Caesar

[anamarija]

He's definetly next to Alexander on my "favorite people in history".I think the man had such strenght,inteligence,drive,charm,bravery...So,anyway,what do you guys think of him?

[maciek]

HI Lane!
I like this guy very much and I think he was very talented. But why he fell from the "throne"? Well he trusted too much his friends? So I have some idea... Well most bad opinions about Alex is because of his let's say trials and death penalties to his opponents. We can't be sure if all of them was right or not. But maybe if Alex wouldn't be so precaution maybe he would end the same as Caesar?Well as for Caesar I see him as briliant politic and maybe quite good strategist but in the battle field he wasn't so genius as Alex!Regards
Maciek

[jan]

As today is the anniversary of the assassination of JFK, 35th president of the USA, I always think of Julius Caesar in association with JFK.Just as Caesar had been warned about the Ides of March, John Kennedy had been likewise warned against going to Dallas. Adlai Stevenson had earlier suffered being struck with a poster of some kind, and the belief was that Dallas was a dangerous place to visit.But as Caesar had no place for cowardice in his life (I had just been teaching the play by Shakespeare to my 10th grade students at Cortez, John Kennedy could not be deterred from going to Dallas also.ATG was a role model for Caesar, and the rest is history. Alexander is a different kind of person than is the emperor Julius Caesar. He, like Kennedy, is a role model for youth. Caesar is considered old in comparison. There are many vast similarities and great differences amongst the three.My best to you,Jan

[Kit]

Hi Jan,I don't want to appear to be 'knit-picking' but Caesar was never emperor. He became dictator for life, but resisted the temptation to claim an imperial title for fear of provoking a backlash from pro-Republicans (which his assassination proved was a valid fear!).His adopted son Octavian became the first true emperor, and assumed the title Augustus Caesar.regardsKit

[jan]

Hi Chris,Knitpicking is all right with me when it is correcting an error that I have made. I agree that Caesar did decline the offer. Sorry about that. I guess I just liked the sound of it. :-)I notice this site doesn't make much of Alexander's having been a king also as he is considered secular.Always,
Jan

[marcus]

At the risk of being even *more* nit-picky, there wasn't really a concept of 'imperial' titles as such - what Caesar allegedly turned down was the offer of kingship. It was that which angered the Republicans so much. Literally speaking, also, Augustus wasn't an 'emperor' as we know it, at least not for most of his life. He was "princeps", which meant "the first man", but as quite a few elements of the Rupublic remained it wasn't a true imperial position as we think of it. (That really is nit-picky, though, because I would never argue that Augustus was not an "emperor") :-)All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

Jan,I've ruminated on this a bit, which is why it's taken me a few days to reply.In general I agree with you, and the comparison with JFK is interesting - certainly something I hadn't considered before.I'm intrigued about the "Caesar considered old by comparison" thing. While that is quite possibly true, it's a bit unfair to Caesar (not that it's your or anyone else's fault ). Caesar actually achieved many things earlier than legally he was able to (there were set ages before which Romans couldn't enter the senate, become prefects etc.), so in terms of Rome he was comparatively *young*!All the bestMarcus

[mylesh]

Caesar and Alexander are my two idols. Alexander is number 1 to me but Caesar is close.Janet how is Kennedy anything like either Caesar or Alexander? He didn't really do much. He was an adulterer, he made deals with very unsavoury people to get where he got, he came from a family of criminals, and he may have been involved in a murder. I don't want any kids I know idolizing him.

[Nicator]

Hello,Not to take anything away from what you've said...I'm not going to back JFK up, but couldn't you say much the same things about ATG and Caesar? ATG was a polygamist, came from a family of criminals, and murderers (though adultery didn't interest him it certainly found a willing participant in Caesar). Philip was every bit as notorious the criminal mastermind in his own way as JFK's dad. Of course, the setting is different, and the times were different. JFK happened before my time, and I'm going to say was not comparable to ATG on any level other than that they both led the most powerful countries in the world during their reigns. Still, it is a bit of an interesting comparison, and ultimately more preferrable to a comparison with Hitler. later Nicator