Julius Caesar is one of the most famous figures of the ancient Roman world. A skilful general and leading politician of the late Roman Republic, he secured a 10-year proconsular command in the province of Gaul, during which he accumulated both wealth and power. A core text in the teaching of Latin in schools, The Gallic War gives a unique insight into this remarkable man, as well as military strategy and practice of the day.
Seven of the work’s eight books were written by Caesar himself. They paint an unsurprisingly flattering self-portrait as he campaigns against both the Germans and the Gauls. This recording features Carolyn Hammond’s well-paced recent translation, published by Oxford University Press.
David Timson has made over 1,000 broadcasts for BBC Radio Drama. For Naxos AudioBooks he has written The History of Theatre, an award-winning production read by Derek Jacobi, and directed four Shakespeare plays including King Richard III (with Kenneth Branagh). He has also read the entire Sherlock Holmes canon and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.