Yet he shared a philosophy with many of his fellow plotters, namely the enlightened, anti-superstition school of Epicureanism, which held that the gods, if they existed at all, were far away and not interested in human affairs, and that people should use their reason to moderate their passions, thereby avoiding pain and achieving inner peace—a fashionable philosophy among the educated classes of Rome during this period.
Stothard vividly narrates how Epicureanism served as a mobilizing philosophy among the assassins, even as they argued over whether the true Epicurean would go so far as to assassinate Caesar, who was, after all, a Roman consul. Stothard says this philosophical dimension to the assassination and ensuing civil wars sometimes gets overlooked.
How bad did a ruler have to be before you were justified in committing the country and half the world to civil war? There were other people with very similar views who said if someone like Julius Caesar is in charge of the whole world, you could never get personal peace. Not that all the plotters were quite so high-minded. Berezovsky had also been an ally of Alexander Litvinenko, another exiled Russian oligarch, who was assassinated via polonium poisoning in In , 12 years into his own exile, Berezovsky was found hanged in his bathroom.
The coroner said he was unable to offer a conclusive verdict about how the death had taken place. As for Parmensis, he discovered, like Berezovsky, that living in public view during exile carries risks—even in Athens, which was then full of men like Parmensis who had been on the losing side in the ongoing civil wars.
Toward the end of his exile, Parmensis was beset by nocturnal visions of a vengeful monster lurking outside his gates. There was idealism involved: Caesar was turning the Roman republic into a dictatorship and making himself a king. But there were also deeply personal motives. The senators who joined the conspiracy against Caesar can sincerely say he was a threat to the republic and to them and their way of life. Before Caesar, Roman nobility and military were free to plunder the provinces they ruled.
But under Caesar, Rome controlled the process and sent inspectors to check up on everything, so they could only exploit their provinces under Caesar's supervision. That slight was compounded by Caesar's rebranding of political real estate in his name — he built statues in his image and renamed monuments for himself.
He brought power to his family by giving them political appointments and honorifics, and drew allies outside the charmed circle of Roman nobility, like his soldiers and leaders in the provinces.
In addition to concern for the average Roman, self-interest drove the conspirators to kill Caesar. There weren't just political and financial grudges, either.
Brutus' mother, Servilia, had once had an affair with Caesar, and there were even rumors that Brutus was Caesar's son for the record, Strauss thinks that's highly unlikely. Servilia was also co-conspirator Cassius' mother-in-law. An artist's depiction of Brutus. As far as epic betrayals go, we tend to imagine Brutus in the same league as Judas.
In reality, that infamy should be reserved for someone called Decimus. Caesar trusted Decimus much more than he trusted Brutus — and that made his betrayal more shocking. Misspelled in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as "Decius," Decimus was much more important than most of us realize. Shakespeare made Decimus a minor character because he mostly used Plutarch as a source, who gave Decimus short shrift. But all the other ancient sources think Decimus was key, and, according to Strauss, "he's the only assassin that could really be called close to Caesar.
Decimus dined with Caesar the night before his assassination and convinced Caesar to leave his house the next morning he was staying home because his wife, Calpurnia, was worried. Decimus' betrayal followed an adult life spent at Caesar's side. Brutus, however, had often fought against Caesar, like when he took Pompey's side against Caesar in the Civil War that lasted from 49 to 45 BC. He only came over to Caesar's side after a handsome cash award and profitable political appointment.
Wikimedia Commons. But the painting gets some things seriously wrong. In reality, the assassination happened in the Portico of Pompey, a Senate house with a statue of Pompey Caesar's enemy inside. And the assassins almost certainly didn't have giant swords — after all, it was a surprise attack. They probably snuck in daggers to kill Caesar. This might be the most powerful myth of all. And it shortchanges Caesar. This wasn't a noble death — it was probably a scrappy fight for his life.
He may have stabbed one of the attackers with a stylus , and most of the sources say he tried to get up and escape. Unfortunately for Caesar, the conspirators were trained soldiers, so they'd formed a tight perimeter. As far as what Caesar said when he died, "Et tu, Brute" is a Renaissance invention. But Caesar did perform a few resonant gestures.
Julius Caesar was immensely popular with the people of Rome. He was a successful military leader who expanded the republic to include parts of what are now Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium.
Caesar was also a popular author who wrote about his travels, theories, and political views. After Caesar attained the status of dictator for life in 44 B. A group of as many as 60 conspirators decided to assassinate Caesar at the meeting of the Senate on March 15, the ides of March. Collectively, the group stabbed Caesar a reported 23 times, killing the Roman leader. The death of Julius Caesar ultimately had the opposite impact of what his assassins hoped.
Much of the Roman public hated the senators for the assassination, and a series of civil wars ensued. He renamed himself Augustus Caesar. The United States is a republic. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.
They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.
0コメント