Caesar Against The Celts

By Ramon L. Jiménez

Book Overview

A highly-acclaimed account of Julius Caesar's decade-long campaign against the Celts of Germany, Gaul, and Britain When Julius Caesar led his legions on a nine-year war of conquest to the north, he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785814175
• ISBN13: 9780785814177
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Book Sales
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

All Caesar is divided in three parts; gaul, gaul, and gaul.

Actually, the above title may be a bit misleading. While Julius Caesar was probably as honest as any other politician, he COULD put words in a line. Even with a questionable translator, his account of the Gallic War sings. But, was he a reliable historian? Ramon L. Jimenez's "Caesar Against the Celts" is a good starting point for the study of Caesar and his campaigns in western Europe. Copyrighted in 1996, it is one of the later works on the subject. In it he covers Roman and Celt, incuding research beginning with the ancient authors and leading up to the 1970s. One reviewer was grousing about about Jimenez's take on human sacrifice and head hunting. As near as I can see, the author merely reported what the ancient writers and modern archeology said about it. One thing Jimenez didn't mention was the sacrifice of two slaves, a man and a woman, by the residents of Rome while Hannbal was rampaging around the Italian Peninsula (in Livy, I think). As for head hunting, practically everyone's soldiers have done it at one time or another. In fact, a couple are in trouble over it at the moment. One feature of the book I liked was Jimenez lists the ancient writers' works in a separate section of the bibliography. This will make it easy for me to remember them when I get my Kindle. At $0.99 a download for many of their complete works, I'm going to load that puppy up! All in all, a good book. So good in fact, I'm going to check out "Caesar Against Rome" one of his other books (yep, right up there midway of the page).

A very fine historical account

A great history book about Julius Caesar's campaigns in Gaul ( France) against the Celts. Very good book with documentation about tactics and an honest account of the wars.I would compare this to Winston Churchill's history of Britain or Durant's History of Civilization: maybe even Gibbon's "Decline" volumes. You can almost feel the grit of Gaul between your toes!

What's so bad about popularizing ancient literature ?

I had no thought of reading this wonderful little book until I chanced upon the two highly negative reviews below. Despite their somewhat silly attempts at erudition, the authors of those reviews evince a wholly unpleasant snobbery that seems to want to deprive popular audiences of the fun and fascination of the study of classical history and literature. Such, I am convinced, is the mark of the true ignoramus. As a long-time teacher of ancient Greek and Latin, I am all too aware that most students today will never experience the joy of "hearing Caesar's voice" in his native tongue (and that others will never even muddle through a translation). What then is so wrong with a popular account of Caesar's campaigns, particularly such a delightful one as this? As one who has devoted my career (however humble) to promoting classical scholarship, I am proud to recommend this book to both the hobbyists so despised by the reviewer below, and to any newcomers who may be inspired to learn more about the stories and languages of antiquity. Come. Read. Enjoy. And for the Visigoths among us--lighten up, okay?

Fine little book

Excellent little introduction to our old friend Julius Caesar, the role model for Napoleon and many another big risk-taker. Much superior to reading Caesar's work itself unless you want to wade through a lot of political self-promotion. Books like this one do a lot to rescue ancient history from the dank cellar of its earlier scholarship.

Dazzling Success for Caesar, The End for The Celts

The man most know as Julius Caesar left behind a gripping account of his campaigns against the wild men of Europe, the Celts, and their fearsome neighbors, the Germans. The author paints a vivid picture of Caesar's courageous and risky campaign, particularly the startlingly succesful conquest of Britain. The reader is practically treated to a war correspendent's view of a Classical war. The author also provides some juicy tidbits on Caesar's early career, including how he might have earned the alias Queen of Bythnia. Overall, an excellent fleshing out of what was arguably Caesar's greatest achievement, with some much needed "fill in the blanks" of Caesar's personal accounts.