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It was Caesars desire to be king which led to his assassination - Coggle…
It was Caesars desire to be king which led to his assassination
Evidence For
Plutarch
'But the most open and deadly hatred towards him was produced by his passion for the royal power'
'Undisguised Tyranny: His power was now not only absolute but perpetual'
Plutarch account of the events leading up to caesars assassination argue that caesar was aiming for absolute power and that is the reason for his assassination
using all of the sources and quotes, discuss the role of Cassius, marcus brutus, and decimus brutus
When a diaman was placed on Caesar statue, two tribunes had it removed and imprisoned the man who placed it there, Suetonius says Caesar reacted poorly 'either offended that the hint at regal power had been received with so little favour, or, as he asserted, that he had been robbed of the glory of refusing it'
Cassius Dio
'Although he pretended to shun the title, in reality he desire to assume it' (this quote is referring to the title of Rex)
holds the opinion that caesar was a monarch in all but name
his goal of kingship was a result of the unprecedented legal powers he had gained
Archaeological evidence: The Coins
coins displayed caesar on them with the title of dictator in perpetuity
Traditionally coins only depicted dead ancestors, gods or kings, hinting at caesars want to be king
Plutarch notes that when Marcus Antonius offered Caesar a Diadem, this was an experiment led by caesar to see if the roman people would accept him as a king
along with plutarchs account, Cassius Dio also says this action was suspected as being deliberate and that caesar was 'anxious for the name (rex), but wished to be somehow compelled to take it'
Cicero also accounts this event as ' a premeditated and deliberately planned wickedness'
IN 45BC, Cicero was referring to Caesar as 'the king' in private letters
Evidence Against
‘It is unlikely that Caesar himself deliberately sought divine worship for himself in rome, though roman generals inference and the east had received divine honours for the last 150 years: in this caesar was no exception when he was described in an inscription at Ephesus as god manifest and common saviour of life of man’ - Scullard
Scullards interpretation of caesars behaviours
‘All these incidents will be interpreted as his effort to win it: for instance, if Antony offered him the crown the crowd had gone wild with enthusiasm, he would have accepted it. On the other hand they can be explained otherwise, some as attempts by Caesar to kill rumors that he wanted to become king and other as attempts by his political enemies to embarrass him’
Nicolaus of Damascus
Goes through detail of how Caesar continued to refuse the title of kingship
'the people clamoured that he become king and they shouted that there should be no longer any delay in crowing him as such' Damascus states that caesar refused this title
when the senate placed a crown on caesar head he 'snatched it off'
'when antonius crowned caesar a second time the people shouted in chorus, hail,king, but caesar still refused the crown'
other sources such as Plutarch note how caesar refusal of the crown was due to his understanding of the people's dislike for kingship, however Nicolaus differs from this stating that the people insisted on his kingship and he refused
Scullard notes that Caesar was about to depart for a three year campaign, and for this reason it was unlikely he had any long-term plans such as kingship