Expert: Maria - 2/20/2010

Question
Simple question, did Caesar know what he was walking into, or did it come as a deadly surprise? I would love some useful and accurate sources about both sides of this argument as well if possible.

Thanks!

Answer
Hello,

Actually  this is NOT a simple question, but a really  "vexata quaestio" , i.e. a subject of disagreement among the historians and then it would need a very long and well-structured answer: which is not the policy of AllExperts site that thinks it is  100% reasonable for volunteers to decline answering  too long and involved questions.


As for “some useful and accurate sources about both sides of this argument as well if possible”, as you say, here are the primary sources about this matter:

-C. Suetonius "The Life of Julius Caesar“ in “The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (De Vita XII Caesarum).

-Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar in “Parallel Lives”

-Plutarch’s Life of Mark Antony in “Parallel Lives”
It includes a description of Caesar's assassination.

-Plutarch's Life of Marcus Brutus in “Parallel Lives”
It includes a description of Caesar's assassination.

Regards,
Maria