wounded in battle. It seems it just wasn't mentioned, unless the wound altered their appearance (such as Sertorius), the wound was the reason it took them out of action (both Gn. Pompey father and son during different campaigns in Spain), happened in conjunction with an act of heroism (Caesar's centurion Baculus), as part of defense in court (Manius Aqulius, or Rabirius Postumus), or to demonstrate virtus/past martial valor (Marius, or Servilius Geminus Pulex).
Reply
#3
Indeed-a copy and paste from the net.

in Seneca's De Beneficiis 5.24:


A veteran who had been a bit too rough with his neighbors was pleading his case before Julius Caesar. "Do you remember," he said, "Imperator, how you twisted your ankle near Sucro?" When Caesar said he did remember: "Then you certainly remember that when you were lying to rest under a tree that was casting just a tiny shadow, in a very tough terrain with just that one lonely tree sticking out, one of your men laid out his cloak for you?"
Caesar said "Why shouldn't I remember, even if I was exhausted? Because I was unable to walk I couldn't go to the nearby spring, and I would have been willing to crawl there on hands and knees, if it were not for a good soldier, a brave industrious chap, hadn't brought me water in his helmet?" to which the man replied,
"Then, Imperator, you could recognize that man, or that helmet?" Caesar answered that he couldn't recognize the helmet, but certainly the man, and added, a bit irritated I think, "And you certainly are not him!" "It's not surprising," said the man, "that you do not recognize me, Caesar; for when that happened I was whole. Afterwards, at Munda my eye was gouged out, and my skull smashed in. Nor would you recognize that helmet if you saw it: it was split by a Hispanian saber. "

Caesar awarded the case to the veteran."


Seneca- Moral Essays: volume 3
LATIN
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text...ection%3D3
-Rod Dickson
Reply
#4
That's the one. What I like about that anecdote is the helplessness of Caesar and that he was alone, without a servant, staff officer, bodyguard. Where was his entourage? Why was he abandoned? A man who Generals an army in the many tens of thousands, the dictator of Rome, arguably the most powerful and richest man in Europe and North Africa, almost needing to resort to crawling on his hands and knees to find water, saved by a resourceful and caring common soldier. This scene to me truly demonstrates the chaos following a battle, the disorder caused by a rout.
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Were Pirates Such a Threat it Took a Military Genius Like Julius Caesar to Beat Them? Wrangler29 1 144 06-05-2023, 10:12 PM
Last Post: Crispianus
  First evidence for Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain discovered kavan 1 1,309 11-29-2017, 02:59 PM
Last Post: Renatus
  Location of Caesar's decisive battle against Cassivellaunus tikeshe 2 1,477 01-21-2017, 10:20 PM
Last Post: tikeshe

Forum Jump: