15 March 44 BCE Rome The Ides of March

On March 15, 44 BCE, one of the most infamous assassinations in history took place in Rome. Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, was stabbed to death by a group of Roman senators who called themselves the Liberatores.

Caesar had been appointed dictator perpetuo (dictator in perpetuity) by the Roman Senate, which alarmed many senators who feared he was becoming too powerful and might end the Roman Republic. A conspiracy of approximately 60 senators was formed, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, whom Caesar considered a friend.

On the fateful day, Caesar was attending a session of the Senate at the Theatre of Pompey. Despite warnings from a soothsayer who had told him to “beware the Ides of March” and his wife Calpurnia who had dreamed of his death, Caesar proceeded to the Senate. There, the conspirators surrounded him under the pretense of presenting a petition. Tillius Cimber grabbed Caesar’s toga, and Casca struck the first blow with his dagger. The other conspirators then joined in, stabbing Caesar 23 times.

According to ancient sources, Caesar’s last words upon seeing Brutus among his attackers were “Et tu, Brute?” (“You too, Brutus?”), though this is likely apocryphal. Caesar fell at the foot of a statue of his former rival Pompey and died.

Rather than restoring the Republic as the assassins had hoped, Caesar’s death triggered a series of civil wars that ultimately led to the end of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire under Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavian, who became Emperor Augustus.

The Ides of March has since become synonymous with betrayal and political assassination, immortalized in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar with the famous line, “Beware the Ides of March.”