Book description
A military leader of legendary genius, Caesar was also a great writer,
recording the events of his life with incomparable immediacy and power.
The Civil War is a tense and gripping depiction of his struggle with
Pompey over the leadership of Republican Rome - a conflict that spanned
the entire Roman world, from Gaul and Spain to Asia and Africa. Where
Caesar's own account leaves off in 48 BC, his lieutenants take up the
history, describing the vital battles of Munda, Spain and Thapsus, and
the installation of Cleopatra, later Caesar's mistress, as Queen of
Egypt. Together these narratives paint a full picture of the events that
brought Caesar supreme power - and paved the way for his assassination
only months later.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100BC into an ancient patrician
family. He was imprisoned for a time with his familly, for protesting
against the then leadership of Sulla, but advanced slowly through the
sixties rising to the rank of praetor and forming the 'first
triumvirate' with Pompey and Crassus. Elected consul in 59BC, he then
became Governor for Transalpine Gaul. After the death of Crassus and
the defeat of Pompey in 45BC, Caesar returned to Rome as dictator. He
was assassinated in March 44BC.
Jane Gardner received degrees in Classics from Glasgow and Oxford
Universities and was Senior Lecturer in Classics at Reading
University. She is the author of, among others, Women in Roman Law and
Society and The Roman Household: A Sourcebook.
