ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Gramscian categories of ‘Caesarism’ and the ‘Myth-Prince’ in view of their similarities, differences, and contradictions. It attempts to map them onto the figures of Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, and Nero as presented in literary texts such as Virgil's Aeneid and Lucan's Bellum Ciuile, and argues that Gramscian philosophy provides us with an important lens to look at the construction of proto-totalitarian ideologies in Roman literature and thought.
