I have always been very curious about the world's greatest and most powerful leaders. Whether or not their intentions were good or bad the events and secrets behind the world's most powerful leaders are enticing. Thus, leading me to do my common task on the comparison of two of the world's most infamous leaders, Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler. In this comparison I focused on an element the two had in common, medical issues. Caesar had epilepsy and suffered from seizures during the last couple years of his life (Jones). The evidence of Caesar's epilepsy is based off the ancient sources of Suetonius, Plutarch, Pliny, and Appianus. The sources suggest evidence that most of Caesar's family also suffered from epilepsy and he had inherited it from his grandfather and father, who died of sudden seizures (Hughes Jr.).
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| Julius Caesar |
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| Adolf Hitler |
The product I made is a comparison of the two leaders, Caesar and Hitler. I researched this topic because of my curiosity of "what was behind the curtain" of two of the world's most infamous and powerful leaders. The information I found was remarkable and provides evidence for some of the actions and events that took place under their leadership. The comparison I made showcases the information I found during my research.
The link to my product is here Caesar VS Hitler .
Sources
-Hughes JR., "Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
-Jones, Jeffrey M., Dr. "'The Falling Sickness' in Literature." Southern Medical Journal. Medscape, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
-http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Morell/Morell.pdf (This link wouldn't let me cite for some reason..)
This is a really interesting topic! I've never thought to connect two of the most powerful leaders through their medical ailments. I think that them not having control over their body may have led to some severe power issues. Maybe they were trying to cope with their weakness by coming off as overly strong and intimidating.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Paige. When people have weaknesses and medical issues, they usually try to make up for it or cover it up by portraying themselves as stronger. Being a leader, you never want to seem weak, so by becoming extremely powerful, it can hide the fact that there are some disabilities behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteI think you both are right. Caesar and Hitler's insecurities about their medical issues very well could have been a reason behind their radical thinking and actions.
ReplyDeleteThis topic was really fascinating, especially that they would shut down the assembly hall after a leader suffered from an epileptic attack. Seeing as how it was referred to as the demonic sickness, and then purified the assembly hall, did the Roman people believe that they too could catch this health issue from their leader? I also wonder if at the time people viewed such an experience as something health related or demonic.
ReplyDeleteCould you explain further the different kinds of diseases mentioned in the middle of this post? Were they the same disease with different names or different ailments?
ReplyDeleteDo you think these ailments contributed to their power struggles or was it just coincidental? Did you find any other (in)famous leaders with health issues?
Good choice of comparing these two leaders in particular, I instantly thought of connections between the two and how they lead. I could only imagine the impact that the ailments had on these leaders and I was totally unaware of it being involved. All of this information was very interesting and well covered.
ReplyDeleteI never made the connection between Caesar and Hitler, but now I can clearly see the similarities between the two! I agree with everyone above. Their various ailments definitely could have had an impact on their leadership decisions, as neither of them would want to appear weak to their people.
ReplyDeleteI always considered Julius Caesar a victim and Hitler the villain. Julius Caesar was murdered by his best friend, which kind of forced me to sympathize with him. In reality he was quite the cruel dictator and could be considered quite similar to Hitler. It is interesting to note that both of these leaders had serious medical conditions. However, their conditions are very different so I am unsure if any clear connection between the two regarding their conditions can be made. I think this would be a very interesting study to conduct to see if leaders with dictator-like properties have medical conditions. I was very surprised that Caesar might have a condition similar or equivalent to epilepsy because I had always believed the citizens thought of their leader as a god. If Caesar was suffering from such a serious medical problem I feel like his followers would consider him an equal if not lesser being. Obviously this was not the case, which only makes me more curious about how public his condition was.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting--> Both Hitler and Caesar has such powerful and infamous careers that even in 2015 we do not hear anything of their weaknesses-- their rules were so powerful and terrifying that their powerful reputations last even in their deaths. They must have tried very hard to conceal their illnesses in an attempt not to appear weak, and it must have been successful because this is the first I'm hearing about this. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting--> Both Hitler and Caesar has such powerful and infamous careers that even in 2015 we do not hear anything of their weaknesses-- their rules were so powerful and terrifying that their powerful reputations last even in their deaths. They must have tried very hard to conceal their illnesses in an attempt not to appear weak, and it must have been successful because this is the first I'm hearing about this. Great job!
ReplyDelete