What Does 'Veni, Vidi, Vici' Mean?

Latin. The language of ancient Rome, and of gladiators, emperors, conquerors, and poets. Latin is a dead language today—it’s spoken nowhere in the world as a primary language—yet it remains evocative. Phrases that were coined in Latin centuries ago still have meaning for us, even now, in the 21st century.

Today we’re going to talk about three of the most famous Latin words in history—"veni, vidi, vici"—meaning “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

You probably know that these words were spoken by Julius Caesar, the general and statesman who ruled the ancient republic of Rome. 

Here are a few things you might not know about this phrase and about Caesar. 

'Veni, vidi, vici' means 'I came, I saw, I conquered'

Caesar made his “veni, vidi, vici” proclamation after winning in the three-sided civil war that rocked the Roman empire in the first century BC. After defeating King Pharnaces of Pontus at the city of Zela in 47 B.C., he sent a letter back to his friend Amintius in Rome. He wrote, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” 

This wasn’t just a boast; his victory was super fast. Caesar and his armies defeated Pharnaces within five days of their arrival at Zela—and after only four hours of fighting.

When Caesar returned triumphantly to Rome, he held a victory parade. “Veni, vidi, vici” was inscribed on a large placard called a “titulus,” that was carried at the head of the parade. That Latin word is the origin of our English words "title," "tilde" (the little squiggle you see over the letter N in Spanish), and "tittle" (the name of the dot over the lowercase letters I and J). 

Caesar 'crossed the Rubicon' literally, not figuratively

The Roman civil war had been brought about by political infighting too complicated to explain here. But the first official stroke in the war was taken by Caesar when he marched his troops out of their province in Gaul (the region we call France today), across a small river, and into Italy. The river was called “the Rubicon.” 

In crossing the Rubicon, Caesar broke the law because generals were not allowed to move their armies out of the province to which they were assigned. Caesar’s action was decisive; it was an unmistakable act of war. 

Ever since, the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” has meant any step someone takes that commits them irrevocably to a new course of action.

'Julius' isn’t a first name

Another interesting fact is that the “Julius” in “Julius Caesar” wasn’t the general’s first name. In other words, it wasn’t a name his parents picked out...

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