Barry Strauss Lecture

       The thesis of Barry Strauss' Lecture was that Julius Caesar cared more for the Empire of Rome than the City of Rome. He gave three reasons why it was a good time to be studying this topic because The study of politics in ancient Rome has been greatly advanced over the last few years. There has also been a flurry of work in military history, and a renaissance of Julius Caesar's studies. Much of the evidence he gives in his lecture is a compilation of historical stories about Julius Caesar that have been written down from that time period. He showed many stories such as Julius not standing to greet the Senators, Him making a joke out of the people calling him Rex, and when he was offered the diadem, but didn't accept. I find this method very persuasive because these are true stories that happened and have been recorded, so it is not an author's interpretation or bias (at least there is less room for that), and it something that can barely be disputed. This gives us a pretty objective argument about Julius Caesar that can be seen through things that he did himself.