Roman Republic

On 2 September 44 BC, Cleopatra VII declared her three-year-old son Caesarion co-ruler of Egypt. It was a masterclass in dynastic survival after centuries of Ptolemaic fratricide - and the very move that sealed the boy's death.

On 14 August 70 BC, a Roman jury convicted the governor Gaius Verres of extortion after his own advocate, Quintus Hortensius, gave up the defence as hopeless. The case that dethroned Rome's most celebrated lawyer made the reputation of the man who beat him: Cicero.

On 17 March 45 BC, Caesar won the last battle of his civil war at Munda. He later said he had often fought for victory, but at Munda he fought for his life. He had a year left.

On 20 February 1798, French soldiers escorted Pope Pius VI out of Rome. He had ruled as a temporal sovereign — as every pope had for over a thousand years. None would again.

On 4 February 2 BC, the Roman Senate hailed Augustus as Pater Patriae — Father of the Fatherland. He had been ruling Rome for thirty years. He wept.