Philip Freeman follows Gaius Julius Caesar from his patrician boyhood in a declining Roman family through the civil wars, the conquest of Gaul, the crossing of the Rubicon and the dictatorship that ended on the Ides of March. He draws on Caesar's own commentaries and on Cicero, Plutarch and Suetonius, and weighs the general's ambition and calculated generosity alongside his brutality in Gaul.
Anyone curious about how the Roman Republic collapsed will find a readable single-volume life here. It suits students of ancient history who want the political machinery explained alongside the battles, and general readers who know the name but not the man.
Outward-looking and clear-cut; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Evidence Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2008
- Language
- EN
