A Companion to Julius Caesar

In both the ancient and modern world, few historical figures are more recognizable or more controversial than Julius Caesar. After ancient Rome was plunged into civil war, Caesar emerged to become the undisputed master of the Roman world. Indeed, his subsequent assassination in 44 BC marked one of the great turning points in world history as Rome made its epochal transition from republic to empire.

A Companion to Julius Caesar examines the great man and great polarizing figure from a variety of illuminating perspectives: military genius, ruthless tyrant, brilliant politician, first class orator, sophisticated man of letters, and more. Essays by leading scholars in classics, ancient history and art, modern history, and European literature approach Caesar from many viewpoints, including that of his contemporaries, and explore how Caesar has been portrayed by artists, writers, and poets from antiquity to the present day. Lively, engaging, and comprehensive in scope, this Companion is one of the richest and most vivid portraits of Julius Caesar available today a triumphant addition to classical scholarship.

List of Figures viii

Notes on Contributors x

Preface xvi

Reference Works: Abbreviated Titles xviii

1 Introduction 1

Part I Biography: Narrative 9

2 From the Iulii to Caesar 11
Ernst Badian

3 Caesar as a Politician 23
Erich S. Gruen

4 The Proconsular Years: Politics at a Distance 37
John T. Ramsey

5 The Dictator 57
Jane F. Gardner

6 The Assassination 72
Andrew Lintott

Part II Biography: Themes 83

7 General and Imperialist 85
Nathan Rosenstein

8 Caesar and Religion 100
David Wardle

9 Friends, Associates, and Wives 112
Catherine Steel

10 Caesar the Man 126
Jeremy Paterson

11 Caesar as an Intellectual 141
Elaine Fantham

Part III Caesar s Extant Writings 157

12 Bellum Gallicum 159
Christina S. Kraus

13 Bellum Civile 175
Kurt Raaflaub

14 The Continuators: Soldiering On 192
Ronald Cluett

Part IV Caesar s Reputation at Rome 207

15 Caesar s Political and Military Legacy to the Roman Emperors 209
Barbara Levick

16 Augustan and Tiberian Literature 224
Mark Toher

17 Neronian Literature: Seneca and Lucan 239
Matthew Leigh

18 The First Biographers: Plutarch and Suetonius 252
Christopher Pelling

19 The Roman Historians after Livy 267
Luke Pitcher

20 The First Emperor: The View of Late Antiquity 277
Timothy Barnes

21 The Irritating Statues and Contradictory Portraits of Julius Caesar 288
Paul Zanker

Part V Caesar s Place in History 315

22 The Middle Ages 317
Almut Suerbaum

23 Empire, Eloquence, and Military Genius: Renaissance Italy 335
Martin McLaughlin

24 Some Renaissance Caesars 356
Carol Clark

25 Shakespeare s Julius Caesar and the Dramatic Tradition 371
Julia Griffin

26 The Enlightenment 399
Thomas Biskup

27 Caesar and the Two Napoleons 410
Claude Nicolet

28 Republicanism, Caesarism, and Political Change 418
Nicholas Cole

29 Caesar for Communists and Fascists 431
Luciano Canfora

30 A Twenty–First–Century Caesar 441
Maria Wyke

Bibliography 456

Index 492

Miriam Griffin is Emeritus Fellow of Classics at Oxford University. She is the author of numerous books and articles on Roman history and philosophy, including Nero (1987), Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics (1992), and Philosophia togata I & II (with Jonathan Barnes, 1991 & 1997). She was until recently editor of the Classical Quarterly.