Hello and welcome to the history of Rome, episode 46, 6th Semper Taranis.

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar stayed in Rome for an extended period for the first time since

heading to Gaul some 12 years earlier.

During the summer, he was joined by Queen Cleopatra, who visited the city as an honored guest.

But awkwardly for Caesar, she brought with her the product of their affair, a small boy

nicknamed Caesarian, who would prove to be the great general's only son.

Though Cicero found her infuriating and Kalparnia cannot have been happy to see her husband's

lover parading around their illegitimate child, Cleopatra charmed the city and was formally

made a friend of Rome by the senate.

The Roman development of Egypt, long sought and long staved off by bribery, was now official.

Through the spring and summer, Caesar worked furiously on his reform projects, trying

to salvage the Roman economy and restore stability to the empire.

I would like to thank alert listener Dave for pointing out an error I made last week

in recounting the changes to the calendar.

It turns out that Caesar actually got his math wrong and inserted a leap day every three

years rather than every four years.

The mistake would stand for another 30 years until the reforms of Augustus.

And speaking of corrections, I would also like to thank alert and long time listener

debt lift for pointing out that I got crossed up on my Roman numerals a few episodes back

and referred to Mithridades the Great as Mithridades the Sixth rather than Mithridades the

Fourth.

Thanks guys for helping me keep everything straight.

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