The First Man in Rome
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How did reading this series affect your view of Julius Caesar?
Elaine
Aug 10, 2013 08:14PM
One of the things I enjoyed about this series was McCullough's depiction of Julius Caesar, portraying him in a positive light rather than as a self-serving dictator. How do others feel about Caesar?
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It didn't so much change my view of Julius Caesar as add dimension to him as an individual with human frailties, foibles and desires.
I really enjoyed her depiction even though it is probably not entirely accurate...in fact I had trouble reading other less flattering approaches for a while...Simon Turney's portrayal rings a bit more true I think.
I thought it was a very balanced point of view - not avoiding his negative aspects, yet making him come alive to our modern era
He still could have been a ruthless self serving Dictator though McCullough's given him a vote of confidence.
The way I see it is that this book has portrayed another possible aspect of his ambitions that perhaps is not as well recognised and that is he was closer to the mass population than other patricians and was genuinely intent on improving the lifestyle of the masses (hence his popularity) and applyied his great intelligence and administrative talents as well as streamlining administration, scientific advancement and military tactics. All this would have made Rome stronger.
I guess we will never know the true motivation of his actions. This was a man in a hurry and the main question in my mind is that did he feel that the only realistic way to make a significant contribution to this ambition in his lifetime was to climb to power and instigate sweeping reforms in the manner that he did?
As we know, the politics of the age and the turmoil his reforms caused caught up with him.
It's a frustrating question not to know - on the face of it I think I may have swayed towards the republic idealogy (where's my sword!)
The narrative describing Caesar's life; from early years in suburban Rome through to his death is fascinating and has impressed what a fascinating and influential figure in history he was.
Also have to be forever grateful to Colleen McCullough for giving us such an enjoyable history lesson in the form of the 'Masters of Rome' series. Such a pity she couldn't have done a series on the five 'Good Emperors' as well!
The way I see it is that this book has portrayed another possible aspect of his ambitions that perhaps is not as well recognised and that is he was closer to the mass population than other patricians and was genuinely intent on improving the lifestyle of the masses (hence his popularity) and applyied his great intelligence and administrative talents as well as streamlining administration, scientific advancement and military tactics. All this would have made Rome stronger.
I guess we will never know the true motivation of his actions. This was a man in a hurry and the main question in my mind is that did he feel that the only realistic way to make a significant contribution to this ambition in his lifetime was to climb to power and instigate sweeping reforms in the manner that he did?
As we know, the politics of the age and the turmoil his reforms caused caught up with him.
It's a frustrating question not to know - on the face of it I think I may have swayed towards the republic idealogy (where's my sword!)
The narrative describing Caesar's life; from early years in suburban Rome through to his death is fascinating and has impressed what a fascinating and influential figure in history he was.
Also have to be forever grateful to Colleen McCullough for giving us such an enjoyable history lesson in the form of the 'Masters of Rome' series. Such a pity she couldn't have done a series on the five 'Good Emperors' as well!
Not gonna lie, the stories of Caesar: a womaniser, great statesman, master tactician in touch with his men to the point they shout songs about him marching through Rome are what made me like him. Call it a male teenage fad but after reading these superb novels my esteem for him has only gone up.
The picture of Caesar taught in most history classes is fiction, based on what the uber-wealthy/powerful (Cato, Brutus, etc) thought of him trying to help the average citizen. Of course they hated him.
Her work is based on a more in depth study of the actual known facts than most school text books.
Of course, it could be that he secretly hated the average person and was only pretending to do things in their interest because it furthered his personal agenda. But then, Cicero and Cato and his bunch weren't doing anything but serving themselves and had the same motives. He can't really be worse than them when the facts are considered. He can be and probably was much better than them.
The fact that Cicero's work is the one the largest sources used for the time is very telling about who is presenting the picture.
Like I said, he may have been as sinister as they were, but in his case, he also did things that helped more people than just himself and his opponents did not.
Her work is based on a more in depth study of the actual known facts than most school text books.
Of course, it could be that he secretly hated the average person and was only pretending to do things in their interest because it furthered his personal agenda. But then, Cicero and Cato and his bunch weren't doing anything but serving themselves and had the same motives. He can't really be worse than them when the facts are considered. He can be and probably was much better than them.
The fact that Cicero's work is the one the largest sources used for the time is very telling about who is presenting the picture.
Like I said, he may have been as sinister as they were, but in his case, he also did things that helped more people than just himself and his opponents did not.
Colleen gave us so much information I came to view her as the definitive source. I keep catching myself comparing straight histories to her historical fiction for facts. Not a good idea! But I can't help it. She gives us enough different points of view to let us make up our own minds. I ended up falling in love with Sulla! Julius Caesar seems to be following in his footsteps.
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