ABSTRACT

The popularity of Julius Ctesar was caused not only by its dramatic effectiveness but also by its individual approach to the traditions and feelings which had grown up round the name of Caius Julius Ca:sar. To explore the long history of the 'Ca:sar-Mythos' is outside our present terms of reference, but although Shakespeare's main source was North's Plutarch, he seems to have dipped into other authorities, and it may well be that his handling of the material was affected by a complex tradition which, arising from the divergent attitudes of classical historians, had been modified in the Middle Ages and Renaissance in legend, scholarship and creative writing.