Julius Caesar: The Life and Times of the People's DictatorIn this splendid profile, Luciano Canfora offers a radically new interpretation of one of the most controversial figures in history. Julius Caesar played a leading role in the culture and politics of a world empire, dwarfing his contemporaries in ambition, achievement, and appetite. For that, he has occupied a central place in the political imagination ever since. Yet Caesar, struck down by his own lieutenants because he could not be comprehended nor contained, remains an enigma. The result of a comprehensive study of the ancient sources, Julius Caesar: The Life and Times of the People's Dictator paints an astonishingly detailed portrait of this complex man and the times in which he lived. Based on his many years of research, Canfora focuses on what we actually know about Caesar, the man of politics and war, in a stylish, engaging narrative chronologically structured around the events in Caesar's life. The result is a rich, revelatory, full biographical portrait of the dictator whose mission of Romanization lies at the very heart of modern Europe. Copub: Edinburgh University Press |
Contents
First Experiences of an Aristocratic Youth | 3 |
Prisoner of the Pirates 7574 BC | 9 |
The Rise of a Party Leader | 14 |
Pontifex Maximus | 23 |
The Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar and Others | 26 |
The Political Market | 33 |
Inside and Outside the Conspiracy | 39 |
Caesars Senate Speech Rewritten by Sallust | 54 |
Caesar Saved by the Jews | 209 |
From Syria to Zela | 218 |
The Long Civil War | 229 |
The Young Octavius Emerges | 245 |
Anticato | 256 |
FROM THE CONSPIRACY TO THE TRIUMPH OF CAESARISM | 261 |
Inklings of Conspiracy | 263 |
Iure caesus | 269 |
FROM THE TRIUMVIRATE TO THE CONQUEST OF GAUL | 61 |
The ThreeHeaded Monster | 63 |
The View of Asinius Pollio | 72 |
The First Consulship 59 BC | 78 |
Clodius | 83 |
Semiramis in Gaul | 88 |
The Conquest of Gaul 5851 BC | 98 |
The Black Book of the Gallic Campaign | 118 |
THE LONG CIVIL WAR | 125 |
Towards the Crisis | 127 |
Striving after Tyranny? | 137 |
Attacking the World with Five Cohorts | 141 |
In Search of Consensus | 150 |
Amicitia | 159 |
From the Rubicon to Pharsalus | 165 |
Against Subversion | 184 |
Alexandria | 188 |
The Lupercalia Drama | 281 |
The Dictatorship | 287 |
Epicureans in Revolt? | 296 |
The Hetairia of Cassius and the Recruitment of Brutus | 306 |
Cassius Settles for the Second Rank | 311 |
Some Unexpected Refusals | 314 |
Cicero an Organiser of the Conspiracy? | 317 |
The Serious Mistake of Dismissing the Escort | 322 |
The Dynamics of the Tyrannicide | 325 |
Wheres Antony? | 334 |
How to Turn Victory into Defeat | 337 |
The Wind | 344 |
Chronology | 349 |
| 370 | |
| 377 | |
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Julius Caesar: The Life and Times of the People's Dictator Luciano Canfora No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
actions African Alexandrian Antipater Antony Antony's Appian army Asinius Pollio assassination Augustus Balbus battle Bibulus Brutus Caelius Caes Caesar Caesarian campaign Catilinarian Conspiracy Catiline Cato Cato the Younger Cato's CHAPTER Cicero Civil War Civil Wars Cleopatra Clodius Commentaries conflict conspirators consul consulship Crassus death decision defeat defence Deiotarus dictator dictatorship Dio Cass Dio Cassius Dolabella Domitius election enemy Epicurean favour February 46 forces friends Gaius Gallic Gallic War Gaul January 49 Jews Josephus June 49 Labienus later leader legions Lepidus Letters to Atticus Livy Marcus Marius maximus military Mithridates Munda murder Napoleon Nicolaus of Damascus Octavian Octavius October 47 Pharnakes Pharsalus plebs Plut Plutarch political Pompeian Pompey's pontifex maximus praetor province Ptolemy Quintus republic Roman Sallust says Senate Sextus Spain Spanish speech Suet Suetonius Sulla's Syme Syria Trebonius tribunes triumvirate troops Velleius Vercingetorix victory words writes