Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gāius Jūlius Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works since ancient times.
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[edit] Ancient literary works
- Caesar is referred to in some of the poems of Catullus (ca. 84-54 BC)
- He is depicted in Virgil's Aeneid (ca. 29-19 BC), an epic poem about the foundation of Rome
- He appears as a character in Lucan's Pharsalia (AD 61), an epic poem based on Caesar's civil war
[edit] Medieval works
- A legendary account of Caesar's invasions of Britain appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (ca. 1136)
- In the 13th century French romance Les Faits des Romains, Caesar is made a bishop
- In the 13th century French chanson de geste Huon of Bordeaux, the fairy king Oberon is the son of Caesar and Morgan le Fay
- Caesar was considered one of the Nine Worthies, first written of in the early 14th century
- Caesar appears in Canto IV of Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy (ca. 1308-1321), in Limbo alongside Aeneas, Homer, Ovid, Horace and Lucan. His assassins, Brutus and Cassius, and his lover, Cleopatra, are seen in hell.
- Caesar's civil war and assassination are recounted in Geoffrey Chaucer's Monk's Tale (ca. 1385, one of his Canterbury Tales)
[edit] Renaissance and early modern works
[edit] Theatre
- William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar (1599) depicts Caesar's assassination and its aftermath, and has been adapted for the cinema several times
[edit] Opera
- Handel's Giulio Cesare (first performed 1724)
[edit] Modern works
[edit] Theatre
- Caesar and Cleopatra (1901), a play by George Bernard Shaw
[edit] Fiction
- Masters of Rome, a series of six novels by the Australian writer, Colleen McCullough
- Tros of Samothrace, a historical novel by Talbot Mundy, has Julius Caesar as the novel's villain. Mundy depicts Caesar and Roman civilization as imperialist and tyrannical.
- Emperor Series, a series of four novels by the writer, Conn Iggulden
- Roma Sub Rosa, a series of historical mysteries by the American writer, Steven Saylor
- Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar.
- Sword of Caesar (1987), in the Time Machine series, asks the reader to travel back to ancient Rome and find the fate of Caesar's battle sword.
[edit] Film
- Played by Fritz Leiber, Sr. in Cleopatra (1917)
- Played by Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (adapted from Shaw's play, 1945)
- Played by Harold Tasker in Julius Caesar (adapted from Shakespeare's play, 1950)
- Played by Louis Calhern in Julius Caesar (adapted from Shakespeare's play, 1953)
- Played by John Gavin in Spartacus (1960)
- Played by Rex Harrison in Cleopatra (1963)
- Played by Kenneth Williams in Carry on Cleo (1964)
- Played by John Gielgud in Julius Caesar (adapted from Shakespeare's play, 1970)
- Played by Gottfried John in Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (1999)
- Played by Klaus Maria Brandauer in Druids (2001)
- Played by Alain Chabat in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002)
- Played by Alain Delon in Asterix at the Olympic Games (2008)
[edit] TV
- Cleopatra (1999 film) played by Timothy Dalton
- 2002 TV movie called Julius Caesar, which depicts his active life
- Empire (TV series), played by Colm Feore
- Gaius Julius Caesar in Rome (TV series), played by Ciarán Hinds
- Julius Caesar (2002) TV, played by Jeremy Sisto
- Wayne and Shuster's comedy sketch Rinse the Blood off My Toga is a spoof of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in the form of a Dragnet episode
- Xena: Warrior Princess highlighted Julius Caesar as a major protagonist, played by actor Karl Urban
- Histeria!, where Caesar's appearance is based on Frank Sinatra
- Internet sitcom Custer and Julius: Beyond 2000 features a modern-day Julius Caesar, played by actor Steve Anderson.
[edit] Radio
- In "The Histories of Pliny the Elder" - a 1958 episode of the British radio comedy "The Goon Show" parodying epic films - Caesar is portrayed by Peter Sellers as Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, with Moriarty as a centurion and sidekick.
[edit] Comics
- A depiction of the Gallic War Commentaries of Caesar's, "De Bello Gallico" appeared in the now defunct "Classic Illustrated" comic series entitled "Caesar's Conquests" from the 1940's to the 1970's
- Asterix comics, written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo, include a fictionalized Julius Caesar as a recurring character.
- Caesar appears in Neil Gaiman's Sandman #30, "August" (collected in The Sandman: Fables and Reflections)
[edit] Games
- Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego features Julius Caesar in one of its stages.
- Julius Caesar is a character in The Civilization game series.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
