The true face of Julius Caesar revealed. Artificial intelligence takes care of it

After recounting the life of Rome at the time of Nero, describing in three books in an accurate and passionate manner the fire of 64 AD which destroyed the city, after three years of waiting,Alberto Angela returns to bookstores with another work, this time in a single volume, dedicated to the men who made the history of the Eternal City:‘Caesar. The conquest of eternity’(Mondadori publisher, pages 616 – 24 euros). It is not a biography, but the story of an undertaking that everyone has heard about and studied in part (and translated at school into numerous Latin versions), one that the same Caesar narrated in ‘De Bello Gallico’. Angela takes an immersive journey into that literary work of the highest quality.

And he does it in his own way, bringing the reader insideRomatelling thedaily lifeof the inhabitants of the Eternal City of the 1st century BC. With an elegant and engaging style that somehow recalls the works of Gregorovius, Alberto Angela reconstructs the world ofCesarewith the gaze ofpopularizerand the care of the historian, restoring the richness of an era that laid the foundations ofEuropean civilization. In the book they alternatearcheology, anthropologyhistory and geography, with the aim of ‘reviving’ antiquity and making readers understand how much the undertaking told in ‘De Bello Gallico’ determined thehistory of the Westand its repercussions reach up to the present day.

Caesar: epic hero, leader and man

Il ‘De Bello Gallico’explains the author, “is an unrepeatable journey into antiquity. It is the ideal script for a great series:epic battlesbetrayals, passions, wars and loves. It is the story of the moment in whichCaesar conquers Gauland, symbolically, eternity”. In Caesar we find the epic and human hero, rational like Ulysses, but also ready to fall and get up again.leaderand a man who faces his public and private wars, who loves, suffers, betrays, hopes. ‘Caesar. The Conquest of Eternity’ is not just a historical work (obsessively documented and based onin-depth research): it is a reflection on current events, “a great adventure story, a journey that offers discoveries of archeology and anthropology, geographical curiosities and reflections onRoman world“. Remembering the war to understand the value of peace, observing the birth of Europe to understand its roots, looking to the past to interpret our future. Imagine starting withJulius Caesarand his legions for an undertaking which in the leader’s mind must imitate the deeds of his idol,Alessandro Magno: la conquest of Gaul.

The Gaul campaign: from 58 BC to the Rubicon

It’s the58 a.C.and that mysterious land, inhabited by warlike populations who had already defeated the Romans, had been assigned to Caesar to administer on behalf of Rome. ANDproconsulof three regions whose populations have recently sworn allegiance to Rome but are young and restless. Caesar dreams of conquering them militarily and actually enlarging thedominion of Rome. It can only do so if there is a ‘casus belli’. And this arrives punctually in March 58 BC, or, using the Roman calendar of Caesar’s time, the first month of 695 ‘ab urbe condita’, from the foundation of the city (753 BC). They beginnine yearsdestined to change the world and mark the end ofRepublican Rome. It happens on the last page of the book, when at the end of the campaign in Gaul, Caesar after having attempted to find an agreement with the Senate and his great adversary Pompeydecides to take the step that will start thecivil war(told in ‘De bello civili’), the passage ofRubicon riverwith the army, an act which means declaration of war against Rome.

Angela describes theGaul campaignof Caesar whose legions face marches in the snow,bloody battlesthey must build bridges, create fleets, cross forests that are believed to be haunted and sanctuaries populated by decapitated skeletons. The pages follow one another with the rhythm and atmosphere of the great blockbusters: places that seem to come out of the great adventure films even if here, Angela underlines, “it’s all true”.

Artificial intelligence at the service of History

Alberto Angela, historian and popularizer, is always projected forward. And also on the occasion of this book he gives a gift to readers using theartificial intelligence (AI)to take a leap back in time and history. In a downloadable video by framing a QR Codeand in the images inserted inside the volume you can see the faces, battle scenes and moments ofdaily liferealized thanks to AI, guided by in-depthhistorical-scientific research. Above all, obviously, the reconstruction of theface of forty-year-old Julius Caesar(the age he was when he conquered Gaul).

Here the prompts that give instructions to the AI ​​are literary in nature – Suetonius, the only one to say that he had “black and lively eyes”, and Plutarch – and of an artistic nature, i.e. based on the marble busts and coin portraits showing aJulius Caesarwith a square and protruding jaw, a high and spacious forehead with marked wrinkles. He has the hollow cheeks and protruding cheekbones and on both sides of the face a deep wrinkle detaches from the nostril and runs down to the side of the mouth. The nose is important and slightly arched, aquiline, while the lips are thin and narrow. Finally iThe Adam’s apple is pronounced and the ears are small and not detached from the head.

Furthermore, Cesare is balding. TO He is forty years old and has incipient baldnesswhich he tries to disguise by combing his hair towards his forehead. As historians tell us, Caesar took great care of his body and was therefore always clean-shaven (and often shaved). Furthermore, as Suetonius writes, he was tall for that period, that is, at least 170-175 centimeters, about 10 above average. What artificial intelligence creates, by putting together these and many other historical or historiographical indications, is the most important imagerealistic and probablenever obtainedJulius Caesar. A first step, explains Alberto Angela.

“We have adopted ainnovative approach. Artificial intelligence, guided by a historical investigation, transformed words into images, allowing us to review lost pieces of life, almost as if they were shots taken by a photojournalist. We continue on the road that uses thetechnologyto helpdisclosureremaining faithful to the principle that we must use entertainment to do science and not vice versa”, he adds.