The Ides of March fall on the fifteenth day of March in the Roman Calender. The date became significant when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. After his assassination, the Ides of March became synonymous with doom and hardship.BBC: Ides of March
Why Was Caesar Assassinated?
For more than fifty years before Caesar's assassination, Rome had been anti-royalty, and though Caesar had made many public displays of refusal of the crown, he had acted the role of dictator and was in the process of claiming the position of "Dictator for Life." Caesar became the first ruler to appear on coinage (a position that had always been given to the gods,) and rumors told that he was even putting together a cult of people who would eventually raise him up to God status.National Geographic: Ides of March Marked Murder of Julius Caesar
References
Fast Facts
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The Ides of March fall on March 15
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There are Ides in every month, but they fall on the fifteenth in March, May, July and OctoberBBC: Ides of March
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Ides fall on the 13th of the other eight months of the year
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The Ides of March are most often associated with the assassination of Julius Ceasar in the senate in 44 B.C.BBC: Ides of March
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One of the most well-known depictions of this act appears in William Shakespeare's Julius CaesarBBC: Ides of March
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Caesar warned by a soothsayer on his way to the senate meeting to "Beware the Ides of March"
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Brutus, who betrayed Caesar, had one time been spared by Caesar after participating in a civil war against himNational Geographic: Ides of March Marked Murder of Julius Caesar
