''Caesar's Women'' is the fourth
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
in
Colleen McCullough
Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being ''The Thorn Birds'' and ''The Ladies of Missalonghi''.
Life
...
's
Masters of Rome
''Masters of Rome'' is a series of historical novels by Australian author Colleen McCullough, set in ancient Rome during the last days of the old Roman Republic; it primarily chronicles the lives and careers of Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sul ...
series, published in 1996.
Plot summary
The novel is set during a ten-year interval, from 68 to 58 BC, which
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
spent mainly in Rome, climbing the political ladder and outmaneuvering his many enemies. It opens with Caesar returning early from his quaestorship in Spain, and closes with his epochal departure for the Gallic campaigns.
Some of the pivotal moments include Caesar's marriage to
Pompeia; his curule
aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...
ship; his narrow election as
Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC; his
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
ship in 62 BC; his divorce from Pompeia; his governorship of
Further Spain
Hispania Ulterior (English: "Further Hispania", or occasionally "Thither Hispania") was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania (m ...
; the first time he was hailed ''
imperator
The Latin word ''imperator'' derives from the stem of the verb la, imperare, label=none, meaning 'to order, to command'. It was originally employed as a title roughly equivalent to ''commander'' under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part o ...
'' on the field by his troops, the blocking of his
triumphal parade by
Marcus Porcius Cato Marcus Porcius Cato can refer to:
*Cato the Elder (consul 195 BC)
*Cato the Younger (praetor 54 BC)
*Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 118 BC)
* Marcus Porcius Cato (consul 36)
*Marcus Porcius Cato (father of Cato the Younger)
*Marcus Porcius C ...
; the creation of the
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The constitution of the Roman republic had many v ...
, which Caesar formed with
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...
and
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
in 60 BC; his betrothal of his daughter
Julia
Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...
to Pompey; his marriage to
Calpurnia; and his first consulship, in 59 BC.
Reflecting the title, Caesar's divorce and remarriage come into play, as does his daughter's marriage, his lengthy affair with
Servilia and his close relationship with his mother,
Aurelia Aurelia may refer to:
People
* Version of feminine given name Aurélie
* Aurelia (mother of Caesar)
* Aurelia gens, a Roman family
* Aurelia Browder, American civil rights activist
* Astrud Aurelia, American drag queen
Science
* ''Aurelia'' (c ...
. However, most of the plot is concerned with the political struggles of Caesar's rise to power, his conflict with the conservative
'boni' faction, and his election to each post on the Roman
ladder of government.
See also
*
Women in ancient Rome
Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (''cives''), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct politi ...
References
External links
*
Caesar's Women' on
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
{{Masters of Rome
1996 Australian novels
Masters of Rome series
Novels set in the 1st century BC
Fictional depictions of Julius Caesar in literature
Cultural depictions of Pompey
Cultural depictions of Marcus Licinius Crassus
Cultural depictions of Servilia (mother of Brutus)
Cultural depictions of Pompeia (wife of Caesar)
Cultural depictions of Calpurnia (wife of Caesar)
Century (imprint) books