Sommer, Michael Mordsache Caesar

Die letzten Tage des Diktators

Rome holds its breath: during the Senate meeting on 15 March 44 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar fell under the daggers of the conspirators fatally wounded by at least 23 stab wounds. How could it have come to this? Who were the perpetrators? What motives drove them? As a historical investigator, Michael Sommer examines the most famous murder case in world history and presents his findings a gripping story that builds to its inevitable climax like a crime novel. The assassination may have taken Caesar by surprise, but it did not come out of the blue. A group of old enemies and disappointed supporters had been quietly forming for some time, plotting to take his life. After he was proclaimed dictator for life on 15 February 44 BC, a conspiracy began to take shape, culminating in the inevitable bloody climax on the Ides of March. Drawing on rich ancient sources, Michael Sommer describes the events from the different perspectives of a large number of those involved. With detective-like precision, he reveals the sometimes very different motives of Caesar's murderers. The gripping account of this tyrant's murder thus becomes a mirror of an entire era in upheaval.