In the journal article "Caesar and The Pirates: or How to Make (and Break) an Ancient Life.", author Josiah Osgood describes the differences of various ancient writer’s accounts on Caesar’s kidnapping by Pirates. Mr. Osgood claims that Caesar may have used his kidnapping to enhance his image and simultaneously sullying Iunius Iuncus’s appearance. Osgood demonstrates how Caesar was more than an ordinary nobleman in Asia than in Rome due to his connection to his father. Mr. Osgood gives s brief explanation as to why Caesar enacted the swift punishment of the Pirates after paying his ransom.
Osgood begins by detailing the work of writers Plutarch, Suetonius, Polyaenus, and Velleius regarding Caesar’s kidnapping. Using these authors versions of the event Mr. Osgood conveys how embellishments can be entered into stories of grandeur with the passing of time. He also states that Plutarch’s telling of the kidnapping is somewhat discredited due to his chronological order of events placed around the capture of Caesar. In addition, Mr. Osgood claims that Velleius provides a large portion of written work on …show more content…
Osgood informs the reader that around twenty-five years prior to Caesar’s capture, his father was the governor of Asia. As a result, Mr. Osgood states that when the followers of Caesar were in need of assistance in gathering his ransom, unquestionable support was received from the coastal towns in Asia. He adds that the townsfolks service was not only driven by the knowledge of Caesar’s father but was also attributed to their desire to receive some types of benefit. Osgood further states that their reaction to the followers was reinforced by the Roman Consul Sulla’s significant reward or punishment on citizen’s depending on their support of the Romans during the uprising in Mithridates. Consequently, they willingly assisted Caesar’s followers by contributing a certain amount of ships for the repositioning of the ransom and the pirates own