Tag Archives: Roman history

History

Beware The Ides of March! The Assassination of Julius Caesar (15 March 44 BC)

 

The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844).
Public Domain

The assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC shocked Rome. The conspirators believed the Roman Republic would be restored. Instead, civil war followed, and the Roman Empire became firmly established.

In ancient Rome the Ides of March were part of a series of days of three grouped by the ancient Romans. The ides occurred on the fifteenth of March, May, July, and October and in other months started on the thirteenth day. Since the early Romans used a lunar calendar, sometimes the ides might be a time of foreboding and omens. However, since March was the beginning of the new year on the old Roman calendar, there were festivals to welcome the new year. On this Ide, Jupiter (Greek Zeus) and other deities were being honored. However, this time of festivity in March would be forever changed by the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Caesar had created enemies over his actions. He defied the senate in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon without disbanding his army sparking a civil war he decisively won. He assumed the office of dictatorship at first just annually then for life. While he did many noteworthy things such as providing land for veterans and overseeing the creation of a new calendar (the Julian), his centralization of power undermined republican institutions. Proclaiming himself perpetual dictator and accepting king like honors upset many in the senate. The leaders of the plot to kill him were Marcus Juinius Brutus and Gaius Cassius, but sixty senators in total were in support.

According to Plutarch, Caesar was warned of his death by a soothsayer. Shakespeare in his famous play Julius Caesarused this by having his soothsayer utter: “beware the ides of March.” Caesar went to attend a meeting of senators at the Curia of Pompey within the Theatre of Pompey in Rome. After he entered, he was ambushed. Marc Antony, who was going to enter behind him, was delayed by another conspirator and thus was not there to prevent the assassination. One of the first attackers only wounder Caesar, who took the knife and stabbed him. However, the other attackers thrust their daggers into him stabbing 23 times though not all wounding him. He would end dying under the Pompey statue. His last words are disputed, but Suetonious reports he said to Brutus “You to, child?” Shakespeare rewrote that into the famous “Et tu, Brute.”

Rome was stunned by the assassination. The conspirators thought they would he hailed as heroes for killing the tyrant Caesar. Instead, they were treated coldly, and few places would let them in. Caesar’s body would be taken home by his slaves where it was prepared for funeral. At the funeral, Marc Antony gave a eulogy that stirred the people against Brutus and the other conspirators. Caesar’s death created a power vacuum in Rome and various factions now jostled for power. Brutus and Cassius fled, each to different places to recruit supporters for the coming confrontation. Gaius Octavius, Caesar’s 18-year-old grand-nephew and designated heir under the will, came into conflict with Marc Antony over who was to rule.

Aftermath

Civil war between Octavius and Antony gave both Brutus and Cassius the opportunity to attack Rome. However, both Octavius and Antony made peace and turned their full armies against them. At the Battle of Phillippi on 3 October 42 BC, Brutus defeated Octavius forces, but Antony defeated Cassius. Cassius, assuming Brutus was dead, killed himself. The second battle on 23 October resulted in Brutus’ defeat and him fleeing to the hills where he killed himself. Antony treated his body with respect wrapping in expensive purple mantle. However, Octavius had his head cut off to be taken and displayed in Rome. It would never arrive as the box it was in fell into the Mediterranean Sea during a storm on the way to Rome. His body was cremated and remains sent to his mother. None of the other conspirators would survive. Senators who had participated, knew of the plot, and others who had assisted, were tracked down and executed. While some were able to flee to distant lands, they were eventually tracked down and killed, sometimes by bounty hunters.

Instead of restoring the republic, the assassination achieved the opposite. Rome became an empire with power centralized into one person and the offices that answered to him. The Senate would continue to exist to pass laws but could not overrule him. The Praetorian Guard was created to protect an emperor from being assassinated. The Roman Empire expanded and the entire Mediterranean came under Roman rule. Rome became not just a city, but the name for the world that was ruled by it.

Sources

“The Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BC): Causes, Conspirators, and Consequences – History Rome.” SolarAndalucia, January 18, 2026. https://history-rome.com/the-assassination-of-julius-caesar-44-bc-causes-conspirators-and-consequences/.

Klein, Christopher. “Julius Caesar’s Assassination: Fall of the Roman Republic | HISTORY.” HISTORY. Last modified March 4, 2026. https://www.history.com/articles/julius-caesar-assassination-fall-roman-republic.

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph. “Julius Caesar.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified March 6, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler.

Videos

Historia Civilis. “The Assassination of Julius Caesar (the Ides of March, 44 B.C.E.).” Video. YouTube, October 19, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XBxMk_plhA.

History Unleashed. “How The Senators Who Stabbed Julius Caesar Died | Rome’s Revenge.” Video. YouTube, January 10, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up6zZ3tgNio.

Arik Elman. “Charlton Heston Mark Antony Speech ‘Julius Caesar’ (1970).” Video. YouTube, February 25, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bi1PvXCbr8.

History

Great Fire of Rome (18 Jul 64 AD)

The Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD was the most destructive fire for the ancient city of Rome.

The Fire of Rome, 18 July 64 AD by Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
1785
Public Domain (US) via Wikimedia Commons

Rome was a metropolis in 64 AD where approximately one million people lived. Originally starting near the Tiber River, the city had grown and expanded to encompass much of what is called Rome today. Because much of the city was built near the river, it was prone to flooding. This happened frequently resulting in major floods where many parts of Rome were underwater.

Aside from that occasional blight, fires were not uncommon either. Since most people lived in poorly constructed wooden apartments, fires were common. Often small areas or neighborhoods might go up but there was no equivalent of a modern fire department. Instead, a small group established by the Emperor Augustus carried buckets to help put out fires. However, once a fire got too large there was nothing that could be done.

Since Rome had very narrow streets and houses close together, fires could become serious quickly. This also meant crowded streets and Romans generally walked on the raised sidewalks as the streets themselves were quite filthy from horse and human waste. Since few had a sewer opening in their home, they had to hand carry the waste containers to the nearest sewer opening. Most people just dumped it into the street adding an additional hazard to walking as the contents of the pot or even the pot itself might hit people passing below. Romans cleverly built raised stones to allow crossing streets to avoid stepping onto the street itself. Those who traveled in raised litters had perfumed liners to mitigate the stench, which was very strong during the warm summers.

On the evening of 18 Jul 64, a fire broke out in the slums south of Palatine Hill. It was likely started by a tipped over oil lantern. The burning olive oil would start a small fire that if left unintended probably grew fast due the wood providing fuel. With winds and the closeness of homes, the fire grew larger before realized how serious it was. The fire began spreading quickly consuming neighborhoods and whole districts. Rome was divided into 14 districts and soon every one of them would be impacted by the fires. Only three were spared the direct results of the fire (mostly those on the hills) but they were impacted as people were fleeing the fires in massive numbers. Hundreds died in the fires and thousands were left homeless. And the fire raged for nine days before it went out leaving the city in ruins.

The emperor Nero was away at the time the fire started and headed back to Rome. Contrary to both legends and myths, there is nothing to indicate he started the fire. Nor was he merrily playing his lyre while composing an ode to the fire. The famous idiom “Fiddling while Rome burns” was not accurate for Nero as the fiddle didn’t exist. Nero had started out his reign liked but by this time things had changed. He had murdered his mother, was known for his vanity, and spent a lot of time away from Rome doing things emperors didn’t do (acting, singing, participating in sports). Many had come to dislike him in the military, nobility and even the commoners.

Nero took steps to help those who lost their homes allowing the homeless to camp out in areas that normally were not allowed. And then he undertook the redesigning of Rome by widening streets to allow more people and carts to get through and put rules in place to prohibit the use of materials that caused fires. His megalomania would surface though when he wanted to rename Rome (Neropolis) and build a new palace. He had a bigger problem though as people were angry and resentful about what happened. And emperors, being the ones in charge, could be blamed when things went really awful. So, to distract them, he craftily spread the tale that Christians were responsible for setting the fires. And Christians were a small minority whose faith in an unseen god was disturbing to many. Also spread was the tale that Christians, in order to bring about the end of the world so that their god might return, burned the city to make it possible.

And it worked. Nero worked up the populace to believe that this minority sect was responsible for Rome’s recent destruction. There was absolutely no proof this was the case, but the anger against them worked. Christians were arrested and put to death in horrific ways, often in public spectacles where hungry lions or other animals were let loose to have at them. And Nero basked in the glory of being the one who was rebuilding Rome and dealing with those who had caused the fires.

Aftermath

Rebuilding saw Roman houses spaced out and built with brick. However, the immense cost of rebuilding drained the Roman treasury. This would lead to increased taxation and heavy tributes were placed on the provinces. Thinking it would help with costs, Nero devalued the currency, leading to inflation. The increased taxes and the devaluing of the currency led to an unsuccessful uprising in 65 AD with all the conspirators either killed or forced into suicide. In March 68, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis revolted against Nero’s tax policies. Gaius Julius Vindex called for support from Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis. Vindex’s revolt was put down and its commander, Lucius Verginius Rufus, was hailed by legions as the next emperor (he did not accept it). All of this led to instability for Nero as Galba started getting support. A key defection by the commander of the Praetorian Guard sealed his fate. Nero thought about going to Galba and ask for forgiveness but abandoned that idea.

The Praetorian Guard had abandoned the palace by this point and so he went out to the country to collect his thoughts. The senate declared him a public enemy and Nero prepared to die and had a grave dug for him. He was unable to take his own life and asked his secretary Epaphroditus to do it for him. He died on 9 June 68 AD which was greeted by cheering in Rome. It would be the end of the Judeo-Claudian line (Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero) and would usher in the Year of the Four Emperors. There would be Nero impostors as well claiming power. Vespasian was the last of the Four Emperors and would rule for 10 years and die in 79 AD. His rule restored political stability and established the Flavian dynasty that lasted for 27 years.

Sources

HISTORY.com Editors, “Nero’s Rome Burns | July 19, 64 | HISTORY,” HISTORY, last modified July 16, 2025, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/July-19/neros-rome-burns.

“The Great Fire of Rome | Origins,” Origins, last modified July 1, 2024, https://origins.osu.edu/read/great-fire-rome.

The Vintage News, “Today in History: July 18th, 64 AD,” Thevintagenews, last modified July 16, 2025, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2025/07/16/july-18-64/.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Nero | Biography, Claudius, Rome, Burning, Fate, Accomplishments, & Facts,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified June 19, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nero-Roman-emperor#ref1265437.

“The Great Fire of Rome,” History Today, https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/great-fire-rome.

“Nero,” Biography, September 24, 2020, https://www.biography.com/political-figures/nero.

Kate Zusmann, “Emperor Nero,” Rome.Us, last modified June 4, 2025, https://rome.us/roman-emperors/nero.html.

History

Beware The Ides of March! The Assassination of Julius Caesar (15 Mar 44 BC)

The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844).
Public Domain

Today is 15 March and on the old Roman calendar was a day of religious observance to the Roman god Jupiter and other lesser deities. But it is most famous as the date in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated at a meeting of the Roman Senate. 60 conspirators were involved but the leaders were Brutus and Cassius. Caesar was forewarned of his death by a seer according to Plutarch. And in his famous work Julius Caesar, Shakespeare has the soothsayer say “beware the ides of March” which Caesar ignores and of course he ends up stabbed to death uttering the famous line before death:

Et tu Brute!

The assassination was a turning point for Rome. It brought about a civil war and ended the Roman Republic. Octavian (later Augustus) would become emperor and the Roman Empire would come to dominate the entire Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Britain. In Julius Caesar Mark Antony gives perhaps the most remembered funeral oration ever done. Most people recall the famous opening line:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.

The oration is masterful in that it cleverly turns the people against Brutus and Cassius by showing they were ambitious and not Caesar. By the end the plebeians call them traitors and murderers.

In real life, it was much the same. Antony played them by seemingly supporting amnesty but turning people against them both. Brutus was forced to leave and ended up on Crete, Cassius went east to gather support among the governors and to amass an army. Antony and Octavian would clash militarily causing divisions in Rome. This allowed the forces of Brutus and Cassius to march on Rome. However Octavian made peace with Antony upon this news so both forces joined to stop Brutus and Cassius. They met at Philippi on 3 Oct 42 BC. The first battle resulted in Brutus defeating Octavian but Antony defeating Cassius. Not knowing that Brutus had defeated Octavian, Cassius took his own life. At the second battle of Philippi on 23 October, Brutus was defeated and forced to flee into the hills where he committed suicide. Antony treated his body with great respect by having it wrapped his most expensive purple mantle. His body was cremated and remains sent to his mother.

Sources:

History.com Editors, “The Ides of March | March 15, 44 B.C. | HISTORY,” HISTORY, last modified January 24, 2025, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-15/the-ides-of-march.

Toynbee and Arnold Joseph, “Julius Caesar | Biography, Conquests, Facts, & Death,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified February 11, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler.

 

History

Beware The Ides of March! The Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 Mar BC)

The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844).
Public Domain

Today is 15 March and on the old Roman calendar was a day of religious observance to the Roman god Jupiter and other lesser deities. But it is most famous as the date in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated at a meeting of the Roman Senate. 60 conspirators were involved but the leaders were Brutus and Cassius. Caesar was forewarned of his death by a seer according to Plutarch. And in his famous work Julius Caesar, Shakespeare has the soothsayer say “beware the ides of March” which Caesar ignores and of course he ends up stabbed to death uttering the famous line before death:

Et tu Brute!

The assassination was a turning point for Rome. It brought about a civil war and ended the Roman Republic. Octavian (later Augustus) would become emperor and the Roman Empire would come to dominate the entire Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Britain. In Julius Caesar Mark Antony gives perhaps the most remembered funeral oration ever done. Most people recall the famous opening line:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.

The oration is masterful in that it cleverly turns the people against Brutus and Cassius by showing they were ambitious and not Caesar. By the end the plebeians call them traitors and murderers.

In real life, it was much the same. Antony played them by seemingly supporting amnesty but turning people against them both. Brutus was forced to leave and ended up on Crete, Cassius went east to gather support among the governors and to amass an army. Antony and Octavian would clash militarily causing divisions in Rome. This allowed the forces of Brutus and Cassius to march on Rome. However Octavian made peace with Antony upon this news so both forces joined to stop Brutus and Cassius. They met at Philippi on 3 Oct 42 BC. The first battle resulted in Brutus defeating Octavian but Antony defeating Cassius. Not knowing that Brutus had defeated Octavian, Cassius took his own life. At the second battle of Philippi on 23 October, Brutus was defeated and forced to flee into the hills where he committed suicide. Antony treated his body with great respect by having it wrapped his most expensive purple mantle. His body was cremated and remains sent to his mother.

Sources:

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History

Beware The Ides of March! The Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 Mar BC)

The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844). Public Domain
The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844).
Public Domain

Today is 15 March and on the old Roman calendar was a day of religious observance to the Roman god Jupiter and other lesser deities. But it is most famous as the date in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated at a meeting of the Roman Senate. 60 conspirators were involved but the leaders were Brutus and Cassius. Caesar was forewarned of his death by a seer according to Plutarch. And in his famous work Julius Caesar, Shakespeare has the soothsayer say “beware the ides of March” which Caesar ignores and of course he ends up stabbed to death uttering the famous line before death:

Et tu Brute!

The assassination was a turning point for Rome. It brought about a civil war and ended the Roman Republic. Octavian (later Augustus) would become emperor and the Roman Empire would come to dominate the entire Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Britain. In Julius Caesar Mark Antony gives perhaps the most remembered funeral oration ever done. Most people recall the famous opening line:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.

The oration is masterful in that it cleverly turns the people against Brutus and Cassius by showing they were ambitious and not Caesar. By the end the plebeians call them traitors and murderers.

In real life, it was much the same. Antony played them by seemingly supporting amnesty but turning people against them both. Brutus was forced to leave and ended up on Crete, Cassius went east to gather support among the governors and to amass an army. Antony and Octavian would clash militarily causing divisions in Rome. This allowed the forces of Brutus and Cassius to march on Rome. However Octavian made peace with Antony upon this news so both forces joined to stop Brutus and Cassius. They met at Philippi on 3 Oct 42 BC. The first battle resulted in Brutus defeating Octavian but Antony defeating Cassius. Not knowing that Brutus had defeated Octavian, Cassius took his own life. At the second battle of Philippi on 23 October, Brutus was defeated and forced to flee into the hills where he committed suicide. Antony treated his body with great respect by having it wrapped his most expensive purple mantle. His body was cremated and remains sent to his mother.

Sources:


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