By his death he was effectively emperor of most of the known world. In just thirty years he had risen from a position of virtual obscurity to become one of the richest men in the world, with the power single-handedly to overthrow the Republic. In a string of spectacular victories he conquered all of Gaul, invaded Germany, and twice landed in Britain - an achievement which in 55BC was greeted with a public euphoria comparable to that generated by the moon landing in 1969. His greatest skill, outside the bedroom, was as a military commander. Its condition may already have been terminal because of Caesars. His affairs with noblewomen were both frequent and scandalous. The civil wars that followed his assassination finally brought the Roman Republic to an end. By his early 30s he had risen to the position of Consul, and was already beginning to dominate the Senate. He was decorated for valour in battle, captured and held to ransom by pirates, and almost bankrupted himself by staging games for the masses.Īs a politician, he quickly gained a reputation as a dangerously ambitious maverick. In his late teens he narrowly avoided execution for opposing the military dictator Sulla. 'C ombines scholarship with storytelling to bring the ancient world to life: in his masterly new CAESAR he shows us the greatest Roman as man, statesman, soldier and lover' Simon Sebag Montefioreįrom the very beginning, Caesar's story makes dazzling reading. The story of one of the most brilliant, flamboyant and historically important men who ever lived.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |