Peer Reviewed
- Edition: Julius Caesar
 
Chronology
- Introduction
 - Texts of this edition
 - Contextual materials
 - Facsimiles
 
A Brief Chronology of Julius Caesar and of Shakespeare's Life and Work
(Some dates are approximate, especially those of Shakespeare's plays.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61| 100 BCE | Birth of Gaius Julius Caesar | 
| 85 | Birth of Marcus Junius Brutus and of Gaius Cassius Longinus (Cassius) | 
| 83 | Birth of Marcus Antonius (Antony) | 
| 62 | Birth of Gaius Octavius Thurinus (Octavius) | 
| 48 | Caesar's defeat of Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus | 
| 45 | Caesar's defeat of Pompey's sons and Roman triumph. Caesar's adoption of Octavius as his heir, renamed Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus | 
| 44 | Caesar's assassination on 15 March ("Ides of March") | 
| 42 | Brutus's and Cassius' defeat at the battle of Philippi. Their deaths by suicide | 
| 31 | Octavian's defeat of Antony at the battle of Actium | 
| 30 | Antony's death by suicide | 
| 27 | Octavian's title "Augustus" bestowed by the senate | 
| 14 CE | Death of Augustus | 
| 46-120 | Life of Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch) | 
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| 1509-47 | Reign of Henry VIII | 
| 1534 | Act of Supremacy, declaring Henry VIII head of the Church of England | 
| 1547-53 | Reign of Edward VI | 
| 1553-58 | Reign of Mary I. Return to Catholicism | 
| 1558-1603 | Reign of Elizabeth I | 
| 1563 | Adoption of the Thirty-Nine Articles | 
| 1564 | William Shakespeare born April 23 | 
| 1569 | Northern Catholic rebellion suppressed | 
| 1576 | James Burbage builds The Theatre | 
| 1578 | John Lyly, Euphues | 
| 1579 | Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calendar; Sir Thomas North, Plutarch's Lives | 
| 1582 | Shakespeare's marriage to Anne Hathaway, November | 
| 1583 | Birth of Susanna, May 26 | 
| 1583-84 | Plots against Elizabeth on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots | 
| 1584 | John Lyly, Galatea | 
| 1585 | Births of Shakespeare's son Hamnet and his twin sister Judith, February 2. | 
| Earl of Leicester sent to aid the Dutch against the Spanish | |
| 1587 | Execution of Mary Queen of Scots February 8 | 
| 1588 | At some point, Shakespeare moves to London; family remains in Stratford. War with Spain. The Spanish Armada fleet destroyed in July | 
| 1588-94 | Shakespeare writes the early comedies and histories and the early tragedy Titus Andronicus | 
| 1590 | Thomas Lodge,Rosalynde; Philip Sidney, Arcadia; Spenser, Faerie Queene, Books 1-3 | 
| 1592 | Shakespeare attacked in print by Robert Greene | 
| 1593 | Venus and Adonis | 
| 1593-1603 | The Sonnets | 
| 1594 | Shakespeare joins the Lord Chamberlain's Men; The Rape of Lucrece | 
| 1594-5 | A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet | 
| 1596-8 | The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV Parts I and II | 
| 1597 | Earl of Essex sent to Ireland to put down a rebellion led by the Earl of Tyrone; George Chapman, An Humorous Day's Mirth | 
| 1598 | Jonson, Every Man in His Humour | 
| 1598-9 | Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor | 
| 1599 | Shakespeare's company moves to the Globe. As You Like It, Henry V, Julius Caesar | 
| Prohibition and public burning of satires | |
| 1600-02 | Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, All's Well That Ends Well | 
| 1601 | Shakespeare's father dies | 
| Essex's abortive rebellion and his execution; T. Dekker, Satiromastix; Jonson, Poetaster; the "Poet's War" | |
| 1603 | Shakespeare's company the Chamberlain's Men becomes the King's Men | 
| Death of Elizabeth I; coronation of James I, March 24 | |
| 1603-4 | Measure for Measure, Othello | 
| 1604 | James's confrontation of the Puritans at the Hampton Court Conference. Peace with Spain. | 
| 1605 | The Gunpowder Plot foiled November 5 | 
| 1605-6 | King Lear | 
| 1606-7 | Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra, Pericles | 
| 1608 | Coriolanus | 
| 1609-11 | Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest | 
| 1613-14 | Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen | 
| Shakespeare in retirement,living in Stratford. Globe burns | |
| 1616 | Death of Shakespeare, April 23 |