Today, March 15, 2015, is marks the 2059th anniversary of Julius Caesar’s death on the Ides of March in 44 B.C. His influence hasn’t abated in the two millennia since his death. In fact, far from it!“Caesar” is a part of the English vernacular to this day. His military legacy is legendary, his name carried down to rulers of not one, but two, empires – the German Kaiser and Russian Czar – and even his death remains one of the most infamous in history.
In the spirit of celebrating the good (or not-so-good, depending on whom you asked) general, About.com investigates the continuing of impact Caesar – and his gruesome ending. With us to add his expertise on the subject is classicist Barry Strauss, chair of the Cornell University history department and author of The Death of Caesar: the Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination (out now from Simon & Schuster).
Entering Caesar's Palace
To begin with, we asked Strauss about the impetus for writing another book about Caesar. After all, there was hardly a lack of scholarship, both popular and academic, on the subject. “There has indeed been excellent scholarship on Caesar’s assassination, and I am deeply indebted to my predecessor,” he admitted. “Still, it seemed to me that there remained unanswered questions that could be answered.” What are these mysteries that he endeavored to solve in his book?
“For me the hook was the gladiators. Just what were they doing on the Ides of March?” Strauss asked.
Caesar was a big patron of gladiators, hosting funeral and popular games alike. As Strauss noted in The Death of Caesar, Caesar “was Rome’s most lavish gladiatorial entrepreneur” and scheduled expensive gladiatorial events (118). Just one example: when he was named aedile, Caesar “furnished three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators, and by lavish provision besides for theatrical performances, processions, and public banquets,” according to Plutarch’s Life of Caesar.
So what were these gladiators, favorites of Caesar, up to that day? After some investigating, Strauss found that researching “the gladiators led to their owner, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, the forgotten conspirator. He in turn led to Caesar’s Gallic campaign, and that offered insight into Caesar’s behavior on and around the Ides.” The Death of Caesar sheds light on this “forgotten conspirator,” the lesser known of two men named Brutus to be involved in Caesar’s death.
The past few decades have also seen some changes in Caesar scholarship, both literary and archaeological. It’s time for someone to synthesize this. “This is a great age of revived scholarship on Caesar and his age. The reevaluation of Nicolaus of Damascus’s work [his Life of Augustus], for example, by scholars such as [Jürgen] Malitz and [Mark] Toher, opens our eyes up to the usefulness of Nicolaus as a source of evidence for historians,” said Strauss.
He added, “This is also a great period for experimental archaeology and historical reenactment.” In that vein, he teamed up with two ex-military officers, both of whom were well-versed in the classics, who “gave me a great deal of insight into the assassination itself and its planning." Strauss also trod in Caesar’s literal steps, or as much as he was able to. He noted, “And I was also fortunate enough to be able to spend time at Rome and to enjoy the resources of the American Academy in Rome. I also was able to trace Caesar’s footsteps in France and in Turkey (particularly to the fabulous site of the Battle of Zela).” The last-named conflict occurred in 47 B.C. between Caesar and Pontus. After that battle, Julius coined the infamous phrase “veni, vidi, vici” (‘I came, I saw, I conquered”) by displaying them in a triumph celebrating his victory or writing them in a letter.
Why I Still Matter: the Julius Caesar Story
Even with Strauss's new scholarly interpretations, what makes Caesar so relevant today? Why is the former dictator's name still a buzzword? It’s because he was more than a triple threat: Caesar really did it all. “Caesar is a giant, one of history’s greatest generals and statesmen, as well as a classic writer of prose,” Strauss observed. His expansionist policies brought new territories and wealth into the Roman Republic, but Caesar also could play at politics with the best of them – Cicero, Pompey, Antony, and more - and chronicled his adventures in The Gallic Wars and The Civil Wars, among others. The latter two texts are still seminal in understanding of the Rome in which he lived.
But Caesar was more than a man whose deeds were memorable. “His very existence raises questions about the nature of greatness and whether we still believe in greatness today. By the same token, Caesar is ambiguous: he was a populist and an egotist, a dictator who created a cult of personality but who was also humane and generous,” said Strauss. Caesar was a study in contradictions, just like today’s politicians. “To study Caesar is to recognize the complexity of politics and the inadequacy of easy answers. It’s a wonderful anecdote to the mile-wide, inch-deep, nanosecond-long world of today,” he added.
That doesn’t mean Caesar is just like today’s Romneys and Clintons. “If Caesar were alive today I think he’d skip politics and the military and go straight into business where he’d be a titan with relatively few strings attached,” Strauss hypothesized. Nowadays, he could win employees’ loyalty with good health insurance instead of gladiatorial games! “A man with Caesar’s ego would not mind at all that his name has lived on for millennia as a symbol of political power,” especially in Shakespeare’s famous play. But his ego might’ve gotten in the way of appreciating that great work, said Strauss. “Caesar would have appreciated Shakespeare’s eloquence, even if the Bard gave Brutus and Antony the best lines. But he would not have liked the image of an aging and ailing Caesar that the play presents.”
Caesar Takes Reality TV!
That’s not to say Caesar would be completely inimical to more modern innovations. What about a reality show? The Real Republicans of Ancient Rome? Seizing the Caesars? Surely Julius might sniff at such an ideal. “On the one hand, a noble like Caesar, scion of a family that traces its ancestry back to Troy and the goddess Venus, does not stoop to reality shows,” said Strauss. “On the other hand, a populist politician like Caesar would eat up reality shows."
Perhaps Bravo or Lifetime would consent to something a bit more Caesar’s taste to get this A-lister on board, though. “I might propose ‘House of Dice,’ a reality show in which the winner gets to rule an empire but only after taking calculated risks that knock off the other contestants,” Strauss mused. “To make it sporting, Napoleon, Zenobia of Palmyra, Peter the Great, Semiramis, and Genghis Khan would all have to be in the cast.” Casting agents, get on that, stat!
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