The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, a Reconstruction [Paperback]

Arthur D. Kahn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

In this meticulously researched and absorbing biography, Arthur Kahn brings Caesar alive and explores the spirit of his age with intensity, illuminating the politics, the technological and scientific developments, military struggles, and the artistic and philosophical ferment.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Julius Caesar expressed the will of his age and brought off his grandiose plans because, writes Kahn, he saw society as a thing in motion. A man of unbending will and inexhaustible energy, he possessed wide-ranging curiosity; his eloquence and wit charmed even his enemies. Although a dictator, Caesar refused to hunt "subversives" and rejected terror as a political weapon, according to this magisterial 608-page biography. Kahn, a former classics professor, clearly admires the ruler whom he sees as "the greatest personality" of the Roman era. Twelve years in preparation, the study welds ancient and modern sources, using semifictionalized techniques to bring the past to life: "Caesar was at an age to banter with girls and grin at prostitutes ogling him from windows and doorways," the author writes at one point. Readers who can accept this technique will find Kahn's meticulously researched biography absorbing, and convincing in its re-creation of the social and political turmoil of the late Republic.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Kahn's aim is "to explore the interaction between Caesar and his times" with a "scope of imagination" that warrants the style of "fictionalized biography." Unfortunately, he falls short of these praiseworthy goals. His biography remains academic, despite the intrusion of novelistic techniques. Although his culling of the ancient sources is impressive, if not always critical, and his reliance upon direct quotation gratifying, Kahn is limited in his creation of character, scene, and drama, and in his interpretative insights, both historical and psychological. This will satisfy neither the scholar nor the historical novel reader. Robert J. Lenardon, Classics Dept., SUNY at Albany
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Backinprint.Com (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595089216
• ISBN-13: 978-0595089215
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,445,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellence with a Grain of Salt, July 6, 2001

By 

Suzanne Cross "Bibliophilos" (Santa Fe, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Education of Julius Caesar: a Biography, a Reconstruction (Hardcover)

I found Kahn's book fascinating, although I agree with an earlier reviewer that I regret he could not keep his personal politics more out of his book - irritating, but a small caveat when there is so much of use here. It's as if Kahn is too prone to project Rome in 60 BC onto the U.S. in, say, 1935. I've read many books on Caesar (including C. Meier's rather romantic German version) and in many ways, I enjoyed Kahn's more than any except Gelzer (who is still the best). Kahn has his finger on almost every significant event in Caesar's (and the late Republic's) life and is able to work through the facts both thoroughly and logically. In fact, the book is almost overwhelming in its detail. Agreed, he is one of the "pro-Caesar" faction - which seems almost by definition to mean, he's anti-Optimate. Well, it's the rare historian of Caesar who can manage not to take sides on this subject, the very issue that tore the Republic apart. Read the book with the realization that you have a fine bio of Caesar here, accurate and thorough, but more than slightly prejudiced against the Roman Senate that so thoroughly detested and tried to destroy Caesar and you will do very well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent discussion on the great man's life, March 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, a Reconstruction (Paperback)

Kahn's style is slightly stiff at times but otherwise this is an excellent piece of work. Gaius Julius Caesar was a complex, brilliant man and this book leaves you wondering what the Roman world could have become had he not been struck down before he had finished his work. He was murdered 3 days prior to his planned trip to conquer Parthia (Persia)and make a trade route (w/ Roman paved roads) to India. The only real shortcoming to this work is in the area of his personal life. G.J.C.'s uncle was the brilliant consuler and tactician Gaius Marius, he was distantly related to Sulla the dictator, was raised in the Roman version of housing projects by a brilliant and devoted mother, had 3 legal Roman wives, a mistress (Marcus Brutus' mother) and a supposed fling with Cleopatra. However, Kahn devotes minimal time to G.J.C.'s personal life and how it related to his career. Match this book with Colleen McCullough's outstanding 5-part series "The First Man In Rome" and you get a really clear picture.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivat Kahn!, June 25, 2005

By 

Melissa McDowell "Mother of philosophers" (Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, a Reconstruction (Paperback)

FORGET THE ALLEGATIONS OF BIAS AND LEFTISM BY SOME PREVIOUS REVIEWERS. In 40 years of studying the Roman Republic, I find this book to be the best review of Caesar and his times ever written. Kahn does a compelling job of tracing and demonstrating the people, events, knowledge, and institutions that shaped and were modified by Caesar. Especially if you are a Ciceronian, you need to read this book; no writer on Rome since Kahn's book was first published can write without reference to this work, even if to disagree.

I read this when it was first issued, and I go back to it again and again. I also recommend it to those who want a readable and full introduction to Late Republican life.