Although Gaius Julius Caesar was blessed with brains, courage, and helpful family ties, there were few signs that he would use them. Then suddenly, between the years 60 and 44 B.C., when he was in his forties and fifties, he began to excel in everything he attempted. As an orator, politician, military general, writer and statesman he stood above all men of his day. With an unerring sense of timing and tactics, he devoted himself to one supreme task: the transformation of Rome from a powerful but small republic into a world empire with himself at its head. Such a heroic tale, brimming with battles, triumphs, and intrigue, could hardly have escaped the notice of artists in Caesar's own day and in the twenty subsequent centuries. This book brings together the facts and the myths of Caesar's life with pertinent art, documents, and photographs and reconstruction of significant sites. Read Less