March 15, 2024

Beware the Ides of March! : Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2

The Ides of March – Idus Martiae – is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances and was a deadline for settling debts in Rome.

Having been proclaimed Permanent Dictator – Dictator Perpetuo – almost exactly a month earlier, Julius Caesar got sliced and diced on this day in 44 B.C., due to the fear of a power grab, ending the Roman Republic with Caesar becoming King.

It’s debated whether the problems the Republic had been going through were solvable by any means. Nevertheless, Caesar’s assassination changed world history in ways we are still dealing with today.