What is the Ides of March?
The Ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar marked as the Idus. The Idus is the midpoint of a month, referred to as the 13th through the 15th. This day corresponds to March 15th on the Gregorian calendar. Marked by several major religious observances and celebrations, Saturday, March 15, 2025, is the Ides of March. This day is well known as the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. The turning point in Roman history, marking the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. The Ides of March is associated with misfortune and doom.
Julius Caesar was a Roman dictator who was assassinated in 44 BCE. He was in a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome when he was stabbed to death by 60 conspirators. The assassination was led by Marc Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on March 15. They believed that his death would lead to the restoration of the Roman Republic. The result of the Ides of March was to plunge Rome into a fresh round of civil wars, out of which Caesar’s grand-nephew, Octavian became Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, destroying the Republic forever.
In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March didn’t have a threatening history. Kalends, Nones, and Ides were marks used in ancient times to reference dates in relation to the phases of the moon. Ides is the first full moon of a given month. Since the Roman calendar was based on lunar cycles, a full moon fell between the 13th and the 15th. The Ides of March once signified the new year, which meant celebrations and rejoicing.
