Caesar and Road to an Empire: A Hobbesian Reckoning of Rome (60 BC- 44BC)

Abstract

Julius Caesar was a remarkable man in the history of western civilization. It will not be an exaggeration to say that he is still standing at the center of the history of ancient Rome. His rise to power was during a time when Rome was a Republic being controlled by the wealthy Senate. The rule of the Senate eventually got corrupted by their personal greed. Being a man obsessed with ambition and visions, Caesar saw the error of their ways and he strived for absolute sovereignty by going through a civil war and ending it eventually. In this paper, my aim is to invoke the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes about the 'State of Nature' in the wake of the falling social structure of Rome suffering from the civil war and the corruption of the Senate from 60 BC to 44 BC. I will also analyze Caesar’s rise to power and his acceptance by the common populace of Rome by rendering it with the theory of ‘Absolutism’. The whole purpose of the paper is to critically pinpoint the major ideological impacts of Hobbes in that period of transition where the Roman republic was becoming the Roman Empire.