Background and Rise to Prominence: Family, Claim and Early Career

What this note covers

1. Family background was political capital, not destiny
2. Claims to power: legal, dynastic, military and sacred
3. Early career: training, offices and the acquisition of a constituency
4. Marriage, adoption and alliance as political mechanisms
5. Turning points: when opportunity met deliberate action
6. The evidence problem: biographies written backwards
7. Answering rise and significance questions

7 sections · 10 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes