[mishftw]

I was listening to Dan Snow's History Hit podcast [0] where there was a guest episode on oligarchs & oligarchy in general. They mentioned Caesar because he was also an oligarch, like most of the other generals/Senators of Rome. Jeff Winters also wrote a book on this topic [1].

Caesar threatened the oligarchs of Rome by crossing the Rubicon with his legions which was heavily frowned upon by the others. Caesar threatened their power structure for sure and likely led to his death.

[0] https://podfollow.com/dan-snows-history-hit/episode/94f58a73... [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11598740-oligarchy

[edgyquant]

I’d say it takes two to tango. Caesar didn’t cross the Rubicon with his legions because he was a mustache twirling villain. He did so because the Roman senators (rightly) feared any man who commanded the respect of a large portion of the legions. Caesar has just pacified one Romes oldest fears, the Gauls, and the people loved him for it. He was told to disband his legions and return to face the senate, a move which certainly mean death, so he did what anyone who wanted to keep living: he invaded.

I really wouldn’t say Caesar’s death had anything to do with oligarchs. Sure he threaten their business interests but what he did was so much worse in their eyes. Remember Rome was built on overthrowing a tyrant, the Senators believed any man who refused to disband his army was an aspiring King and aspiring kings can’t be allowed to live.

Of course Caesar was an aspiring king after the Rubicon, whether he was before will be debates too the end of time, having triumphs where he tested how king like he could act to his subjects (Mike Duncan has an episode on this where he says, “the Roman’s could learn to love autoarchy, but they wouldn’t accept monarchy.)