Caesar refuses to wear a koroy
According to Plutarch, Julius Caesar was to refuse to put a crown on his head by Mark Antony after winning the civil war. Rome, however, was convinced of Caesar’s royal aspirations..
The situation was to take place during the celebration of the Lupercalia festival. Caesar, after defeating Pompey, already had established power in Rome and de facto ruled independently in the Empire. In the Eternal City, the plans of Caesar, who wanted to proclaim himself King of Rome, were gossiping more and more often. But when he was called King of Rome, he replied: “I am Caesar, not a king”.
His subordinate and commander, Marek Antony, several times even tried to put a royal tiara on Caesar’s head; however, he refused and eventually ordered him to be taken to the Temple of Jupiter the Greatest on Capitol.
What’s more, one of the members of the college of fifteen husbands (the college to seek counsel of Sibylline books) – Lucius Cotta – applied for recognition of Caesar as king, because as the holy books said the king could defeat the Parthians; and Caesar was planning an invasion to the east at that time.
All these events accelerated the conspirators’ decision to murder Caesar in March 44 BCE.
- Plutarch, Caesar, 79
