Julius Caesar: From the Rubicon to the Ides of March

Alesia was the climax of the Gallic Wars. Caesar faced a Gallic coalition and, seeing a hilltop town, decided on a siege to force surrender by starvation. Vercingetorix proposed that he be killed or surrendered alive to appease the Romans. The battle site is most probably Mont Auxois above Alise-Sainte-Reine; the town's excavated Gallo-Roman quarter includes a theatre.

Location precision: Ancient sources do not fix the spot; archaeology points to Mont Auxois above Alise-Sainte-Reine, which the pin marks.

Visitor guidance: Alise-Sainte-Reine has an excavated Gallo-Roman site with a theatre and a museum.

In 49 BC, perhaps on 10 January, Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII Gemina, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul into Italy. He deliberately broke the law limiting his imperium, making armed conflict inevitable. Suetonius has him say alea iacta est, the die is cast. Pompey, the consuls and much of the senate fled Rome. Which river this was stayed uncertain for centuries: the Fiumicino was officially identified as the Rubicon only in 1933. Today no visible evidence of Caesar's passage remains.

Location precision: The river's identification with the modern Rubicon dates only from 1933; the pin marks Savignano sul Rubicone.

On 9 August 48 BC, near Pharsalus in central Greece, Caesar's veterans faced a Pompeian army that significantly outnumbered them. Caesar revealed a hidden fourth line of infantry that surprised the Pompeian cavalry charge. Caesar then announced that he would forgive all who asked for mercy. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated on the order of Ptolemy XIII. Scholars long argued over where exactly the battle was fought, so the pin is only the general area.

Location precision: Scholars have long disputed the exact battlefield; the pin marks the town of Farsala.

Caesar arrived in Alexandria and on 2 October learnt that Pompey was dead. The Egyptian army promptly besieged him in the palace compound. In the fighting, his men set a fire which some sources say spread to and destroyed the Library of Alexandria. Cleopatra was rowed across the harbour hidden in a laundry bag to meet him. Caesar's forces fought small naval battles to keep control of the harbour.

Location precision: The source does not locate the palace compound, so this stop has no pin.

The Battle of Munda was fought on 17 March 45 BC. Military opposition to Caesar was confined to Hispania. Caesar led eight legions. Caesar later said that he had fought many times for victory, but at Munda he had to fight for his life. About 30,000 Pompeians died on the field. The exact location has long been debated; one proposal puts it just outside Osuna, in the province of Seville.

Location precision: The exact location of Munda is debated; the pin marks Osuna, one of several proposed sites.

On the Ides of March, 44 BC, the Senate met in Pompey's curia while gladiatorial games were held in the adjoining theatre. There Julius Caesar was assassinated at the foot of Pompey's statue. Augustus later had the statue removed and the hall walled up. The site was excavated in the 1930s and sits in today's Largo di Torre Argentina; only the back wall of the curia remains visible. Visitors can now walk around the site.

Visitor guidance: The excavated site is in Largo di Torre Argentina; only the curia's back wall remains visible.