The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome

Written by Michael Parenti

Narrated by David Stifel

"A provocative history" of intrigue and class struggle in Ancient Rome—"an important alternative to the usual views of Caesar and the Roman Empire"—Publishers Weekly.



Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome through the eyes of its rich nobility—the 1 percent of the population who controlled 99 percent of the empire's wealth. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Michael Parenti recounts this period, spanning the years 100 to 33 BC, from the perspective of the Roman people. In doing so, he presents a provocative, trenchantly researched narrative of popular resistance against a powerful elite.



As Parenti carefully weighs the evidence concerning the murder of Caesar, he adds essential context to the crime with fascinating details about Roman society as a whole. In this book, we find reflections on the democratic struggle waged by Roman commoners, religious augury as an instrument of social control, the patriarchal oppression of women, and the political use of homophobic attacks. The Assassination of Julius Caesar offers a whole new perspective on an era thought to be well-known.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666175448

Michael Parenti

Michael Parenti is an award-winning author, scholar, and lecturer. He is the author of God and His Demons (2010), Contrary Notions: The Michael Parenti Reader (2007), The Culture Struggle (2006), The Assassination of Julius Caesar (2003), and Democracy for the Few, 9th edition (2010).

Reviews for The Assassination of Julius Caesar

[andjhostet-527429 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating look at Roman History, from a distinctly plebian/proletarian view, which is fairly unique in history.

The main thesis of the book, was that Julius Caesar was assassinated not for being a tyrant, but for taking away power and profits from the wealthy elite, and giving them to the people. The book details his policies and reforms he proposed and enacted, such as debt relief, rent control, landlord taxes, redistribution of wealth and land from wealthy elites to middle/lower classes. Considering leftists 2000 years later are still being assassinated for similar policies, it shows that society has not really changed much in 2 millennia.

The book was interesting, but could get a little dry at times. If I were a little more familiar with the big names at the time, it probably would have been vastly easier to follow. For that reason, I'd recommend this to anyone who has read anything about Roman History before, but maybe not for someone's first time.

[jcvogan1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good alternative view to the dominant narrative. Not a very good historian though.

[colby_glass-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A "people's history," like Howard Zinn. A very different viewpoint on Caesar: a champion of the people (lower and middle classes) rather than a tyrant.

[philae_02 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Parenti claims that the role of the 'mob' played a much more important role to why Julius Caesar was assassinated. Caesar was planning to reform the government to give more to the people, similar to the Gracchi brothers. However, the oligarchy of Rome did not want that to happen, so they killed him. I particularly was interested on how Parenti depicted Cicero and his peers.