Start herePliny says the first of the Caesars was cut from his mother's womb. Yet Caesar's own mother was still alive when he was a grown man. So which famous stories about him hold up?
Julius Caesar left a long trail of stories behind him. Some come from the ancient writers. Others grew up much later, from a play, a word or a menu.
Here are thirteen we looked into. Each section starts with the short answer, then shows who first wrote the story down, and when. Five don’t hold up, four are partly right, three hold up, and one we can’t confirm.
The verdicts
Who told these stories, and when
Almost everything we know about Caesar comes from people who wrote after his death. It helps to know who they were.
| Writer | When | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Velleius Paterculus | Wrote in AD 30, for Vinicius’s consulship | A short history of Rome in two books |
| Pliny the Elder | Lived about AD 23 to 79; dedicated his work in AD 77 | The Natural History, in Latin |
| Plutarch | Lived about AD 45 to 120 | Greek biographies, the Parallel Lives |
| Suetonius | Wrote mainly in AD 98–138, it seems | Lives of the twelve Caesars; for a time Hadrian’s secretary |
| Appian | Active under Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius | A history of Rome written in Greek |
| Cassius Dio | Born between AD 155 and 164; his history ends in AD 229 | A history of Rome written in Greek |
| Shakespeare | A play the Folger Shakespeare Library dates to 1599 | Drama, not history |
A few later writers come up below as well. Censorinus wrote his book on birthdays, De Die Natali, in AD 238. Macrobius, a Latin writer, lived more than four centuries after Caesar. Polyaenus and Servius are introduced where they come up.
Our reading: Velleius wrote about seventy years after Caesar died, and everyone else later still. So most of what follows is a report of a report.
“He was born by caesarean section”
Credited to Popular story
Doesn't hold up The oldest writer we found ties the story to an ancestor, not to Julius Caesar, and his mother lived well into his adult life.
The story starts with his family name. Pliny the Elder says the first of the Caesars was so named because he was cut from his mother’s womb. That was an ancestor, not Julius Caesar. Pliny lists such births among those that cost the mother her life.
Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, was still alive when he was a grown man. Plutarch says she kept a close watch on his wife, Pompeia, in the year he was praetor. Suetonius says Caesar lost his mother during his command in Gaul.
Even the ancient writers were unsure about the name. The Historia Augusta, a later collection of imperial lives, gives four guesses for it. They are an elephant, called caesai in the Moorish tongue; a birth by incision after the mother’s death; a thick head of hair; and bright grey eyes.
Servius, who wrote a commentary on Virgil at the end of the fourth century AD, does apply it to Julius Caesar himself. He gives it as one of two guesses for the name; the other is that his grandfather killed an elephant in Africa.
The English word has its own puzzle. The US National Library of Medicine says the link to Caesar’s own birth “seems unlikely”, since Aurelia is reputed to have lived to hear of his invasion of Britain. It concludes that “we cannot be sure of where or when the term cesarean was derived”.
The American Heritage Dictionary traces the name to “the traditional belief that Julius Caesar, (or his eponymous ancestor) was born by this operation”. The NLM adds that “section” began to replace “operation” after Jacques Guillimeau’s 1598 book on midwifery.
↑ All verdicts“The Caesar salad is named after him”
Credited to Popular story
Doesn't hold up The salad is said to come from a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, run by an Italian immigrant called Caesar Cardini.
Caesar Cardini is said to have invented the dish on July 4, 1924, at his restaurant, Caesar’s Place, in Tijuana. The Associated Press told the story in July 2024, for the salad’s hundredth birthday.
The same report says “there is some debate about the origins of the salad”. Some credit the mother of Livio Santini, one of Cardini’s chefs; others credit Cardini’s brother Alex.
Our reading: every version AP reports credits Cardini, his brother or one of his chefs, nearly two thousand years after Julius Caesar.
↑ All verdicts“He was a Roman emperor”
Credited to Popular claim
Doesn't hold up Caesar was never a Roman emperor. In his day Rome was still a republic.
The mix-up has a real seed. The senate did give him imperator, a title generals had long been hailed by after their wars. Cassius Dio says it was given to him as a kind of proper name, “the same title that is now granted to” the emperors.
From him, Dio adds, the title came down to all the emperors after him. The English word “emperor” comes, through Old French, from that same Latin imperator.
↑ All verdicts“‘Kaiser’ and ‘tsar’ come from his name”
Credited to Popular claim
Holds up Both words go back to the Latin Caesar, the name he made famous.
Caesar was a cognomen, a family name, in the Julian clan. In his will Caesar adopted his great-nephew Gaius Octavius and gave him his name. After him, says Lewis and Short’s Latin dictionary, all the emperors bore the name Caesar.
The American Heritage Dictionary gives “caesar” as a word used as a title and form of address for Roman emperors. It traces German Kaiser back through Old High German keisar to Latin Caesar. It traces Russian tsar’ back through Gothic kaisar and Greek to Latin Caesar.
In that dictionary, a kaiser is an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Austria or Germany. A tsar is a male monarch or emperor, especially one of those who ruled Russia until the revolution of 1917.
↑ All verdicts“July is named after him”
Credited to Popular claim
Holds up The month was renamed for him while he was alive, in the year he was killed.
Its old name was Quintilis, from its number, from a time when the Roman year began in March (our translation of Macrobius). Dio says the senate’s honours included that “they had called the month in which he was born July”.
Macrobius puts his birth four days before the Ides of Quintilis, which is 12 July. Britannica gives his birth as 12 or 13 July.
Censorinus dates the renaming to the year of Caesar’s fifth consulship, which he shared with Mark Antony. Macrobius adds that the renaming came by a law proposed by Mark Antony as consul. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica says the new name came into use in the year of his death, 44 BC.
Not everyone approved. Suetonius lists “the calling of one of the months by his name” among honours he calls too great for mortal man. The next month, Sextilis, was later renamed August in honour of Augustus.
↑ All verdicts“He invented the leap year”
Credited to Popular claim
Partly His reform brought the extra day every fourth year to Rome. But he had expert help, and he built on older methods.
The old Roman calendar had drifted. Suetonius says the pontiffs’ freedom to add months or days had so disordered it that the harvest festivals no longer came in summer.
Caesar made the year three hundred and sixty-five days, with one day added every fourth year. To catch up, the year of the change had fifteen months. Allen and Greenough’s Latin grammar dates the reform to 46 BC.
Plutarch says Caesar laid the problem before “the best philosophers and mathematicians”. He then built his own method “out of the methods of correction which were already at hand”. Pliny the Elder names the astronomer Sosigenes as the expert behind it.
The rule did not work as planned at first, and the sources differ on why. Pliny says Caesar’s reckoning was later corrected, once an error was found, with no leap days for twelve years in a row.
Macrobius and the 1911 Britannica put the error down to the pontiffs. They added the day every third year instead of every fourth: twelve times in thirty-six years instead of nine.
Augustus then had the leap days left out until the calendar caught up.
The rule itself was a little off as well. Earnest Cary, Dio’s translator, notes that the Julian year is about eleven minutes too long, a day in 128 years.
In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII had ten days dropped from the calendar. He also left the extra day out of century years, except those divisible by 400.
↑ All verdicts“He said ‘The die is cast’ as he crossed the Rubicon”
Credited to Suetonius, Plutarch, Appian
Partly The ancient writers do report a saying about a die, in two wordings. Suetonius gives Caesar’s words in Latin; Plutarch and Appian give the same saying in Greek.
Caesar crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BC. Suetonius has Caesar at the Rubicon say Iacta alea est, “The die is cast” in J. C. Rolfe’s translation.
Plutarch tells it differently. He has Caesar cross “calling out in Greek to the bystanders these words only, ‘Let the die be cast,’” (Pompey 60.2). Appian has the same Greek saying, which Horace White translates “The die is cast: so let it be!”
The same Greek saying turns up in a comedy by Menander, quoted by Athenaeus, where it is about getting married. The familiar Alea iacta est is not the word order Suetonius has.
One more twist. Caesar’s own account of the civil war does not mention the Rubicon; he says only that he set off with a legion for Ariminum. Our page on crossing the Rubicon tells the whole story, and our page on what alea iacta est means sets the versions side by side.
↑ All verdicts“A seer told him, ‘Beware the Ides of March’”
Credited to Shakespeare's Soothsayer
Partly The warning is ancient; the line is Shakespeare’s. Velleius Paterculus, writing in AD 30, says the soothsayers had warned Caesar “carefully to beware the Ides of March” (2.57.2, F. W. Shipley’s translation of ut diligentissime iduum Martiarum caveret diem). The four-word line, spoken to Caesar by a Soothsayer, is Shakespeare’s.
The later biographers tell the warning too. Suetonius says the soothsayer Spurinna warned Caesar “to beware of danger, which would come not later than the Ides of March”. Plutarch tells it of an unnamed seer.
Our page on the Ides of March follows the whole day through the ancient accounts.
↑ All verdicts“He was killed at the Capitol”
Credited to Shakespeare's play
Doesn't hold up He was killed in Pompey’s hall, where the senate was meeting that day.
On 15 March 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the senate in Rome. Suetonius says the meeting was called for the Ides of March in the Hall of Pompey. Rome’s heritage office calls it the Curia of Pompey, a large hall where the senate met from time to time.
The Capitol comes into the story through the play. That is where Shakespeare’s plotters plan to bring him. As the killing scene opens, Cassius says “Come to the Capitol.” Modern editions head that scene “Before the Capitol”, but the 1623 Folio names no place there, so that heading is an editor’s.
Even in the play, Antony says Caesar fell “at the base of Pompey’s statua”.
↑ All verdicts“His last words were ‘Et tu, Brute?’”
Credited to Shakespeare's play
Doesn't hold up No ancient source gives Caesar these words. The closest is the Greek “You too, child?”, which Suetonius and Dio report only as something some people wrote.
Suetonius himself says Caesar died “uttering not a word, but merely a groan at the first stroke”. Cassius Dio prefers the silent version: “This is the truest account”. Plutarch has Caesar cry out in Latin at the first blow, “Accursed Casca, what does thou?” (Perrin), but gives him nothing to say to Brutus.
Rolfe translates it “You too, my child?” The Greek teknon means “child”; the “my” is the translator’s.
“Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.” is Shakespeare’s line in Act III, scene 1 (MIT Shakespeare text). The Latin phrase was already familiar on the English stage in his day. Our page on what Et tu, Brute means follows the line from the ancient sources to the stage.
↑ All verdicts“Pirates kidnapped him, and he raised his own ransom”
Credited to Plutarch, Polyaenus
Partly Four ancient writers we read tell of the kidnapping. Two of them, Plutarch and Polyaenus, have him raise the ransom himself.
Velleius says he was captured by pirates while still quite a young man. Suetonius says he was taken by pirates near the island of Pharmacussa and held for nearly forty days. He was set ashore once fifty talents had been paid.
In Plutarch, when the pirates asked twenty talents, Caesar laughed and offered fifty. Plutarch makes the captivity thirty-eight days.
Polyaenus was a Macedonian who wrote in Greek at Rome. When the Parthian War of AD 162–165 broke out, he dedicated his book of stratagems to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
He says the pirates asked a very large sum and Caesar promised to double it. In his version Caesar served them drugged wine and had them killed as they slept.
Velleius, Suetonius and Plutarch end the same grim way. Plutarch says he crucified them all, as he had warned them he would when they thought he was joking. Velleius says he crucified all his prisoners before any dispatch about them could arrive. Suetonius, who calls him merciful by nature, says he ordered their throats cut before they were crucified.
↑ All verdicts“He could dictate seven letters at once”
Credited to Pliny the Elder
Can't confirm Two ancient writers report a feat like it, long after his death, and their numbers differ.
Pliny the Elder says “We find it stated” that Caesar could write or read while dictating and listening. He adds four letters at once on important business, and as many as seven when Caesar was busy with nothing else.
In the Latin text on LacusCurtius, the words about seven letters stand in square brackets. Our reading: editors use square brackets for words they doubt.
Our reading: these are reports of a reputation for speed. Nothing that survives lets us test the numbers.
↑ All verdicts“He wrote secret messages in code”
Credited to Suetonius
Holds up, as Suetonius reports it. Suetonius says that in private letters, when he had something confidential to say, he wrote it in cipher.
To read one, Suetonius explains, “he must substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet, namely D, for A, and so with the others”. Our reading: every letter moves three places along the alphabet.
↑ All verdictsHow to check a Caesar story yourself
Most of these stories have a real seed: a family name, a title, a saying or a scene in a play. You can trace one in a few minutes.
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Find the oldest writer who tells it. Note how long after 44 BC he wrote. Velleius, Plutarch and Suetonius all wrote generations later.
-
Count the versions. When the ransom, the days or the words differ, say so rather than pick one.
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Check whether it comes from Shakespeare. Many famous lines, and the Capitol, come from his play.
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Look up the word itself. A good dictionary shows where a word like “caesarean” or “kaiser” really comes from.
For lines credited to Caesar, see our page on Julius Caesar quotes. For his three famous words, see what veni, vidi, vici means. For other Latin sayings, see famous Latin phrases.
For his whole life, see our Julius Caesar summary. For his own account of his war in Gaul, see our page on the Gallic Wars. Our page on Caesar and Cleopatra goes deeper into their story.
Quick answers
Was Julius Caesar born by caesarean section?
The oldest writer we found, Pliny the Elder, says the first of the Caesars, an ancestor, was cut from his mother's womb. Servius, writing about four centuries after Caesar, offers it as one guess about Julius Caesar himself. But Caesar's own mother was still alive when he was a grown man.
Was Julius Caesar a Roman emperor?
No. In his day Rome was still a republic, and he ruled as dictator. The first Roman emperor was his great-nephew and adopted son, Augustus, who took that name in January 27 BC.
Is July named after Julius Caesar?
Yes. The old month Quintilis was renamed July for the month of his birth, and the new name came into use in the year of his death, 44 BC.
Is the Caesar salad named after Julius Caesar?
No. Caesar Cardini is said to have invented the dish at his restaurant in Tijuana in 1924, though there is some debate about its origins.
What were Julius Caesar's last words?
The ancient writers disagree. Suetonius says he died without a word, and adds that some wrote he said "You too, child?" in Greek to Brutus. "Et tu, Brute?" is Shakespeare's line.
Use this
Before you repeat a story about Caesar, find the oldest writer who tells it.
- Find who first wrote the story down, and how long after 44 BC.
- Count the versions, and say so when the words or the numbers differ.
- Check whether the line comes from Shakespeare's play rather than an ancient writer.
Who first wrote this down, and how long after Caesar?
Quick quiz
Nothing is scored or saved. Recalling it once now is what makes it last.
1. According to Pliny the Elder, who was the first Caesar cut from his mother's womb?
Answer: An ancestor, the first of the Caesars.Read it again ↑
2. Where does the Caesar salad come from?
Answer: Caesar Cardini's restaurant in Tijuana.Read it again ↑
3. Where was the senate meeting on the day Caesar was killed?
Answer: In the Hall of Pompey.Read it again ↑
How we checked this · Last checked October 2026
- We read Suetonius, Plutarch, Velleius, Cassius Dio and Appian in the Loeb translations on LacusCurtius, Pliny the Elder in the Bostock and Riley translation, and the Latin of Suetonius, Pliny, Censorinus and Macrobius.
- For the words themselves we used the American Heritage Dictionary, Lewis and Short's Latin dictionary and the US National Library of Medicine's history of the operation.
- Britannica blocks scripts, so its pages were read in a browser. The Caesar salad's origin rests on one 2024 Associated Press report, which itself says the origins are debated.
- The page describes the history of a word and of a medical procedure and gives no medical advice.
Sources
- Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar, trans. J. C. Rolfe (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius: 4, 26.1, 31–32, 40, 56.6, 74.1, 76.1, 80.4, 81.2, 82.2, 83.2; Latin text, 32 and 82.2.Primary
- Plutarch, Life of Caesar 2, 9.1–3, 17.7, 59.5, 63.5, 66.8, 67.3, and Life of Pompey 60.2, trans. Bernadotte Perrin (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius.Primary
- Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.41.3–2.42.3 and 2.57.2, trans. F. W. Shipley (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius, with the Latin text and Shipley’s introduction.Primary
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.47, 7.91 and 18.211, trans. John Bostock and H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus: book 7, chapter 7, book 7, chapter 25, book 18, chapter 57; Latin text of book 7, LacusCurtius.Primary
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 43.26 and 43.44 and 44.5 and 44.19, trans. Earnest Cary (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius, with Cary’s introduction.Primary
- Appian, Civil Wars 2.35, 2.86 and 2.90, trans. Horace White (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius.Primary
- Caesar, Civil War 1.8, Latin text, The Latin Library.Primary
- Censorinus, De Die Natali 22.16, Latin text, LacusCurtius.Primary
- Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.34 and 1.14.13–15, Latin text, LacusCurtius (translation ours).Primary
- Historia Augusta, Life of Aelius 2.3–4, trans. David Magie (Loeb Classical Library), LacusCurtius; and Life of Hadrian 11.3.Primary
- Polyaenus, Stratagems of War 8.23.1 (chapter “Caesar”) and the prefatory address, trans. R. Shepherd, second edition (London: George Nicol), Internet Archive scan.Primary
- Servius, commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid 1.286, Latin text, Perseus.Primary
- Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 13.8 (559e), quoting Menander, Greek text, Scaife Viewer (Perseus).Primary
- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, MIT Shakespeare text: I.ii, II.i, III.i, III.ii; First Folio (1623), act 3 scene 1, Internet Shakespeare Editions; Folger Shakespeare Library, “Julius Caesar”.Primary
- Julius Caesar, ed. E. C. Black (New Hudson Shakespeare), introduction, “Et tu, Brute”, Project Gutenberg #28334.Scholarly
- US National Library of Medicine, “Cesarean Section: A Brief History”, part 1.Scholarly
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed.: “Caesarean section”, “Caesar”, “emperor”, “kaiser” and “czar”.Scholarly
- Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, “Caesar”, Perseus.Scholarly
- Allen and Greenough, New Latin Grammar, §630, “Reckoning of time”, Dickinson College Commentaries.Scholarly
- Associated Press, report on the Caesar salad’s hundredth year (3 July 2024), via Spectrum News NY1.Popular
- Sovrintendenza Capitolina (Rome), “La Curia di Pompeo”.Scholarly
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Plutarch”.Scholarly
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Julius Caesar” and “Augustus” (read in a browser; the site blocks scripts).Scholarly
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), Wikisource: “Caesar, Gaius Julius”, “July”, “Calendar: Civil Calendar”, “Pliny the Elder”, “Censorinus”, “Polyaenus”, “Servius Honoratus, Maurus”, “Macrobius”, “Suetonius” and “Appian”.Scholarly