Photo: José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 4.0

Cicero

106 BCE – 43 BCE · died at about 63^[1][2]

Politics & Leadership

Fun Facts About Cicero

• Cicero means "chickpea." According to Plutarch, an ancestor had a cleft in his nose like a chickpea, and Cicero refused advice to drop the name when he entered politics.^[1]
• Julius Caesar invited Cicero to join him, Pompey and Crassus in what became the First Triumvirate. Cicero refused, suspecting it would undermine the Republic.^[1][3][4]
• Cicero coined much of Latin's philosophical vocabulary, including the words humanitas, qualitas and quantitas.^[1]
• Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited with starting the Renaissance. Historian Tadeusz Zieliński wrote that the Renaissance was above all a revival of Cicero.^[1]
• Copernicus said he first found the idea that the Earth moves in the writings of Cicero.^[1][5][6]
• Thomas Jefferson named Cicero among the few figures behind the tradition that informed his draft of the Declaration of Independence.^[1][7][8]
• Cicero was alive at the same time as Horace — their lives overlapped for 22 years (65 BCE–43 BCE).^{[1][2][9][10]}
• Cicero lived to about 63, from 106 BCE until 43 BCE.^[1][2]

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, and writer who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises of the Roman Republic that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. The extensive writings of Cicero include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy, and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.^[1]

Contemporaries

Julius Caesar

56 yr overlap

Virgil

27 yr overlap

Cleopatra

26 yr overlap

Horace

22 yr overlap

Augustus

20 yr overlap

Questions About Cicero

When was Cicero born?

Cicero was born in 106 BCE and died in 43 BCE.

How old was Cicero at death?

Cicero died in 43 BCE at about 63 years old (106 BCE–43 BCE).

What was Cicero known for?

Cicero was known for: Roman statesman, orator and writer. Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, and writer who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises of the Roman Republic that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. The extensive writings of Cicero include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy, and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.

Who was alive at the same time as Cicero?

Cicero's closest contemporary was Julius Caesar. Their lives overlapped for 56 years.