Greek History & Prose
Appian, Civil Wars 2.101 — Caesar’s Four Triumphs
Appian’s account of Caesar’s triumphs in 46 BCE captures both their scale and their political discomfort. Caesar celebrated victories over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus and Africa, but the African triumph followed a civil war against Roman opponents. Appian therefore emphasizes a paradox: Caesar avoided openly labeling Roman enemies in the procession while still displaying images of their defeats and deaths.
- Author
- Appian of Alexandria
- Work / Passage
- Civil Wars 2.101
- Language
- Ancient Greek (Imperial-era historiography)
- Historical Event
- Caesar’s four triumphs of 46 BCE
Appian, Civil Wars 2.101
Τοῦτο μὲν δὴ καὶ τῷ περὶ Λιβύην Καίσαρος πολέμῳ τέλος ἐγίγνετο, αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐπανελθὼν ἐς Ῥώμην ἐθριάμβευσε τέσσαρας ὁμοῦ θριάμβους, ἐπί τε Γαλάταις, ὧν δὴ πολλὰ καὶ μέγιστα ἔθνη προσέλαβε καὶ ἀφιστάμενα ἄλλα ἐκρατύνατο, καὶ Ποντικὸν ἐπὶ Φαρνάκῃ καὶ Λιβυκὸν ἐπὶ Λιβύων τοῖς συμμάχησασι τῷ Σκιπίωνι·
English Translation
Thus Caesar’s war in Africa came to an end. Returning to Rome, he celebrated four triumphs together: one over the Gauls, among whom he had added many great peoples to Roman power and subdued others that had revolted; a Pontic triumph over Pharnaces; and an African triumph over the Africans who had allied themselves with Scipio.
ἔνθα καὶ Ἰόβα παῖς, Ἰόβας ὁ συγγραφεύς, βρέφος ὢν ἔτι παρήγετο. παρήγαγε δέ τινα καὶ τῆς ἀνὰ τὸν Νεῖλον ναυμαχίας θρίαμβον Αἴγυπτον, μεταξὺ τοῦ Γαλατῶν καὶ Φαρνάκου.
English Translation
There too Juba’s son—the later writer Juba—was led in the procession while still an infant. Caesar also inserted a kind of Egyptian triumph for the naval battle along the Nile, between the Gallic triumph and the one over Pharnaces.
τὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίων φυλαξάμενος ἄρα, ὡς ἐμφύλια οὐκ εἰκότα τε αὐτῷ καὶ Ῥωμαίοις αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀπαίσια, ἐπιγράψαι θριάμβῳ, παρήγαγεν ὅμως αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖσδε τὰ παθήματα ἅπαντα καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν εἰκόσι καὶ ποικίλαις γραφαῖς, χωρὶς γε Πομπηίου·
English Translation
He took care not to inscribe Roman affairs upon a triumph, since civil wars were unsuitable for him and shameful and ill-omened for the Romans. Even so, in these processions he displayed all their sufferings and the men themselves in images and varied paintings—except Pompey.
38th Scroll Translation
Translation Notes
ἐθριάμβευσε τέσσαρας ὁμοῦ θριάμβους — Appian compresses the four celebrations into one rhetorical unit: Caesar “triumphed four triumphs together.” Other sources clarify that they were held on separate days within the same month.
ἐμφύλια — “civil” or “internal” conflicts. The word makes the central political problem explicit: a Roman triumph was traditionally oriented toward victory over foreign enemies, not fellow citizens.
αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀπαίσια — “shameful and ill-omened.” Appian frames open celebration of civil war as religiously and politically improper.
εἰκόσι καὶ ποικίλαις γραφαῖς — images and varied paintings. These visual representations allowed the processions to evoke civil-war deaths without formally announcing a triumph over Roman citizens.
Four Triumphs, Four Official Enemies
Suetonius gives the order as Gallic, Alexandrian, Pontic and African, each separated by a few days. Appian’s account is especially valuable because it explains how the last of these could be presented as a triumph over African allies and King Juba even though Caesar had just defeated major Roman opponents in the civil war.
The triumphs therefore did not simply display geography. They also converted a complicated set of wars into four public narratives of legitimate victory.
Captives, Paintings and Public Reaction
Other ancient authors preserve additional details for individual processions. Vercingetorix was associated with the Gallic triumph, Arsinoe with the Egyptian, and the young Juba with the African. Cassius Dio reports sympathy for Arsinoe, while Appian describes Romans groaning when paintings showed the deaths of their own countrymen.
The spectacle was therefore not politically simple. Captivity could magnify Caesar’s prestige, but civil-war imagery could also remind spectators that Roman victory had been purchased through Roman suffering.
From Appian to The Serpent Crown
The Serpent Crown uses the triumph as a compressed image of Caesar at the height of his public power: conquered peoples, captives, wealth, soldiers, banners and a city made into a stage for one man’s victories.
Appian adds the darker layer that makes the image more useful dramatically. The procession cannot fully separate foreign conquest from civil war. Beneath the official labels, Rome is also being shown what Caesar’s victory over Romans has cost.
Explore The Serpent CrownText and Edition
The Greek follows the standard Mendelssohn text of Appian’s Civil Wars, checked against digital presentations of Book 2. Section numbering follows the conventional division of 2.101.
The English rendering is a new 38th Scroll translation intended to preserve Appian’s contrast between formal triumphal restraint and the visual persistence of civil-war memory.
Selected Sources and Further Reading
- Appian. Civil Wars 2.101–102.
- Suetonius. Julius Caesar 37–38.
- Plutarch. Life of Caesar 55.
- Cassius Dio. Roman History 43.19–21.
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