Julius Caesar History Originally, Gaius Julius Caesar was an influential Roman politician and general who was the pride of the Roman citizens and self-proclaimed dictator for life. Born into an already influential family, he began his career in the 60s b.c. with much success becoming consul of rome in 60 b.c. However, he still had to contend with Rome’s leading politicians at the time, Pompey the great and Crassus who incidentally were rivals. Instead of trying to discredit them, Caesar instead elected to form an alliance between them with him acting as mediator creating the first triumvirate. All the while, Caesar continued to have great success in conquering Gaul, modern France, and created great notoriety for himself among the commoners