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Articles on Julius Caesar

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Rep. Kevin McCarthy leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the US Capitol on Dec. 5, 2023. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Ex-Speaker McCarthy’s departure from Congress reads like Greek tragedy – but stars a ‘slight unmeritable man’ and not a hero

Kevin McCarthy, the only speaker of the House to be ousted, has quit Congress. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as Shakespeare, understood the price of ambition like McCarthy’s: humiliation.
There are lots of official photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin shirtless, including this one from August 2017. Alexey Nikolsky/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

The American founders could teach Putin a lesson: Provoking an unnecessary war is not how to prove your masculinity

A leader’s machismo can lead to war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long displayed his version of hyper-masculinity. A historian says that for America’s founders, wars never fed their egos.
Marc Antony, left, offers Julius Caesar a crown; Caesar refuses. Bettman/Getty Images

Julius Caesar refused to be crowned king

With much public discussion of President Donald Trump as, potentially, a king, a scholar of Roman history and rhetoric sees 2,000-year-old parallels.
U.S. President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Topeka, Kan., Oct. 6, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

From Caesar to Trump: Immunity is a hard thing to give up

US law says the president can’t be indicted, an echo of ancient Roman law. The efforts Roman leader Julius Caesar made to maintain his immunity is a cautionary tale for America’s political system.
Gregg Henry portrays President Donald Trump in the role of Caesar in the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of ‘Julius Caesar,’ in New York City. Joan Marcus/The Public Theater via AP

Julius Caesar in our times

Some have denounced the New York Public Theater for encouraging violence against President Trump. But the play does just the opposite, warning of the pitfalls of political assassination.
But did it change history? Dan Iggers

Kennedy anniversary: assassins through the ages

Assassination has never changed the history of the world. The speaker was Benjamin Disraeli; the occasion, his address to parliament following the murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth in 1865…

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