Rouw en Razernij om Caesar

Description

This book describes the tumultuous events of four days in Rome that can be regarded as a turning point in Roman and hence Western history, the 14th till the 17th of March 44 BCE. A fair description of this period requires is a reliable chronology. The main problem for this is the existing uncertainty up until now about the date of Caesar’s funeral. In the older literature figures the 20th of March, in the younger one the 18th, a date that is also mentioned by Goldsworthy in his recent Caesar biography. Here it is claimed that Caesar’s funeral took place on the evening of 17th, which can be inferred from the writings of an eyewitness, the orator Cicero, and leads to a lesser amount of inconsistency regarding the information the antique writers provide us with. As a result of this new insight it was possible to set up a time table of these days that is almost reliable to the hour. Following this chronology the story of Caesar’s death is extensively reproduced using the information of Appian, Plutarch, Suetonius, Cassius Dio, Nicholas of Damascus, Velleius, Cicero and a few dozen others. In order to involve the reader as close as possible the story of these extraordinarily hectic days has been written in the present tense and the direct speech.

Subjects