Gallic War
Rome · -51
J
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
c. 100 BCE–c. 44 BCE · Rome
General and statesman whose commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars are models of clear Latin prose.
Did you know?
The longest year in history had 445 days
By 46 BCE the Roman calendar had drifted so far out of step with the seasons that Julius Caesar, advised by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, inserted extra months to force it back into line. That single year ran fifteen months and about 445 days — later nicknamed the “year of confusion” — before his new sun-based calendar took effect the following year.
How we know
The year 46 BCE was extended to about 445 days across 15 months by inserting intercalary months, on the advice of Sosigenes of Alexandria; the reformed Julian calendar began 1 January 45 BCE. Attested by Suetonius, Macrobius, and Censorinus.
To Julius Caesar in Egypt, the Great Pyramid was more ancient than he now is to us
When Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) fought his Egyptian campaign in 48 BCE, the Great Pyramid of Giza was already about 2,510 years old. That is a deeper gulf of time than the roughly 2,070 years separating Caesar's campaign from today — the monument was more ancient to Rome's dictator than Rome's dictator is to us.
How we know
Julius Caesar 100–44 BCE; Alexandrian campaign 48 BCE. Great Pyramid c. 2560 BCE → 2,512 yrs old at the campaign; campaign→2026 CE ≈ 2,073 yrs (no year 0). 2,512 > 2,073.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→
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Stop 1 of 8100 BCEBorn
Rome
What they did here
Gaius Julius Caesar was born into the patrician gens Julia at Rome in 100 BCE.
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Julius Caesar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Graeco-Roman world
- Theodosius of Bithynia· 160 BCE–100 BCE
- Posidonius of Apamea· 135 BCE–51 BCE
- Philodemus· 110 BCE–37 BCE
- Cornelius Nepos· 110 BCE–25 BCE
- Cicero· 106 BCE–43 BCE
- Quintus Tullius Cicero· 102 BCE–43 BCE
- Lucretius· 99 BCE–55 BCE
- Tryphon I Grammaticus· 95 BCE–25 BCE
- Diodorus Siculus· 90 BCE–30 BCE
- Sallust· 86 BCE–35 BCE
- Philoxenus of Alexandria· 85 BCE–25 BCE
- Parthenius of Nicaea· 85 BCE–14 CE
- Catullus· 84 BCE–54 BCE
- Vitruvius· 80 BCE–15 BCE
- Aenesidemus· 80 BCE–10 BCE
- Virgil· 70 BCE–19 BCE
- Horace· 65 BCE–8 BCE
- Didymus Alexandrinus· 65 BCE–10 CE
- Strabo· 64 BCE–24 CE
- Augustus· 63 BCE–14 CE
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus· 60 BCE–7 BCE
- Livy· 59 BCE–17 CE
- Tibullus· 55 BCE–19 BCE
- Propertius· 47 BCE–15 BCE
Scientists
Jewish world
Luminaries & Explorers world
Works(2)
Civil War
Rome · -44