Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)

Why it’s on the list: Brutus is persuaded that a friend he loves is becoming a tyrant, joins the conspiracy to kill him, and then loses the republic to Antony in a single speech over the body. Shakespeare’s most argued-over political play, because the case for the assassination is made honestly and the assassination still destroys everything.

Where I heard about it

• Founders Classical Academy — the one text on the Lewisville, Texas school’s reading list assigned twice: adapted in sixth grade and in Shakespeare’s own language in ninth, betting that a student who already knows the plot can spend the second reading on the rhetoric. Posted by the Classic Learning Test in September 2026; full sequence on Founders Classical Academy Reading List.

About this edition

Written and first performed around 1599; first printed in the 1623 First Folio.

Connections

• Founders Classical Academy Reading List — the curriculum this came from; 56 unique titles across 5th through 12th grade.
• Classical Education — the movement whose canon this list is.
• William Shakespeare
• Julius Caesar
• Literature