The Reigns of Roman Emperors 

    The evidence concerning the comet seen after the death of Julius supports the date of 49 

B.C.

 for Julius 

Caesar's death and does not support the later date of 44 

B.C.

 The evidence concerning a solar eclipse after the 

death of Julius Caesar gives further support to a date of 49 

B.C.

 for the death of Julius Caesar. (See sections 1 

and 2 above.) 

Augustus (Feb. 48 

B.C.

 to Aug. 

A.D.

 10) 

    As explained above, Josephus counts the reign of Augustus as beginning in Feb. of the year following the 

death of Julius Caesar, which is Feb. of 48 

B.C.

 in this revised chronology. Josephus gives the length of 

Augustus' reign as 57 years, 6 months, 2 days.

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 The death of Augustus occurred on August 19 of 

A.D.

 10 

(revised). The usual dates for Augustus' reign are March of 44 

B.C.

 to August of 

A.D.

 14. 

    The solar eclipse data supports this earlier date of 

A.D.

 10 for Augustus' death and clearly does not support 

the usual date of 

A.D.

 14 (see section 5 above). Other evidence, such as the year of Julius Caesar's death, the 

years for the reign of king Herod, and the date for the battle at Actium, also reinforce this earlier chronology 

for the reign of Augustus. 

Tiberius (

A.D.

 1 to Mar. 

A.D.

 22) 

    As argued above, Tiberius' reign was antedated to 

A.D.

 1 and his reign of less than 22 years ended in early 

A.D.

 22. There is some disagreement among the ancient historians as to the exact date of Tiberius' death. 

Perhaps they are each counting Tiberius' reign as if it began at the death of Augustus on August 19, yet still 

they disagree as to its length. Josephus gives the length of Tiberius' reign as 22 years, 5 months, 3 days (in The 

Antiquities of the Jews), but in another place gives it as 22 years, 6 months, 3 days (in The Wars of the Jews).

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 If 

we follow Josephus, and count from the death of Augustus on August 19, then Tiberius' would be placed in 

either Jan. or Feb., about the 22nd day of the month. On the other hand, Suetonius states that Tiberius died on 

March 16, but without stating the exact length of his reign.

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 Dio agrees with Suetonius as to the month but 

not the day, since he states that Tiberius died on March 26, after a reign of 22 years, 7 months, and 7 days.

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The generally accepted date for the death of Tiberius is March 16 of 

A.D.

 37. In this revised chronology, the 

date of Tiberius' death is March 16 of 

A.D.

 22. The length of Tiberius' reign is shorter in this revised 

chronology than is stated by the ancient historians (as explained in section 12 above). 

Gaius (Caligula) (Mar. 

A.D.

 22 to Jan. 

A.D.

 26) 

    The death of Tiberius Caesar, in March of 

A.D.

 22, marked the beginning of the reign of the next emperor, 

Gaius (Caligula), who ruled for less than four years. Josephus gives the length of his reign as 3 years and 8 

months.

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 Suetonius, however, gives the length of Gaius' reign as 3 years, 10 months and 8 days.

979

 Dio gives 

the length of his reign as 3 years, 9 months and 28 days.

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 Now Josephus is less certain here than Suetonius 

and Dio, since he gives the length of time in years and months, but not exact to the day. Also, Josephus is 

counting from the death of Tiberius, but he gives conflicting information as to the length of Tiberius' reign.

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Dio and Suetonius seem to disagree on when Gaius died. But, they also differ as to the date of Tiberius' death: 

March 16 for Suetonius versus March 26 for Dio. When one adds their differing lengths for Gaius' reign to 

their differing dates for the death of Tiberius, the result is the same month and day for the death of Gaius: Jan. 

24. The usual date for the death of Gaius is Jan. 24 of 

A.D.

 41.

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 My revised chronology places the death of 

the Roman emperor Gaius (Caligula) on Jan. 24 of 

A.D.

 26, just under 4 years after Tiberius died. 

Claudius (Jan. 

A.D.

 26 to Oct. 

A.D.

 39) 

    Josephus gives the length of Claudius' reign as 13 years, 8 months, and 20 days.

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 Suetonius gives the date 

of his death as Oct. 13 in the 14th year of his reign.

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 Tacitus agrees that Claudius died on Oct. 13.

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 It is 

difficult to determine what starting point Josephus was using, since he gives two different lengths for the reign 

of Tiberius and his length for Gaius' reign is not exact to the day. However, he does agree with Suetonius that 

Claudius' died before completing the 14th year of his reign. So, if Gaius died on Jan. 24 of 

A.D.

 26, then the 

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