Essays on Pompey

“Et tu, Brute?” Many people recognize this pithy question as Julius Caesar’s last words upon seeing Roman senator Marcus Julius Brutus, with whom he had a relationship akin to that of a father and son, among his murderers on March 15, 44 BC. The phrase roughly translates to, “You too, Brutus?”. However, there is no historical evidence these were Caesar’s last words; more likely; they were popularized by William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the sixteenth century. Known as the Ides of March, Caesar’s death is one of the most famous political overthrows in all of ...

The Late Republic the period following the rise of the Gracchi was known largely as a time period where chaos, disorder and the breakdown of tradition conspired to break down the Roman state that had functioned largely harmoniously since the end of the conflict of the orders and especially during the Middle Republic a time period ruled by the crisis of the Punic Wars. The Roman state and its Constitution were ruled not by any set of written down laws, but by tradition and the power of prestige.  The Late republic was marked for a general breakdown of this ...

Introduction

As quoted by Lord Byron, when the Colosseum stands, Rome stands, and when the Colosseum falls, Rome falls and when Rome falls the world falls. This shows how the Colosseum was of great importance and iconic in nature of the people in Rome. It has remained to be the largest and the best-preserved amphitheaters in the history of Rome. Though other amphitheaters are well preserved, are currently used for purposes of modern entertainment, for example art galleries, sports and holding concerts. Games and entertainment activities were of great importance to the people and were used as a way of ...

The name of this woman is shrouded in the fog of romanticism and mystery associated with the legend of extraordinary beauty and mysterious death. What was this woman for real? What is the secret of interest in her? Why did historical tradition and Shakespeare bound together the names of Cleopatra and Caesar, Cleopatra and Anthony? Cleopatra VII Philopator was born in 69 BC. Her father was Ptolemy XII Auletes. Besides, her family had two sisters and two brothers, both younger than her. Ptolemaic Dynasty at this point of time existed for nearly two centuries. Their power in Egypt appeared ...

Pompey was made sole consul in 52 BC. To what extent did he engineer the situation so that he would be called upon to "save the state?

Introduction:

Rome in 52 AD was a rather parlous state as it was still reeling from the effects of the slave revolt a few years earlier which had been crushed by Crassus and the constant bickering and infighting between himself, Julius Caesar and the same Crassus. Becoming First Consul in 49 BC was obviously important and crucial to the continued well being of the Republic and Pompey obviously felt very much in control when faced ...

Spartacus the legend

Spartacus was a Roman slave who led what was probably the most important revolt against Roman power ever. He managed to mobilize thousands of salves who actually threatened the Roman Empire at the time until the brutal Crassus crushed the revolt with his well organized forces and ended up crucifying over 6000 slaves on the road to Rome, Spartacus included. Spartacus was an important icon for dissent against the Roman Empire for several centuries and he has been mentioned in foklore and stories many a time. Of course the historical record sometimes gets tainted yet the story is pretty much ...