The Ides

Stephen Dando-Collins

Description

Unraveling the many mysteries surrounding the murder of Julius Caesar

The assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the most notorious murders in history. Two thousand years after it occurred, many compelling questions remain about his death: Was Brutus the hero and Caesar the villain? Did Caesar bring death on himself by planning to make himself king of Rome? Was Mark Antony aware of the plot, and let it go forward? Who wrote Antony's script after Caesar's death? Using historical evidence to sort out these and other puzzling issues, historian and award-winning author Stephen Dando-Collins takes you to the world of ancient Rome and recaptures the drama of Caesar's demise and the chaotic aftermath as the vicious struggle for power between Antony and Octavian unfolded. For the first time, he shows how the religious festivals and customs of the day impacted on the way the assassination plot unfolded. He shows, too, how the murder was almost avoided at the last moment.

A compelling history that is packed with intrigue and written with the pacing of a first-rate mystery, The Ides will challenge what you think you know about Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire.
Atlas.

Author's Note.

Introduction'

PART ONE THE CONSPIRACY.

I January 26, 44 b.c.: Seven Weeks before the Assassination.

II February 15, 44 b.c.: The Lupercalia.

III February 22, 44 b.c.: The Caristia Reconciliation.

IV February 24, 44 b.c.: Pressuring Brutus.

V March 1, 44 b.c., The Kalends of March: Dictator for Life.

VI March 2, 44 b.c.: Recruiting Fellow Assassins.

VII March 7, 44 b.c.: A Visit from One of Caesar's Generals.

VIII March 9, 44 b.c.: Porcia's Secret.

IX March 14, 44 b.c., Afternoon: Cleopatra and the Equirria.

X March 14, 44 b.c., Evening: The Best Sort of Death.

PART TWO THE MURDER.

XI March 15, 44 b.c.: The Ides of March: Caesar Awakens.

XII March 15, 44 b.c.: The Ides of March: In the Dark before Dawn.

XIII March 15, 44 b.c., The Ides of March: Caesar Must Suffer Caesar's Fate.

XIV March 15, 44 b.c., The Ides of March: The Crime.

XV March 15, 44 b.c.: The Gathering Storm.

PART THREE AFTERMATH AND RETRIBUTION.

XVI March 16, 44 b.c.: Pleading for the Republic.

XVII March 17, 44 b.c.: The Jostle for Control.

XVIII March 18, 44 b.c.: The Liberators Gain the Advantage.

XIX March 19, 44 b.c.: Caesar's Will.

XX March 20, 44 b.c.: Caesar's Funeral.

XXI March 21, 44 b.c.: Antony Consolidates His Grip.

XXII March 24, 44 b.c.: Enter Octavius.

XXIII March 27, 44 b.c.: The Name of Caesar.

XXIV April 7, 44 b.c.: Wise Oppius.

XXV April 10, 44 b.c.: Caesar's Heir.

XXVI April 11, 44 b.c.: Octavian Meets with Antony.

XXVII April 14, 44 b.c.: The Aedile's Refusal.

XXVIII April 22, 44 b.c.: Octavian Seeks Cicero's Support.

XXIX May 11, 44 b.c.: I Don't Trust Him a Yard.

XXX May 18, 44 b.c.: Undermining Antony.

XXXI May 31, 44 b.c.: Reforming the Praetorian Cohorts.

XXXII June 2, 44 b.c.: Antony Outsmarts the Senate.

XXXIII June 7, 44 b.c.: No Plan, No Thought, No Method.

XXXIV July 13, 44 b.c.: The Last Day of Brutus's Games.

XXXV July 20, 44 b.c.: The Liberators' Manifesto.

XXXVI July 28, 44 b.c.: Cicero's Departure.

XXXVII August 16, 44 b.c.: Like Hector the Hero.

XXXVIII August 30, 44 b.c.: Cicero Returns to Rome.

XXXIX September 15, 44 b.c.: The Liberators Reach Greece.

XL September 23, 44 b.c.: Octavian's Nineteenth Birthday.

XLI September 28, 44 b.c.: The Plot to Assassinate Antony.

XLII October 9, 44 b.c.: A Dreadful State of Affairs.

XLIII October 18, 44 b.c.: Antony Joins His Legions.

XLIV November 4, 44 b.c.: Octavian Recruits an Army.

XLV November 18, 44 b.c.: The Road to War.

XLVI November 27–30, 44 b.c.: Anthony's Legions Rebel.

XLVII Early December 44 b.c.: The Rise of the Liberators.

XLVIII Second Half of December 44 b.c.: Antony Makes His Move.

XLIX January 1–4, 43 b.c.: Debating Antony's Fate.

L Late December 44 b.c.–Early January 43 b.c.: The First Assassin to Fall.

LI February 4, 43 b.c.: State of Emergency.

LII April 14–26, 43 b.c.: The Mutina Battles.

LIII May 7, 43 b.c.: Cassius Overruns Syria.

LIV May 30, 43 b.c.: Lepidus’s Betrayal.

LV August 19, 43 b.c.: Octavian Charges Caesar's Murderers.

LVI Early November 43 b.c.: The Triumvirate and the Proscription.

LVII December 7, 43 b.c.: Killing Cicero.

LVIII October 1–21, 42 b.c.: The Battles of Philippi.

LIX Judging the Assassins and the Victim.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of Rome
• Stephen Dando-Collins
• Ides of March
• Roman Empire
• Mark Antony
• Julius Caesar
• Iulius Caesar
• Rome
• Ides
• Ancient
• History
• Brutus

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 19 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470543801
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Also by Stephen Dando-Collins
Title Page
Copyright Page
Epigraph
ATLAS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Introduction
 
PART ONE - THE CONSPIRACY
 
I - JANUARY 26, 44 B.C.
II - FEBRUARY 15, 44 B.C.
III - FEBRUARY 22, 44 B.C.
IV - FEBRUARY 24, 44 B.C.
V - MARCH 1, 44 B.C., THE KALENDS OF MARCH
VI - MARCH 2, 44 B.C.
VII - MARCH 7, 44 B.C.
VIII - MARCH 9, 44 B.C.
IX - MARCH 14, 44 B.C., AFTERNOON
X - MARCH 14, 44 B.C., EVENING
 
PART TWO - THE MURDER
XI - MARCH 15, 44 B.C., THE IDES OF MARCH
XII - MARCH 15, 44 B.C., THE IDES OF MARCH
XIII - MARCH 15, 44 B.C., THE IDES OF MARCH
XIV - MARCH 15, 44 B.C., THE IDES OF MARCH
XV - MARCH 15, 44 B.C.
 
PART THREE - AFTERMATH AND RETRIBUTION
XVI - MARCH 16, 44 B.C.
XVII - MARCH 17, 44 B.C.
XVIII - MARCH 18, 44 B.C.
XIX - MARCH 19, 44 B.C.
XX - MARCH 20, 44 B.C.
XXI - MARCH 21, 44 B.C.
XXII - MARCH 24, 44 B.C.
XXIII - MARCH 27, 44 B.C.
XXIV - APRIL 7, 44 B.C.
XXV - APRIL 10, 44 B.C.
XXVI - APRIL 11, 44 B.C.
XXVII - APRIL 14, 44 B.C.
XXVIII - APRIL 22, 44 B.C.
XXIX - MAY 11, 44 B.C.
XXX - MAY 18, 44 B.C.
XXXI - MAY 31, 44 B.C.
XXXII - JUNE 2, 44 B.C.
XXXIII - JUNE 7, 44 B.C.
XXXIV - JULY 13, 44 B.C.
XXXV - JULY 20, 44 B.C.
XXXVI - JULY 28, 44 B.C.
XXXVII - AUGUST 16, 44 B.C.
XXXVIII - AUGUST 30, 44 B.C.
XXXIX - SEPTEMBER 15, 44 B.C.
XL - SEPTEMBER 23, 44 B.C.
XLI - SEPTEMBER 28, 44 B.C.
XLII - OCTOBER 9, 44 B.C.
XLIII - OCTOBER 18, 44 B.C.
XLIV - NOVEMBER 4, 44 B.C.
XLV - NOVEMBER 18, 44 B.C.
XLVI - NOVEMBER 27-30, 44 B.C.
XLVII - EARLY DECEMBER 44 B.C.
XLVIII - SECOND HALF OF DECEMBER 44 B.C.
XLIX - JANUARY 1-4, 43 B.C.
L - LATE DECEMBER 44 B.C.- EARLY JANUARY 43 B.C.
LI - FEBRUARY 4, 43 B.C.
LII - APRIL 14-26, 43 B.C.
LIII - MAY 7, 43 B.C.
LIV - MAY 30, 43 B.C.
LV - AUGUST 19, 43 B.C.
LVI - EARLY NOVEMBER 43 B.C.
LVII - DECEMBER 7, 43 B.C.
LVIII - OCTOBER 1-21, 42 B.C.
LIX - JUDGING THE ASSASSINS AND THE VICTIM
 
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Also by Stephen Dando-Collins
Caesar’s Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar’s Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome
  Nero’s Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome’s Remarkable Fourteenth Legion
  Cleopatra’s Kidnappers: How Caesar’s Sixth Legion Gave Egypt to Rome and Rome to Caesar
  Mark Antony’s Heroes: How the Third Gallica Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor
  Blood of the Caesars: How the Murder of Germanicus Led to the Fall of Rome

Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Dando-Collins. All rights reserved Maps © 2009 by D. L. McElhannon
 
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
 
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Dando-Collins, Stephen, date. The ides : Caesar’s murder and the war for Rome / Stephen Dando-Collins. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-0-470-54380-1
1. Caesar, Julius—Assassination. 2. Rome—Politics and government—265-30 B.C. 3. Rome—History—53-44 B.C. I. Title.
DG267.D26 2010 937’.05092—dc22
 
Be sure to remember, not how long was Caesar’s life, but how short his reign.
—Brutus and Cassius, Caesar’s chief assassins, in a 44 B.C. letter to Mark Antony
ATLAS

1. The Roman World, 49-31 B.C.
2. Rome, 44 B.C.
AUTHOR’S NOTE

Millions of words have been written about Julius Caesar, but few, if any, modern accounts have delivered the “violent and complex reality” of his murder. 1
With this book, I have striven to weed out the myths and the misinformation and lay bare the story of Caesar’s murder, as it happened, beginning, as the conspiracy began, just weeks before Caesar’s death, detailing the crime and attempting to make sense of the chaotic aftermath, and ending with the death of the last of the murderers.
I have long been surprised by how few historians have realized the part played by the religious festivals and customs of the day. With those events acting as both catalysts to the assassination plot and signposts of the turning points in Julius Caesar’s last days, I have set out to show the influence those festivals and customs had on attitudes, timings, and events relating to the assassination.
And, finally, I have attempted to pass judgment on the victim, the assassins, and the assassination.
My sources throughout are primarily classical texts, including the ultrainformative letters written and collected by Cicero. I would stress that all the conversations in this book are taken from dialogue or narrative in those texts; I have invented nothing.
My special thanks go to my editor, Stephen S. Power, who commissioned this work; my New York literary agent, Richard Curtis, for guiding its birth; and my wife, Louise, who, as always, has been my fellow detective as the historical pieces have come together; she is my raison d’être.
INTRODUCTION
Much that has been written about Julius Caesar in modern times is twaddle. Not even his name has come down to us correctly. His full name was Gaius Iulius Caesar, and he was referred to as Gaius by Romans, who, it is believed, pronounced his last name as Kaiser, not Caesar. But if I were to talk about Gaius Iulius Kaiser no one would know to whom I was referring. So for the purposes of this work, Julius Caesar he must remain, just as Marcus Antonius must remain Mark Antony.
There are many myths about Caesar. One was that all legions associated with him bore the bull emblem. Far from true; no legion numbered above 10 is attested to having carried the bull emblem, and Caesar raised some forty legions. Another was that he was the “good guy” fighting a lone battle against the “bad guys,” a black-and-white misrepresentation. For example, in 1961, a young U.S. Army officer named Norman Schwarzkopf wrote an essay while attending an advanced training course at Fort Benning, Georgia, that won him an award. That paper told of a general entering his tent after a battle and tossing his battered helmet on a cot in the corner. Later Schwarzkopf revealed to his readers that the general was Julius Caesar and that the battle just ended was the Battle of Pharsalus, in which Caesar had defeated the army led by that other Roman colossus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or Pompey the Great.
Schwarzkopf, who, thirty years later, was the U.S. general commanding Coalition forces in the Gulf War’s Operation Desert Storm, used his essay to show that for an army commander, nothing much had changed in two thousand years; the same physical and mental factors still applied to a leader of men in battle. But in his essay Schwarzkopf described Pompey as “the rebel” general in the conflict. In fact, after Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops on January 11, 49 B.C., to invade his own country and seize power in a military coup and was declared an “enemy of the state” by the Roman Senate, it was Caesar who was the rebel.
In the same vein, modern historians with socialist inclinations have put forward the view that Caesar was a sort of Robin Hood who robbed power from the Roman rich and gave it to the poor. Caesar was characterized as the champion of one side of Roman politics, the populares , or “popularists,” against the rich nobles of the optimates , or “best ones.” There are several things wrong with this argument.
First, both groups were made up of the wealthy members of the Senatorial Order; the populares were not some revolutionary party from the middle or lower classes opposed to the ruling aristocrats. Second, while Roman politics did divide between Sulla, leading the optimates, and Marius, leading the populares, following Sulla’s Civil War victory in 82 B.C., two decades before Julius Caesar’s first taste of power as a consul, the populares ceased to exist. A trawl through classical texts finds barely a mention of the optimates at the height of Caesar’s career, and no mention of the populares. Caesar himself never used the terms in