The story of one of the most brilliant flamboyant & historically important men who ever lived From the very beginning Caesar&s story makes dazzling reading In his late teens he narrowly avoided execution for opposing the military dictator Sulla He was decorated for valour in battle captured & held to ransom by pirates & almost bankrupted himself by staging games for the masses As a politician he quickly gained a reputation as a dangerously ambitious maverick By his early 30s he had risen to the position of Consul & was already beginning to dominate the Senate His affairs with noblewomen were both frequent & scandalous His greatest skill outside the bedroom was as a military commander In a string of spectacular victories he conquered all of Gaul invaded Germany & twice landed in Britain
- an achievement which in 55BC was greeted with a public euphoria comparable to that generated by the moon landing in 1969 In just thirty years he had risen from a position of virtual obscurity to become one of the richest men in the world with the power single-handedly to overthrow the Republic By his death he was effectively emperor of most of the known world