True Crime in Dark Rome: The Last Days of Gaius Julius Caesar

Rome holds its breath as Gaius Julius Caesar falls under the daggers of the conspirators during the Senate session on March 15, 44 BC – fatally wounded by at least 23 stabs. How could it have come to this? Who were the perpetrators? And above all: what motives drove them to commit murder? As a historical investigator, Michael Sommer breathes new life into this world-famous crime story, bringing the involved actors along with their motivations, ambitions, and hopes back to life.

The assassination may have caught Caesar off guard, but it did not come out of nowhere. Quietly, a group of old opponents and disillusioned supporters had formed over time, intent on taking his life. Following his declaration as dictator for life on February 15, 44 BC, the web of conspiracy began to weave itself, culminating in the inevitable bloody climax on the Ides of March. Based on rich ancient sources, Michael Sommer recounts the events from the various perspectives of a multitude of involved actors. With detective-like precision, he reveals the often very different motives of the Caesar assassins. The gripping portrayal of this tyrannicide thus becomes a mirror of an entire era in upheaval.

“Michael Sommer knows the hidden underworlds of the Romans very well.”

Uwe Walter, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
• A tyrannicide of world-historical significance

• Told as thrillingly as a crime novel

• Michael Sommer in the role of the historical investigator

• Also a portrait of the late Roman Republic.