First performed in 1599, William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a five-act history play and tragedy, the plot of which Shakespeare sourced from The Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, written by the Greek historian Plutarch around the first century. Shakespeare uses the Roman plot as an allegory for the political mood of England in his times, and the play has stood the test of time in its remarkable, prescient treatment of themes like the dangers of concentration of power, as well as its complex, flawed, and fascinating characters.