40s BC

This article concerns the period 49 BC – 40 BC.

From left, clockwise: Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon; Fire of Alexandria following a Roman siege; Assassination of Pompey the Great; Assassination of Julius Caesar.

49 BC

This section is transcluded from 49 BC. (edit | history)

By place and Date

Roman Republic

• Consuls: Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, Gaius Claudius Marcellus.
• Caesar's Civil War commences:
  • January 1 – The Roman Senate receives a proposal from Julius Caesar that he and Pompey should lay down their commands simultaneously. The Senate responds that Caesar must immediately surrender his command.
  • January – Caesar leads his army across the Rubicon, which separates his jurisdiction in Cisalpine Gaul from that of the Senate in Rome, and thus initiates a civil war.^[1]
  • February – Pompey's flight to Epirus (in Western Greece) with most of the Senate.
  • March 9 – Caesar advances against Pompeian forces in Spain.
  • April 19 – Siege of Massilia: Caesar commences a siege at Massilia against the Pompeian Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. He leaves the newly raised legions XVII, XVIII and XIX to conduct the siege. Decimus Brutus – victor over the Veneti (see 56 BC) – is in charge of the fleet to blockade the harbor.
  • June – Caesar arrives in Spain; seizes the Pyrenees passes against the Pompeians L. Afranius and Marcus Petreius.
  • June 7 – Cicero slips out of Italy and goes to Thessaloniki.
  • July 30 – Caesar surrounds Afranius and Petreius's army in Ilerda.
  • August 2 – Pompeians in Ilerda surrender to Caesar and are granted pardon.
  • August 24 – Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in North Africa by the Pompeians under Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia (whom he defeated earlier in the Battle of Utica) in the Battle of the Bagradas, after which he commits suicide.
  • September – Brutus defeats the combined Pompeian-Massilian naval forces of the siege of Massilia, while the Caesarian fleet in the Adriatic Sea is defeated near Curicta (Krk).
  • September 6 – Massilia surrenders to Caesar, as he is coming back from Spain.
  • October – Caesar is appointed Dictator in Rome.

Significant people

• Julius Caesar, Roman dictator (lived 100–44 BC, term 46–44 BC)
• Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman politician (85–42 BC)
• Mark Antony, Roman politician and general (83–30 BC)
• Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt (lived 70/69–30 BC, reigned 51–30 BC)—enters her twenties, has son Caesarion with Julius Caesar, before meeting Mark Antony
• Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus, Roman politician and general (62 BC–AD 14)
• Pharaoh Ptolemy XV Caesarion (lived 47–30 BC, reigned 44–30 BC)
• Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman politician (died 42 BC)

Births

Transcluding articles: 49 BC, 48 BC, 47 BC, 46 BC, 45 BC, 44 BC, 43 BC, 42 BC, 41 BC, and 40 BC

49 BC

• Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul (d. 25 AD)

48 BC

• Lady Ban, Chinese concubine and female poet
• Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Roman consul (d. AD 32)
• Publius Cornelius Scipio, Roman consul and governor

47 BC

• June 23 – Caesarion, prince of Egypt, later Ptolemy XV (d. 30 BC)
• Marcus Antonius Antyllus, son of Mark Antony and Fulvia (d. 30 BC)

46 BC

• Antipater, son of Herod the Great (d. 4 BC)
• Lucius Seius Strabo, Roman prefect of the Praetorian Guard (d. 16 AD)
• Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman politician and general (d. 9 AD)

45 BC

• Iullus Antonius, son of Mark Antony and Fulvia; consul 10 BC (d. 2 BC)
• Wang Mang, usurper of the Han dynasty and emperor of the Xin dynasty (d. AD 23)

44 BC

• Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, Roman statesman and governor (d. 20 AD)

43 BC

• March 20 – Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), Roman poet (d. AD 17/18)^[12]
• Iotapa, princess of Media Atropatene (daughter of Artavasdes I)
• Iullus Antonius, Roman consul (son of Mark Antony) (d. 2 BC)

42 BC

• November 16 – Tiberius, Roman emperor (d. 37 AD)^[13]
• Marcus Claudius Marcellus, nephew of Augustus (d. 23 BC)

41 BC

• Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus, Roman consul under Caesar Augustus (d. AD 33)

40 BC

• Ariobarzanes II, Roman client king of Armenia (d. 4 AD)
• Cleopatra Selene (d. AD 6) and Alexander Helios (d. between 29 and 25 BC), twins of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony

Deaths

Transcluding articles: 49 BC, 48 BC, 47 BC, 46 BC, 45 BC, 44 BC, 43 BC, 42 BC, 41 BC, and 40 BC

49 BC

• January 10 – Xuan of Han, emperor of the Han dynasty (b. 91 BC)
• Aristobulus II, king and high priest of Judea
• Gaius Memmius, Roman orator and poet (presumed).
• Gaius Scribonius Curio, Roman politician
• Jieyou, princess of the Han dynasty (b. 121 BC)
• Marcus Perperna, Roman politician
• Zheng Ji, general of the Han dynasty

48 BC

• September 28 – Pompey (the Great), Roman politician (b. 106 BC)^[14]
• Afriana Carfania, Roman orator
• Cotys I, Thracian client king of the Odrysian Kingdom
• Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, Roman statesman
• Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, Roman politician
• Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, Roman politician
• Titus Annius Milo, Roman politician
• Zhang Chang, Chinese scholar and official

47 BC

• Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosporan Kingdom (b. c. 97 BC)
• Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, king of Egypt (drowned in the Nile)
• Alexander, Hasmonean prince (executed)

46 BC

• April 12 - Marcus Porcius Cato (the Younger), Roman politician (b. 95 BC) (commits suicide)
• Faustus Cornelius Sulla, Roman politician and quaestor
• Juba I, king of Numidia (killed after the Battle of Thapsus)
• Saburra, General of Juba I (killed in battle by Publius Sittius)
• Lucius Afranius, Roman consul and governor (b. 112 BC)
• Lucius Manlius Torquatus, Roman politician and general
• Marcus Petreius, Roman politician and general (b. 110 BC) (commits suicide)
• Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio, Roman consul and general (commits suicide)
• Vercingetorix, Gaulish king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe (executed at the end of a triumph)

45 BC

• February – Tullia, daughter of Cicero (b. 79 BC or 78 BC)
• March 17
  • Titus Labienus, Roman general (killed in the Battle of Munda) (b. c. 100 BC)
  • Publius Attius Varus, Roman governor (killed in the Battle of Munda)
• April 12 – Gnaeus Pompeius, son of Pompey the Great (executed after the Battle of Munda)
• December 31 – Quintus Fabius Maximus, Roman general and politician
• Nigidius Figulus, Roman scholar (b. 98 BC)
• Publius Cornelius Sulla, Roman politician

44 BC

• March 15 – Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey)^[1] (b. 100 BC)
• July 26 – Ptolemy XIV, king (pharaoh) of Egypt (approximate date)
• Burebista, Thracian king of the Getae and Dacian tribes
• Lucius Caninius Gallus, Roman politician
• Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, Roman consul
• Publius Sittius, Roman Mercenary commander

43 BC

• April 22 – Gaius Vibius Pansa, Roman consul and general (killed in battle)
• December 7 – Cicero, Roman statesman and orator (murdered) (b. 106 BC)^[15]
• Antipater the Idumaean, Jewish founder of the Herodian dynasty (murdered)
• Atia, niece of Julius Caesar and mother of Augustus (b. 85 BC)
• Aulus Hirtius, Roman consul and historian (killed in battle)
• Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman statesman (murdered) (b. c. 81 BC)
• Decimus Laberius, Roman nobleman and Latin writer (b. c. 105 BC)
• Gaius Trebonius, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• Gaius Verres, Roman politician and governor (b. c. 120 BC)
• Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Roman consul and governor (b. c. 100 BC)
• Lucius Minucius Basilus, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar, murdered by his own slaves)
• Lucius Roscius Fabatus, Roman politician (killed in battle)
• Pontius Aquila, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• Publius Cornelius Dolabella, suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar (b. 70 BC)
• Publilius Syrus, Syrian comic dramatist and Latin writer
• Quintus Pedius, suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar
• Quintus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman and general (b. 102 BC)
• Servius Sulpicius Rufus, Roman politician and jurist (b. c. 106 BC)

42 BC

• October 3 – Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar) (suicide)
• Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar) (b. 85 BC)^[16]
• Gaius Antonius, Roman general and brother of Mark Antony (murdered)
• Lucius Tillius Cimber, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, Roman nobleman and supporter of Brutus (suicide)
• Marcus Porcius Cato, Roman nobleman and son of Cato the Younger (killed in battle)
• Porcia, wife of Brutus (suicide) (approximate date) (b. c. 70 BC)
• Publius Servilius Casca Longus, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• Pacuvius Labeo, Roman jurist (assassin of Julius Caesar) (suicide)

41 BC

• Arsinoe IV, Egyptian princess and (half) sister of Cleopatra VII (b. 68 or 67 BC)
• Pasherienptah III, Egyptian High Priest of Ptah (b. 90 BC)^[17]
• Serapion, Egyptian general (strategos) and governor

40 BC

• Fulvia, wife of Publius Clodius Pulcher and Mark Antony (b. 77 BC)
• Gaius Claudius Marcellus, Roman consul (b. 88 BC)
• Lucius Decidius Saxa, Roman general and governor
• Phasael, prince of the Herodian dynasty of Judea
• Quintus Fufius Calenus, Roman general and consul
• Quintus Salvidienus Rufus, Roman general and advisor
• Simeon ben Shetach, Pharisee scholar and prince (Nasi)
• Tigellius, Sardinian lyric poet (close friend of Julius Caesar)

References

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2. Stambaugh, John E. (1988). The Ancient Roman City. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 275. ISBN 0-8018-3574-7.
3. Toynbee, Arnold Joseph. "Julius Caesar". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
4. Strauss, Barry S. (2015). The death of Caesar : the story of history's most famous assassination. New York. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-4516-6879-7. OCLC 883147929.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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8. Fishwick, Duncan (2004). The Imperial Cult in the Latin West III, Part 3. Brill. p. 250. ISBN 9789047412762.
9. Warfare in the Classical World, John Warry (1980), p. 177. ISBN 0-8061-2794-5
10. Haskell, H. J.: This was Cicero (1964), p. 293
11. "IGODOMIGODO: Meaning and Story Behind Igodomigodo". August 26, 2019.
12. Kenney, Edward John. "Ovid". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
13. "Tiberius (42 BC-37AD". BBC. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
14. "Pompey the Great | Roman statesman | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
15. Ferguson, John; Balsdon, John P.V. Dacre. "Cicero". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
16. Badian, E. (February 19, 2024). "Marcus Junius Brutus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
17. "Ptolemaic High Priests of Memphis: Imhotep frame". www.tyndalehouse.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.