Ancient World
Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC): Caesar Defeats Pompey the Great
Decisive victory for Caesar; Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered on 28 September 48 BC.
Era · c. 3000 BC – AD 500
Ancient World
The first cities, empires and written records, from the pyramids of Egypt to Greece and the Roman Empire.
Ancient World
Battle of Zela (47 BC): Veni, Vidi, Vici Against Pharnaces
Rapid victory for Caesar; Pharnaces II fled to the Bosporus and Roman control of Asia Minor was restored.
Ancient World
Battle of Thapsus (46 BC): Caesar's Victory in North Africa
Decisive victory for Caesar; most Pompeian leaders in Africa died, Cato killed himself at Utica and Numidia became a Roman province.
Ancient World
Julian Calendar (46 BC): How Caesar Reformed the Roman Year
A solar calendar of 365 days with a leap year every fourth year, used across Europe until the Gregorian reform and still used by several Orthodox churches.
Ancient World
Battle of Munda (45 BC): The Last Battle of Caesar's Civil War
Caesar's victory ended organised Pompeian resistance; Labienus was killed and Gnaeus Pompeius was caught and executed weeks later.
Ancient World
Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC): The Ides of March
Caesar was killed by a group of senators, triggering a new round of civil wars that ended the Roman Republic.
Ancient World
Second Triumvirate (43 BC): Octavian, Antony and Lepidus
The three men took legal supreme power for five years, proscribed hundreds of opponents including Cicero, and prepared war against Caesar's assassins.
Ancient World
Battle of Philippi (42 BC): The End of Brutus and Cassius
Victory for the triumvirs; Cassius and Brutus took their own lives and the republican cause was destroyed.
Ancient World
Herod the Great: Client King of Judea and Master Builder
Herod ruled Judea as a Roman client king for over three decades, transforming it with monumental buildings; after his death his kingdom was divided among three sons.
Ancient World
Maya Long Count Calendar: Origins of Mesoamerican Timekeeping
Mesoamerican peoples developed a precise count of days from a fixed starting point, later used by the Classic Maya to date thousands of monuments.
Ancient World
Battle of Actium (31 BC): Octavian Defeats Antony and Cleopatra
Decisive victory for Octavian; Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, their army surrendered and Egypt was annexed by Rome in 30 BC.
Ancient World
Pax Romana (27 BC-AD 180): Two Centuries of Roman Peace
About two centuries of internal stability, trade and urban growth across the Mediterranean world, ending with the frontier wars, plague and political crises of the late second and third centuries.