ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the evidence for Gaius Julius Caesar's early career, prior to his first public office, the quaestorship, in 69 BCE. It seems plain at a number of points that the evidence has been shaped by favorable and unfavorable perspectives. Gaius Julius Caesar was born on 12 July 100 BCE. His family was patrician, descended from the oldest group of aristocratic families at Rome, and noble, descended from men who had held the consulship. One point about Caesar's family ought to be emphasized: he was the product of a female household. He lost his father in his mid-teens, and knew no brother, no uncle, no grandfather, and no other leading male from within his own patrician family. Caesar travelled to the East, serving in his first military campaign in Asia in 81 BCE. The location is significant, given that Caesar's father had once served as governor of Asia.
