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The Uncrowned Emperor:
An Examination of the Historiography of Julius Caesar
By Anna McGrath
Abstract:
The Julius Caesar we know is not the one that lived but is instead the product of the views of others. Some of Caesar’s contemporaries as well as the Founding Fathers of America have viewed and portrayed Julius Caesar as a horrible tyrant while power-seeking figures like Roman Emperors, or Napoleon Bonaparte, or Benito Mussolini have called him an ambitious leader. The idea of who Julius Caesar was has been manipulated in order to serve the purposes of the people writing about him. The historiography surrounding Caesar is examined in order to show how and why opposing opinions on Caesar have been formed by important people throughout history.
About the Author:
Anna McGrath is a senior at Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia. She is attending the College of William and Mary next year, hoping to major in either history or anthropology. Her interest in her thesis topic stems from her love of history, mainly Roman history, and her desire to learn more about Julius Caesar. This led her to the topic of historiography, or the study of historical writing because she found interest in the differing interpretations of Caesar and his rule throughout time.
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