Ides of March

On this day in 44 BCE, Dictator for Life Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate, stabbed 23 times in what the conspirators ...

His ancestor (at least in legend) Lucius Junius Brutus had expelled the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of Lucretia and went on to found the Roman Republic. Another ancestor, Gaius Servilius Ahala, killed Spurius Maelius, who was thought to be plotting an uprising in order to become king in 439 BC. But when Cicero wrote to him about the conspiracy in its aftermath, Brutus seems to have learned the hard way: “Murder[…] makes trouble. Because religion and state were in design and practice the same entity, interfering with rituals and/or displeasing the gods would bring nothing but disfavor to the people of Rome. However, with the dates of months and festivals now fixed, the role of this office would be much reduced. On this day in 44 BCE, Dictator for Life Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate, stabbed 23 times in what the conspirators believed was an act that would save the Republic and stop Caesar’s advancement toward becoming the King of Rome. This day, on the Roman calendar of the time, was the Ides of March. What does “Ides” mean? By the time Julius Caesar began his political career, the calendar had undergone enough changes that it begins to resemble our own: 12 months of either 31 or 29 days on a four year cycle, with a month added in years 2 and 4, and February being either 28, 23 or 24 days. Cincinnatus, a legendary elder statesman and hero of the Republic, would serve as needed in times of military warfare and plebeian uprisings, but would always return to his farm, inspiring George Washington and other Revolutionary War figures to idealize an agrarian United States.