Kill Caesar!: Assassination in the Early Roman Empire

Exploring the history of internal security under the first Roman dynasty, this groundbreaking book answers the enduring question: If there were 9,000 men guarding the emperor, how were three-quarters of Rome’s leaders assassinated? Rose Mary Sheldon traces the evolution of internal security mechanisms under the Julio-Claudians, evaluating the system that Augustus first developed to protect the imperial family and the stability of his dynasty. Yet in spite of the intensive precautions taken, there were multiple attempts on his life. Like all emperors, Augustus had a number of competing constituencies—the senate, the army, his extended family, the provincials, and the populace of Rome—but were they all equally threatening? Indeed, the biggest threat would come from those closest to the emperor—his family and the aristocracy. Even Roman imperial women were deeply involved in instigating regime change.By the fourth emperor, Caligula, the Praetorian Guards were already participating in assassinations, and the army too was becoming more politicized. Sheldon weighs the accuracy of ancient sources: Does the image of the emperor presented to us represent reality or what the people who killed him wanted us to think? Were Caligula and Nero really crazy, or did senatorial historians portray them that way to justify their murder? Was Claudius really the fool found drooling behind a curtain and made emperor, or was he in on the plot from the beginning? These and other fascinating questions are answered as Sheldon concludes that the repeated problem of “killing Caesar” reflected the empire’s larger dynamics and turmoil.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations The Julio-Claudian Family: The Emperors from Augustus to Nero Conspiracies against the Julio-Claudian Emperors Introduction 1 The Republic 2 The Augustan System: Fume et Specule 3 Augustus and the Opposition: Attempts on the Life of the Emperor 4 The Reign of Tiberius 5 The Conspiracy That Killed Caligula 6 Claudius the Fool? 7 The “Mad” Emperor Nero 8 The End of the Julio-Claudians 9 Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories: An Empire in Blood Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

About the Author :
Colonel Rose Mary Sheldon holds the Henry King Burgwyn, Jr., Chair in Military History at the Virginia Military Institute. Her books include Ambush! Surprise Attack in Ancient Greek Warfare, Rome’s Wars in Parthia: Blood in the Sand, Spies of the Bible, and Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome: Trust in the Gods, but Verify.

Review :
Why and how did the Romans resort to assassination to rid themselves of rulers? Sheldon . . . our foremost authority on ancient intelligence . . . explores the fate of Julius Caesar and his four immediate successors to explore what went horribly wrong in Rome—how security failures and seemingly endless family wrangles cost so many lives. . . . Her case studies show that the Roman Empire was a boiling cauldron of conspiracy, where even an emperor’s brothers or sons were not beyond suspicion. . . . Sheldon . . . converts her findings into smooth-flowing prose that brings her story to life. Exploring the history of internal security under the first Roman dynasty, this groundbreaking book answers the enduring question: If there were 9,000 men guarding the emperor, how were three-quarters of Rome’s leaders assassinated? . . . Does the image of the emperor presented to us represent reality or what the people who killed him wanted us to think? Were Caligula and Nero really crazy, or did senatorial historians portray them that way to justify their murder? Was Claudius really the fool found drooling behind a curtain and made emperor, or was he in on the plot from the beginning? These and other fascinating questions are answered as Sheldon concludes that the repeated problem of ‘killing Caesar’ reflected the empire’s larger dynamics and turmoil.” Why were Rome’s first emperors—the good, the bad, and the ugly—so vulnerable to conspiracies and assassination? As the first historian to investigate this intriguing question of imperial (in)security, Rose Mary Sheldon has given us an expert analysis that is both compelling and eye-opening. Rose Mary Sheldon, one of the most important historians of the Roman age, provides a lucid and captivating investigation of the unlikely survival of the Roman Empire. She offers a new perspective on the remarkable number of emperors murdered as a result of palace conspiracies orchestrated by a part of the Senate. Sheldon brilliantly reconstructs the evolution of a new autocracy, that of the Principate, which has its roots in the assassination of Caesar, on the Ides of March, 44 BCE.