Family or Faction? The Political, Social and Familial Networks Discerned from Cicero’s Letters during the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey

The civil war between Caesar and Pompey has been categorised as the downfall of the Roman Republic. It affected every Roman citizen and would ultimately shape the course of events that led to the creation of the principate. Although this struggle for power has been well docum nted, relatively few classicists have debated the affiliations and/or support that these two aspiring autocrats would have needed in order to secure victory. The aim of this paper is to highlight these lesser discussed affiliations by using social network analysis (SNA).