Julius Caesar - Inside the Mind of a Dictator

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Julius Caesar was one of the most powerful men in history. An astute politician and moving public speaker who was adored by the common man. He was a masterful, but ruthless, military tactician who added huge swathes of Northern Europe to the Roman Republic. His boldness and unshakeable belief that he knew what was best for Rome brought about a devastating Civil War after which he was made perpetual dictator - Emperor in all but name - but soon after he was brutally assassinated after ignoring warnings for his safety.
In this historical documentary, Prof Graeme Yorston, explores his complex personality to find out what drove him on, risking everything, in his relentless pursuit of power.
Find out more:
His own accounts of the Gallic and Civil Wars, tell you a lot about what he thought of himself. I liked Greg Woolf’s book Et tu Brute which provides a detailed look at how Caesar walked into his assassination, but for scholarly detail Miriam Griffin’s Companion to Julius Caesar can’t be beaten. These are available through my Amazon Store. www.amazon.com...
Ancient Sources:
Appian of Alexandria - The Civil Wars
Julius Caesar - The Gallic War and The Civil Wars
Sallust - The Jugurthine War
Plutarch - The Parallel Lives
Suetonius - The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
Academic References:
Cawthorne, T. (1958). Julius Caesar and the falling sickness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 51, 27-30.
Gomez, J. G., Kotler, J. A., and Long, J. B. (1995). Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor? The Journal of the Florida Medical Association, 82(3), 199-201.
Hughes, J. R. (2004). Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar-Did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology? Epilepsy and Behavior, 5(5), 756-764.
McLachlan, R. S. (2010). Julius Caesar's late onset epilepsy: a case of historic proportions. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 37(5), 557-561.
Montemurro, N., Benet, A., and Lawton, M. T. (2015). Julius Caesar's epilepsy: Was it caused by a brain arteriovenous malformation? World Neurosurgery, 84(6), 1985-1987.
Copyright Disclaimer:
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
Images Wikimedia Commons National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, Netherlands Public Domain or used on Fair Use basis for education purpose
Music:
Holst - The Planets, op. 32 - Mars, the bringer of war. Skidmore College Orchestra. Musopen. CC0
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition Skidmore College Orchestra CC0
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 In B Minor, Op. 74, 'Pathetique' - I. Adagio, Allegro Non Troppo. Musopen Symphony CC1.0
Mozart String Quartet No. 15 In C Major "Les Dissonances" K465. Quatuor Mosaïques CC0
Camille Saint-Saëns Danse macabre. Orchestre de l'Association des Concerts Colonne, Louis Fourestier (conductor). Public Domain and Rondo capriccioso. Musicians: Elias Goldstein with the Depaul Symphony in Chicago. CC2.0
Handel Suite No 1. No 2. Public domain
Faure Flute Fantasie. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano)
Bruckner Symphony No 3. Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Paavo Järvi. CC4.0
Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4; United States Army Band. Public Domain
Albeniz -Suite espanola op. 47 - leyenda. Public domain via Musopen.com; Asturias - David Hernando Vitores CC4.0, Tango Op.165 Nº2 - David Hernando Vitores - Kayoko Morimoto (Wasei Duo) CC4.0
Victoria -O vos omnes - The Tudor Consort CC2.5
Bach - Cello Suite no. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 - Pablo Casals Public domain
Tarrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra Carlo Alberto Boni CC3.0
Taffanel: Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0
MusicLFiles - The Lament Of The Warfields CC4.0
Misha Dioxin From the Arctic Circle - To the southern seas CC4.0
Mahler Symphony No.4 in G major European Archive. Musopen Public Domain
Video edited by Manavi Sakunika and produced by Professor Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.

[@NaturalBStyles]

Of all the KZbinrs sponsored by BH, yours is the most appropriate and genuine 👍🏽

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@indigocheetah4172]

You're a remarkable narrator, Professor Yorston. The research, editing, and presentation are first class. We still use the idiom "to cross the Rubicon”, in speech today.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

We do indeed, it is a rather insignificant river near Rimini that you cross on the motorway - not very momentous these days.

[@indigocheetah4172]

@@professorgraemeyorston, If the river could talk, it would have witnessed a significant event.

[@bradleypierce1561]

Thank you for this very comprehensive look at the life of Julius Caesar. Well done sir!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@Ellie-wl3rw]

Napoleon I was a huge fan of Caesar as commander of an army. He studied his battles intensely as a young soldier at the military academy and this likely contributed to his own success in battle. Interesting to learn that Napoleon III, Bonaparte's nephew, was a Caesarean sycophant. Thanks for another tremendous presentation. I love this channel... 🤩

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you. I think a lot of wannabe great leaders have likened themselves to Caesar.

[@TuckerSP2011]

Thank you for making his life and times understandable. It was interesting to try to understand what could have driven him to seek such a powerful position and to achieve such incredible military victories only to fail to protect himself despite warnings in the end. Even though he knew he had physical vulnerabilities, he either trusted fate or was so used to extreme risk.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks for watching.

[@jilltagmorris]

Wonderful as always! ❤😊

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you! 😊

[@CynthiaJanowiecki]

Thank you for providing these videos. I find them fascinating to watch.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you're enjoying them.

[@voyaristika5673]

I enjoy/appreciate your videos. They always send me down unexplored paths. Thank you!

[@rainblaze.]

You should "do one" on Bach.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I'll look into him.

[@chrish2277]

Another wonderful video. Thankyou

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@elliepascoe5954]

Another reminder that you may be careful with what you wish for. His death wish was granted very swiftly indeed. I agree with you, I think he chose his death and sent out the invitation. It made him even more "immortal" and would therefore certainly fit his psychopathic nature.Very interesting as always!❤🇳🇱

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@CharlesTheInnocent-s9s]

Quite possible that Brutus may have been his son. The Roman historian, Suetonius says that Caesar's last words were in Greek. Kai Su Teknon which meant You too, my child. Were his words a Freudian slip acknowledging that he was Brutus's father or just a figment of Suetonius's imagination?

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Suetonius wasn't there of course, but there was contemporary gossip that Caesar had an affair with his mother, so it is certainly possible.

[@Kerwin-Kendell]

This is a very good content upload about Caesar, especially from a psychological standpoint. However, like others didn't mention what he did for the good of the plebs & The Republic: he gave land to more than 20,000 families with 2 or more children, instituted tariffs on imported luxury goods (to help domestic production & make the rich & wealthy pay smthg for their lavish lifestyle). He granted citizenship to all learned & skilled individuals, reduced the debts of plebs to pre-civil war levels, he waved rent payment for one year on all low income dwellings, he made all rich or wealthy land owners have 1/3 of their worker be free-men/women to reduce high unemployment & crime (if slaves have most of the work, this is not good). Caesar granted Jews the right to religious freedom. For more info check out Michael Parenti: Rome Manufacture of history (or The Assassination of Julius Caesar).

[@professorgraemeyorston]

He certainly instituted some popular policies for humbler Romans, but did he do these things just to buy popularity - and whose land was it that he was giving away.

[@paolomuraglia8430]

congratulations for your correct comment, the "divo giulio" is without a doubt the greatest human being who ever lived, the impossible.

[@Kerwin-Kendell]

@@professorgraemeyorston I don't think it was just to buy popularity, although he certainly enjoyed being popular. I wish we could find out more about what he did. If he took land (wrongly) from some to give to others.

[@shellyirby9828]

Great job Professor!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Glad you liked it!

[@jannarkiewicz633]

You had me at psychologist. Let’s hear your view…

[@chadclay1643]

2:21 is that Frodo Baggins emerging?

[@professorgraemeyorston]

He's a bit tall for Frodo!

[@A0A4ful]

Prof Yorston, Is there any faintest resemblance to the possible idea that Julius Cæsar did face resistance to his Imperialist policy of conquering all of Europe, by one tiny village in Gaul...? Just asking, on behalf of millions of the escapades of Asterix & Obelix...

[@professorgraemeyorston]

He faced enormous resistance and could easily have been wiped out at the Battle of Alesia - but by Vercingetorix I'm afraid ...not Asterix!

[@sarahshoebridge2683]

Can you look at Charles Lindburgh and or constance kent / Buck Ruxton, Herbert Rowse Armstrong. Thank you.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[@martinberridge9173]

@professorgraemeyorston I'd be interested in a video about so-called Acid Casualties like Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd or Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks, I'll look into them.

[@sarielle85]

The whole of Gaul - except for that one village of indominable Gauls, that still holds out against the Roman invaders.

[@drkmwinters]

You can back up off that mic a bit. Otherwise, we hear every inhalation. Just a tip to improve your content for podcasts

[@loricook6331]

Christ is the center point of history. Changing the vernacular does nothing to change that

[@guitarofdestiny]

12:56 spoiler alert 😭😂

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Sorry, did you think it had a happy ending!

[@jjskn93]

You may want to look into better help. I know your intention is genuine but theirs really isn't. Lots of misconduct and data harvesting alogations.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you, I'll take a look.

[@MBRMrblueroads]

👍👍

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thanks.

[@jammeni5292]

33 minutes of history, 6 of psychology. Disappointing.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

The facts of his life, if they are facts, are all that we have to base any psychological conclusions on.