Mar
15
On this day in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in a violent overthrow in the Roman Senate. Though 60 people participated in the assassination, the most famous member of the cabal was Marcus Junius Brutus, a great friend of Caesar’s who inspired the leader’s supposed dying words: “Et tu, Brute?” (“You too, Brutus?”)
March 15 became known as the Ides of March, a day of great dread and foreboding. But in Roman culture, the Ides used to occur at the halfway mark of every month and was meant to be a time of festivity and a tribute to one of their gods. (The Ides of March was typically a celebration of Mars, the Roman god of war.) Following Ceasar’s murder, the Ides of March took on its current place in superstition and was immortalized by William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, where the line “Beware the Ides of March” is delivered to Caesar as he enters the Senate and where the “Et tu, Brute?” line was given dramatic heft.
So, Beware the Ides of March!
Tags: Advice, Interesting, Politics
