Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman, Simon & Schuster, May 2008, 416 pages.
Mr. Freeman writes on his website:
Julius Caesar was one of the greatest heroes of human history-or one of its most pernicious villains, depending on who you believe. Many of the American Founding Fathers despised Caesar as the evil genius who overthrew their beloved Roman Republic. The medieval poet Dante assigned him a blessed afterlife among the most virtuous pagans while sentencing his two leading murderers, Brutus and Cassius, to the lowest levels of Hell. Shakespeare tried to have it both ways, praising both Caesar and the conspirators who slew him. Modern scholars have been equally divided concerning Caesar's legacy. Some have seen him as a paradigm of the just ruler, but in the wake of twentieth-century dictators and devastating wars, other historians have turned a cold eye on a man who caused the death of so many and established the rule of emperors over elected magistrates.
In my biography, however, I strive not to praise Caesar overmuch or bury him among the tyrants of history. Caesar was a complex man of incredible courage, ambition, honor, and vanity, as well as one of the greatest generals the world has ever known. But he was also a masterful politician, priest, lawyer, and writer, who among his many lesser-known accomplishments gave us the calendar we still use today.
Julius Caesar follows the Roman leader from his childhood in the slums of Rome to his military victories throughout the Roman world and murder on the Ides of March. We meet a host of characters who shaped his life, from his mother Aurelia to Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Cicero, and Cleopatra. Along the way I explore the life and times of the late Roman Republic, from the slave rebellion of Spartacus and the luxurious world of Ptolemaic Egypt to Roman gladiators and chariot races."
Review to follow
