Caesar and the Gallic War

About the lecture

In this lecture we provide an introduction to Julius Caesar and his account of the conquest of Gaul, De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War), focusing in particular on: (i) the figure of Julius Caesar, his military and political career, his role in the civil wars, his assassination, and his legacy; (ii) Caesar’s account of his conquest of Gaul, De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War), including its structure and style; (iii) the ‘rhetoric’ of De Bello Gallico – how does this apparently simple, transparent account persuade us to adopt a particular point of view?

About the lecturer

Christopher Whitton is Professor of Latin Language at the University of Cambridge. He works on Latin literature of the early Roman Empire, especially Pliny the Younger and Tacitus, with particular interests in prose style, intertextuality and the intersection of literature and history. His main research projects at the moment are a 'green and yellow' commentary on Tacitus Annals 14 and a monograph provisionally entitled Tacitus Revoiced: Reading the Histories with Pliny the Younger.