A fascinating, comprehensive biography of the cunning Roman conqueror
Julius Caesar.
More than two thousand years after his death, Julius Caesar remains one
of the great figures of history. He shaped Rome for generations, and his
name became a synonym for "emperor"--not only in Rome but as far away as
Germany and Russia. He is best known as the general who defeated the
Gauls and doubled the size of Rome's territories. But, as Philip Freeman
describes in this fascinating new biography, Caesar was also a brilliant
orator, an accomplished writer, a skilled politician, and much more.
Julius Caesar was a complex man, both hero and villain. He possessed
great courage, ambition, honor, and vanity. Born into a noble family
that had long been in decline, he advanced his career cunningly,
beginning as a priest and eventually becoming Rome's leading general. He
made alliances with his rivals and then discarded them when it suited
him. He was a spokesman for the ordinary people of Rome, who rallied
around him time and again, but he profited enormously from his conquests
and lived opulently. Eventually he was murdered in one of the most
famous assassinations in history.
Caesar's contemporaries included some of Rome's most famous figures,
from the generals Marius, Sulla, and Pompey to the orator and legislator
Cicero as well as the young politicians Mark Antony and Octavius (later
Caesar Augustus). Caesar's legendary romance with the Egyptian queen
Cleopatra still fascinates us today.
In this splendid biography, Freeman presents Caesar in all his
dimensions and contradictions. With remarkable clarity and brevity,
Freeman shows how Caesar dominated a newly powerful Rome and shaped its
destiny. This book will captivate readers discovering Caesar and ancient
Rome for the first time as well as those who have a deep interest in the
classical world.
