The Ides of March
Did the Day of Julius Caesar's Assassination Have Other Significance
The Roman Republic came to its official end on the Ides of March in 44 B.C.E., but the Ides of March was not a day for people in togas conspiring against dictators.
St. Patrick's Day dominates the month of March, but anyone with even a passing interesting in Roman history knows why March 15th, the Ides of March, holds special significance. In 44 B.C., a group of senators killed Julius Caesar on the floor of the Roman senate in an effort to restore the Roman Republic.
The efforts o the senators to restore the Roman Republic would fail, and many emperor's claimed to make it a priority. That bit of history is known to anyone who has read Shakespeare's historical play, Julius Caesar, but in the play a soothsayer warned Caesar that he should beware the Ides of March. The question then becomes what were the Ides of March? Unlike the Lupercalia or the Saturnalia festivals, the Ides of March were just a way of marking the passage of time.
The Ides of March on the Roman Calendar
Weekdays were not initially part of the Roman calendar. Instead, the months were divided into the Kalends, the beginning of the month, the Nones, the first part, and the Ides. After the Kalends, Nones, or Ides would pass the Romans would then begin to count down to the next day. What this means is that unlike the Saturnalia or the Lupercalia, the average ancient Roman would not think of March 15th as special day, any more than we consider Wednesday to special day of the week. The Ides of any month, including March were used to mark the passage of time.
The Ides of March may have fallen on 15th, but in shorter months the Ides fell on the 13th according to the Dictionary of Roman Religion. A common rhyme learned by many Latin students, according to Stephan Gilmore, a former Latin teacher at Milton Area Senior High School, to help them remember when the Ides and Nones fall in each month goes, “In March, July, October and May, the Ides Fall on the fifteenth day/the nones the seventh and besides/are two days less for Nones and Ides.”
Caesar's Last Three Words on the Ides of March
The last three words of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in Shakespeare's play are; "then fall Caesar." (Caesar's actual last three words are Ay, at Phillipi if you count his ghost appearing to Brutus at Philipi in Greece.) The Roman historian Livvy records them more accurately as “Et tu, Brute?”
Today St. Patrick's Day may command more attention than the Ides of March, but a small moment of silence for one of the greatest men who ever lived, even if we do not always understand why he is considered such may be an appropriate way to spend the day. Remember to be careful, because if Roman history teaches us nothing else, it is to be wary of people in togas conspiring against you.
Sources:
The Dictionary of Roman Religion. Adkins and Adkins. Oxford University Press, Oxford England. 1996.
