In his first 20 years, he would have lived through violent clashes and sustained wars ar between romans and non romans. He was born into a family that found themselves on the wrong side of a continuing struggle in the late republic. When he was about 12, a general and leader of the aristocratic party marched on rome. And er, when he was 17, that general became a dictator and attempted to restore the power of the senate and slaughtered his enemies.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life, work and reputation of Julius Caesar. Famously assassinated as he entered the Roman senate on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Caesar was an inspirational general who conquered much of Europe. He was a ruthless and canny politician who became dictator of Rome, and wrote The Gallic Wars, one of the most admired and studied works of Latin literature. Shakespeare is one of many later writers to have been fascinated by the figure of Julius Caesar.
With:
Christopher Pelling
Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford
Catherine Steel
Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow
Maria Wyke
Professor of Latin at University College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.