In This Month: March

The Assassination of Caesar
On the 15th March, 44 BC, the Roman military leader and dictator, Julius Caesar, was assassinated by a group of his own senators. In the Roman Calendar, the 15th day of March was known as 'The Ides of March' – nowadays this term has come to mean impending doom and the day is still marked in Rome by a toga run.

Caesar, who was accused of having aims to be King of Rome, was stabbed 23 times by the group of senators, led by his former friend Marcus Junius Brutus. His death sparked a civil war that ended the Republic and led to the rise of Caesar's great nephew and designated heir, Octavian, as Emperor Augustus. Two years after he was killed, Caesar was officially named a deity in recognition of the crucial role he played in transforming the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

For more on the history of Rome, check out the Ancient History Romans section and the in-depth profile of Julius Caesar.