70 Fun Facts About Julius Caesar

In which year BC was Julius Caesar assassinated?

He had been declared dictator for life only weeks earlier, in February of that year.

On which date, known by its Roman calendar name, was Caesar killed?

Until the mid-2nd century BC the 15th of March had been the day new consuls took office, which added to its symbolism.

Which river did Caesar famously cross with his army in January 49 BC?

He brought a single legion, the Thirteenth, across the little river that marked the northern boundary of Italy.

Which Greek playwright was Caesar reportedly quoting with 'let the die be cast'?

Plutarch and Suetonius say he spoke the line in Greek; the Latin 'alea iacta est' came later.

Which single legion did Caesar lead into Italy in January 49 BC?

Pompey and much of the Senate fled south, wrongly assuming Caesar was racing straight for Rome.

Along with Caesar, which two men formed the First Triumvirate in 60 BC?

Mary Beard calls the secret alliance the 'Gang of Three'; it was never a formal office.

Which of Caesar's relatives married Pompey to seal their alliance?

Her death in 54 BC removed one of the last personal ties holding the two men together.

Caesar's Gallic Wars ended with the surrender of which chieftain at Alesia?

He was paraded in Caesar's triumph six years later and then executed.

In which year did the climactic Battle of Alesia take place?

The Gauls sat inside Caesar's ring of fortifications while a relief army attacked from outside, so Caesar was besieger and besieged at once.

Which battle earlier in 52 BC did Caesar lose to the Gauls before winning at Alesia?

It was the capital of Vercingetorix's own tribe, the Arverni.

Which island did Caesar invade in 55 and 54 BC?

To Romans it was an 'island of mystery'; he withdrew when Gaul rose in revolt behind him.

Across which river did Caesar build a bridge as a show of Roman engineering power?

The bridge marked the river as Rome's frontier with the Germanic tribes.

Which migrating tribe did Caesar stop near Geneva in the first engagement of the Gallic Wars?

He built a wall to block them and defeated them at Bibracte before sending them home.

What is the Latin title of Caesar's own account of the Gallic Wars?

Its clear prose made it the traditional first real text for Latin students; the eighth book was finished by Aulus Hirtius.

How many books of the Gallic Wars did Caesar write himself?

Each covered a year of campaigning and was published as a kind of dispatch from the front to keep Rome on his side.

At which battle in 48 BC did Caesar decisively defeat Pompey?

Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered on arrival; Cicero and Brutus begged Caesar's pardon.

Where was Pompey killed after fleeing from Caesar?

Caesar arrived three days later and was trapped in the city by the Etesian winds.

Which Egyptian queen became Caesar's lover during the Alexandrine war?

He installed her as ruler after beating her brother Ptolemy XIII at the Battle of the Nile, and the pair cruised the river in triumph.

What was the nickname of the son the Egyptian queen bore Caesar?

'Little Caesar' was the last pharaoh of Egypt; Octavian had him executed in 30 BC.

Caesar wrote 'veni, vidi, vici' after which quick victory?

The three words were also a dig at Pompey, whose earlier wars in Pontus had taken far longer.

What does 'veni, vidi, vici' mean?

Pharnaces of Crimea had grabbed his father's old kingdom of Pontus while Caesar was in Egypt.

Which staunch republican killed himself at Utica rather than accept Caesar's pardon?

Caesar later wrote an 'Anticato' attacking him in reply to Cicero's eulogy.

The last battle of Caesar's civil war, fought in Spain in 45 BC, was at which town?

His enemies were treated as rebels and massacred; the celebrated triumph over fellow Romans was widely thought unseemly.

How many triumphs did Caesar celebrate in Rome in September 46 BC?

They were nominally over Gaul, Egypt, Asia and Africa; each soldier received 24,000 sesterces, a lifetime's pay.

Which Roman month was renamed in Caesar's honour?

It became Julius, our July, the month of his birth; Sextilis later became August.

Caesar's calendar reform set the standard year at how many days, plus a leap day every fourth?

The old republican calendar was lunisolar and had drifted badly out of step with the seasons.

Which Alexandrian astronomer is credited as the principal designer of the Julian calendar?

Caesar had seen Egypt's fixed 365-day year while stuck in Alexandria and wanted something better.

The Julian calendar took effect on 1 January of which year?

It stayed the West's calendar for over 1,600 years until Pope Gregory XIII trimmed the leap days in 1582.

Caesar increased the size of the Senate from 600 to how many members?

The extra seats rewarded supporters and helped administer the enlarged empire.

Which two destroyed cities did Caesar refound as Roman colonies?

Both had been razed by Rome in 146 BC; the colonies helped move Italy's surplus population into the provinces.

Which Latin title, meaning ruler for life, did Caesar assume in February 44 BC?

It ended any hope that his powers were temporary and pushed the conspirators to act within weeks.

At which festival did Caesar publicly refuse a diadem offered by his consular colleague?

Whether the refusal was sincere or theatre is still debated; he was already wearing royal dress.

Caesar was the first living Roman to have what honour?

Along with a golden chair in the Senate and the right to wear royal dress, it smelled of monarchy to his enemies.

Where was the Senate meeting at which Caesar was killed?

He fell at the foot of a statue of Pompey, his old rival, inside the theatre complex Pompey had built.

At least how many times was Caesar stabbed?

Ancient sources disagree on whether he died silently or spoke to Brutus.

Roughly how many senators were part of the conspiracy by February 44 BC?

Most were former Pompeians, but many of Caesar's own officers, like Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, joined too.

According to one ancient version, what Greek words did Caesar utter as he died?

Suetonius says he fell in silence; the Latin 'Et tu, Brute?' is Shakespeare's invention.

Which conspirator was the son of Caesar's long-time mistress Servilia?

Servilia was also the half-sister of Cato the Younger, which put her son at the heart of the republican opposition.

Which soothsayer is named as the one who warned Caesar of danger coming by mid-March?

Caesar had rejected a bodyguard despite leaks about the plot.

Caesar was due to leave Rome three days after the Ides for a campaign against which enemy?

The war was meant to avenge a Roman defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC and would have kept him away for years.

Whom did Caesar's will name as principal heir and adopt?

The 18-year-old was studying at Apollonia when the news arrived; he became Augustus, Rome's first emperor.

What celestial event in 44 BC did Romans take as a sign of Caesar's deification?

The Senate formally placed him among the gods on 1 January 42 BC.

Which two men joined Octavian in the Second Triumvirate that hunted down Caesar's killers?

They defeated the tyrannicides at Philippi; Octavian eventually pushed both aside.

Which building, formerly the palace of the kings, was Caesar's official residence as chief priest?

His body was carried from there to the Forum and cremated; only the altar of his temple survives on the spot.

In 63 BC Caesar won election to which chief religious post of Rome?

He beat two senior senators, and rumours of huge bribes followed him; he had held the priesthood of Jupiter as a teenager but lost it under Sulla.

As a young man Caesar was captured and ransomed by whom?

Plutarch says he later returned with a fleet and had them crucified; historians think they were more likely sold as slaves.

Which dictator ordered the young Caesar to divorce his wife Cornelia, an order he refused?

He went into hiding until relatives and the Vestal Virgins interceded, and gave up his priesthood to keep his wife.

Caesar divorced his second wife Pompeia after a scandal involving which religious rite?

Clodius sneaked into the women-only ceremony at Caesar's house; Caesar said his wife must be 'above suspicion'.

Who was Caesar's third and final wife?

They married in 59 BC and were still married when he died; Shakespeare gives her prophetic dreams on the eve of the murder.

Which goddess did Caesar's family claim as an ancestor?

He built the Temple of Venus Genetrix in his new Forum to press the point.

Which of these titles derived from Caesar's name?

His cognomen became a synonym for emperor across Europe.

Which ancient biographer describes Caesar as tall and fair with 'keen black eyes'?

He also reports Caesar's delight at being allowed to wear a wreath at all times, which conveniently hid the combover.

Which condition is Caesar often thought to have had, based on an ancient biographer's remarks?

Modern scholars are split; malaria, tapeworm and mini-strokes have all been proposed instead.

Was Caesar born by caesarean section?

Such operations killed the mother in antiquity, and Aurelia lived on well into her son's career.

In the classic Caesar cipher example, each letter is shifted how many places along the alphabet?

Shift 13 is the modern ROT13; any single-alphabet shift is trivially broken today.

In what year is Shakespeare's Julius Caesar believed to have been first performed?

It was among the first plays staged at the new Globe Theatre.

In Shakespeare's play, who gives the 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears' speech?

He turns the crowd against the conspirators moments after Brutus had won them over.

Which conspirator is the first to stab Caesar in Shakespeare's play?

Brutus strikes last, prompting the famous 'Et tu, Brute?'

At which battle do the two lead conspirators die in the play, as in history?

Cassius has his servant kill him after wrongly believing his friend Titinius captured.

Which Roman writer's Parallel Lives was Shakespeare's main source for the play?

He read it in Sir Thomas North's 1579 English translation.

Caesar's first, eleven-day dictatorship in 49 BC was engineered mainly to do what?

He had Lepidus bring the law, got himself elected consul for 48 BC, and resigned.

Which member of the First Triumvirate died at Carrhae in 53 BC?

His death removed the buffer between Caesar and Pompey; Caesar was planning to avenge him when he was killed.

The Julii claimed to have come to Rome from which city after Rome's third king destroyed it?

The family also traced its line to Julus, son of Aeneas, and through him to the goddess Venus.

As a young officer, Caesar stayed as a guest of which Bithynian king, prompting lifelong gossip?

At his Gallic triumph his own soldiers sang that Nicomedes had conquered Caesar.

Caesar cut the number of citizens on Rome's grain dole from 320,000 to roughly how many?

He tightened the qualifications and offered bonuses to large families to counter depopulation.

How many days of public thanksgiving did the Senate vote Caesar for his early Gallic victories?

The unprecedented honour was moved by Cicero, who was by then backing Caesar and Pompey.

According to Suetonius, how did the balding Caesar respond to teasing about his hair?

The biographer says this made Caesar especially pleased to be granted the right to wear a laurel wreath.

Which poet wrote verses suggesting Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers, then apologised?

Such slander was routine in late-republican politics; Antony later claimed Octavian won his adoption through sexual favours.

In which year did the first known man to bear the cognomen Caesar serve as praetor?

It was during the Second Punic War; the family's first consul came in 157 BC.

As aedile in 65 BC, Caesar restored the trophies of which general that Sulla had taken down?

The trophies commemorated victories over Jugurtha and the Cimbri; Marius was married to Caesar's aunt Julia.