No Time for Love: Plutarch’s Chaste Caesar
Public Deposited- Creator
-
Beneker, Jeffrey
- College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Classics
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Beneker, Jeffrey
- Abstract
- N THE SOURCE TRADITION, Alexander is quite often depicted as relentless in his pursuit of empire I but self-controlled in most nonmilitary situations, and especially in his amorous relationships. Julius Caesar, on the other hand, when his love life is discussed, is rarely presented as moderate. In his Alexander-Caesar, Plutarch for the most part follows the tradition for Alexander, but for Caesar he has deliberately minimized the role played by Caesar’s lovers and his sexual appetite, making him more like Alexander and concentrating on his single-minded quest for political and military domination. This paper will attempt to explain why Plutarch’s Caesar is essentially sexless, suggesting that Plutarch has purposely deemphasized the erotic aspect of Caesar’s nature in order to accentuate his relentless ambition and that this presentation is influenced by Plutarch’s characterization of Alexander.
- Date of publication
- 2002
- DOI
- Identifier
- Onescience ID: f4891afd25589a191289238e108f1586b691d3a9
- Resource type
- Article
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- License
- Attribution 3.0 United States
- Journal title
- Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
- Journal volume
- 43
- Journal issue
- 1
- Version
- Publisher
- ISSN
- 2159-3159
- 0017-3916
Relations
- Parents:
This work has no parents.
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