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
• Marcus Caelius Rufus, Roman orator and 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)