On March 15, 44 BC . on the day of the Ides of March, some Roman conspirators assassinated Julius Caesar , in an attempt to restore the Republic to Rome. However, the episode, known as Caesaricide , triggered a series of new wars and internal conflicts that led to the rise of Octavian Augustus , who canceled the republic forever, giving life to the Roman Empire
Così fu trafitto da ventitré pugnalate, con un solo gemito, emesso sussurrando dopo il primo colpo; secondo alcuni avrebbe gridato a Marco Bruto, che si precipitava contro di lui: "Anche tu, figlio?". Rimase lì per un po’ di tempo, privo di vita, mentre tutti fuggivano, finché, caricato su una lettiga, con il braccio che pendeva fuori, fu portato a casa da tre schiavi.
With these words Suetonius describes the death of Julius Caesar, which occurred following a conspiracy on the Ides of March.
The Ides of March
According to the Julian calendar , introduced just a year before the murder of Caesar, the "ides" corresponded to the thirteenth or fifteenth day of the month, and consequently the ides of March corresponded to March 15 , a date that we still use to remember the anniversary of the caesaricide, however, March 15 in the Julian calendar does not correspond to March 15 in the Gregorian calendar, there is in fact a phase shift between the two calendars of about 12/13 days, and the "solar" day which corresponds to March 15th in the Julian calendar, falls between our 26th and 28th March, however, by convention, having a very specific historical date, "the ides of March" we tend to match that date with our March 15th.
The Caesaricide
In hindsight, a man with the wit and foresight of Caesar, perhaps could have foreseen those events.
There was in Rome, especially in the Senate, a strong dissatisfaction and wide doubts regarding the figure of Caesar. Caesar had risen to the highest ranks of the republic, thanks to careful political alliances, but also thanks to his fame as a great general and the status of "homo novus" .
Caesar did not descend from ancient Roman families and was not a member of the Roman elite by birthright.
Julius Caesar was in a sense an ordinary man lent to Roman politics, and his meteoric career soon began to worry, not only his rivals and opponents, but also his allies.
The dictatorship
Now at the peak of his political career, at the end of the first campaign in Spain , in 49 BC he received the post of dictator.
La dittatura in età romana era una magistratura straordinaria, dalla durata massima di sei mesi, e sostitutiva dei due consolati. Il dittatore romano, deteneva infatti il summum imperium, ed era accompagnato nel proprio esercizio da 24 littori. Tutte le altre magistrature ordinarie erano subordinate alla dittatura.
Despite the six-month limit, Caesar's dictatorship was iterated several times , until 47 BC when the appointment was extended to a ten-year dictatorship. That of caesar was not the first iterated dictatorship, already with Silla , author of the famous ban lists, Rome had witnessed an iteration of the dictatorship.
At the end of January 44 BC the Roman dictator, had some statues representing Caesar, adorned with a diadem, placed near the Rostra of the Roman forum.
Nella simbologia ellenistica, il diadema era un simbolo di potere e regalità, e la presenza di statue di Cesare adornate con diademi erano un chiaro messaggio di quali fossero le reali intenzioni di Cesare.
This unpleasant episode saw the opposition of the two Tribunes of the plebs Caio Epido Marullo and Lucio Cesezio Flavo , who, regardless of the will of the dictator, had the statues removed.
Just a few days later, approximately on January 26, 44 BC, according to Plutarch, Caesar was greeted by some Roman citizens, with the nickname of "Rex" . Once again Caesar clashed with the opposition of the two tribunes, and making use of his powers deriving from the summum imperium , had the two tribunes dismissed.
The Lupercalia
February 15th of the same year, during the festival of Lupercalia, Cesare attended the celebrations, dressed in purple and crowned with laurel, seated on a gilded seat.
After the ritual of the Luperci race, a race in which he ran wearing goat skins around the Palatine Hill, one of the Luperci, approached Caesar to offer him a diadem as a gift, which the dictator refused.
As we have already said, the diadem, in Hellenistic symbolism, was a sign of royalty. Most of the classical sources agree in asserting that the initiative to offer the diadem to Caesar was taken by his dolphin Marcus Anthony. Other sources, however, claim that the initiative started with a certain Licino.
The two narratives take place in different political environments, and lend themselves to different interpretations.
Per essere più precisi, secondo la narrazione di Cicerone, dichiarato oppositore di cesare, l'incoronazione fu voluta dallo stesso Cesare, e voleva essere un tentativo di legittimazione simbolica del suo potere.
Diversamente, secondo la narrazione di Nicola di Damasco, la cui narrazione dichiaratamente più "vicina" a Cesare, e soprattutto Antonio cui era molto legato, l'incoronazione fu in realtà una cospirazione organizzata dai futuri cesaricidi per mettere in cattiva luce Cesare.
We don't know which of the versions is the authentic one. However, we know that presumably Cicero he was an eyewitness to the story. Or at least that's what Cicero says.
In Cicero's narrative, Marcus Anthony, at the end of the race, gave a short speech, which was followed by the offering of the diadem to Caesar. This episode, says Cicero, left Lepido, dismayed who at that time held the office of magister equitum , a position that had been conferred on him by Caesar himself. However, Cicero himself observes that Caesar refused the gift.
For Cicero, Caesar refused the diadem because he realized the disappointment of the Roman people. For Nicholas of Damascus, however, Caesar refused the gift because he was aware that he was part of a conspiracy of his opponents.
The Ides of March
About a month later, around the middle of March, on the day dedicated to the celebration of Mars, a session was held in the Senate.
Three days later , March 18th , Caesar would have left for the east, to fight Getae and Parthians. In those same days, a prophecy of the Sibylline books was circulating in Rome , which stated that the Parthians would be defeated by a King. But Rome did not have a king.
The day of the ides of Mars appears, with hindsight, the most propitious time to assassinate Caesar. In fact, if Caesar had left, and had defeated the Parthians, the ancient Sibylline prophecy would have made Caesar the new King of Rome. Consequently, it is very likely that the conspirators thought of eliminating Caesar before he left.
We obviously do not know what the real intentions of the Caesaricides were, what their plan was, but we do know that after the session in the Senate, the conspiracy known to us as Caesaricide was carried out.