This article is about the day in the Roman calendar. For events that occurred on March 15, see March 15. For other uses, see Ides of March (disambiguation).
The Ides of March (/aɪdz/; Latin: Idus Martiae, Late Latin: Idus Martii)[1] is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable in Rome as a deadline for settling debts.[2] In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history.
The Romans did not number each day of a month from the first to the last day. Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the Nones (the 5th or 7th, nine days inclusive before the Ides), the Ides (the 13th for most months, but the 15th in March, May, July, and October), and the Kalends (1st of the following month). Originally the Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. In the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.[3]
Religious observances
Panel thought to depict the Mamuralia, from a mosaic of the months in which March is positioned at the beginning of the year (first half of the 3rd century AD, from El Djem, Tunisia, in Roman Africa)
The Ides of each month were sacred to Jupiter, the Romans' supreme deity. The Flamen Dialis, Jupiter's high priest, led the "Ides sheep" (ovis Idulis) in procession along the Via Sacra to the arx, where it was sacrificed.[4]
In addition to the monthly sacrifice, the Ides of March was also the occasion of the Feast of Anna Perenna, a goddess of the year (Latin annus) whose festival originally concluded the ceremonies of the new year. The day was enthusiastically celebrated among the common people with picnics, drinking, and revelry.[5] One source from late antiquity also places the Mamuralia on the Ides of March.[6] This observance, which has aspects of scapegoat or ancient Greek pharmakos ritual, involved beating an old man dressed in animal skins and perhaps driving him from the city. The ritual may have been a new year festival representing the expulsion of the old year.[7][8]
In the later Imperial period, the Ides began a "holy week" of festivals celebrating Cybele and Attis,[9][10][11] being the day Canna intrat ("The Reed enters"), when Attis was born and found among the reeds of a Phrygian river.[12] He was discovered by shepherds or the goddess Cybele, who was also known as the Magna Mater ("Great Mother") (narratives differ).[13] A week later, on 22 March, the solemn commemoration of Arbor intrat ("The Tree enters") commemorated the death of Attis under a pine tree. A college of priests, the dendrophoroi ("tree bearers") annually cut down a tree,[14] hung from it an image of Attis,[15] and carried it to the temple of the Magna Mater with lamentations. The day was formalized as part of the official Roman calendar under Claudius (d. 54 AD).[16] A three-day period of mourning followed,[17] culminating with celebrating the rebirth of Attis on 25 March, the date of the vernal equinox on the Julian calendar.[18]
Reverse side of the Ides of March Coin (a denarius) issued by Caesar's assassin Brutus in the autumn of 42 BC, with the abbreviation EID MAR (Eidibus Martiis – "on the Ides of March") under a "cap of freedom" between two daggers
In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch,[19] a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar on the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The Ides of March are come", implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar, but not gone."[19] This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."[20][21] The Roman biographer Suetonius[22] identifies the "seer" as a haruspex named Spurinna.
Caesar's death was a closing event in the crisis of the Roman Republic, and triggered the civil war that would result in the rise to sole power of his adopted heir Octavian (later known as Augustus).[23]Writing under Augustus, Ovid portrays the murder as a sacrilege, since Caesar was also the pontifex maximus of Rome and a priest of Vesta.[24] On the fourth anniversary of Caesar's death in 40 BC, after achieving a victory at the siege of Perugia, Octavian executed 300 senators and equites who had fought against him under Lucius Antonius, the brother of Mark Antony.[25] The executions were one of a series of actions taken by Octavian to avenge Caesar's death. Suetonius and the historian Cassius Dio characterised the slaughter as a religious sacrifice,[26][27] noting that it occurred on the Ides of March at the new altar to the deified Julius.
^Anscombe, Alfred (1908). The Anglo-Saxon Computation of Historic Time in the Ninth Century(PDF). British Numismatic Society. p. 396. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
^Ostberg, René. "Ides of March: Roman History". Encyclopedia Britannica.
^Scullard, H.H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. p. 43.
^Scullard, H.H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. p. 90.
^Lydus, John (6th century). De mensibus 4.36. Other sources place it on 14 March.
^Salzman, Michele Renee (1990). On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity. University of California Press. pp. 124& 128–129. ISBN9780520065666.
^Fowler, William Warde (1908). The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. London: Macmillan. pp. 44–50.
^Lancellotti, Maria Grazia (2002). Attis, Between Myth and History: King, Priest, and God. Brill. p. 81.
^ Borgeaud, Philippe (2004). Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary & Hochroth, Lysa (Translator). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 51, 90, 123, 164.
^Gary Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History (Routledge, 2012), p. 88; Lancellotti, Attis, Between Myth and History, p. 81.
^Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 166.
^Jaime Alvar, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras, translated by Richard Gordon (Brill, 2008), pp. 288–289.
^Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 27.1; Rabun Taylor, "Roman Oscilla: An Assessment", RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 48 (Autumn 2005), p. 97.
^Lydus, De Mensibus 4.59; Suetonius, Otho 8.3; Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion, p. 88.
^"Forum in Rome," Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 215.
^Ovid, Fasti 3.697–710; A.M. Keith, entry on "Ovid," Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 128; Geraldine Herbert-Brown, Ovid and the Fasti: An Historical Study (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), p. 70.
^Melissa Barden Dowling, Clemency and Cruelty in the Roman World (University of Michigan Press, 2006), pp. 50–51; Arthur Keaveney, The Army in the Roman Revolution (Routledge, 2007), p. 15.
^Suetonius, Life of Augustus 15. 31 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine
Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, The Life of Julius Caesar
Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Augustus (translated by Clayton M. Hall)
March 15, 2023
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This article is about the day in the Roman calendar For events that occurred on March 15 see March 15 For other uses see Ides of March disambiguation The Ides of March aɪ d z Latin Idus Martiae Late Latin Idus Martii 1 is the 74th day in the Roman calendar corresponding to 15 March It was marked by several religious observances and was notable in Rome as a deadline for settling debts 2 In 44 BC it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history The Death of Julius Caesar 1806 by Vincenzo Camuccini Contents 1 Ides 1 1 Religious observances 2 Assassination of Caesar 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksIdes EditThe Romans did not number each day of a month from the first to the last day Instead they counted back from three fixed points of the month the Nones the 5th or 7th nine days inclusive before the Ides the Ides the 13th for most months but the 15th in March May July and October and the Kalends 1st of the following month Originally the Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar In the earliest calendar the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year 3 Religious observances Edit Panel thought to depict the Mamuralia from a mosaic of the months in which March is positioned at the beginning of the year first half of the 3rd century AD from El Djem Tunisia in Roman Africa The Ides of each month were sacred to Jupiter the Romans supreme deity The Flamen Dialis Jupiter s high priest led the Ides sheep ovis Idulis in procession along the Via Sacra to the arx where it was sacrificed 4 In addition to the monthly sacrifice the Ides of March was also the occasion of the Feast of Anna Perenna a goddess of the year Latin annus whose festival originally concluded the ceremonies of the new year The day was enthusiastically celebrated among the common people with picnics drinking and revelry 5 One source from late antiquity also places the Mamuralia on the Ides of March 6 This observance which has aspects of scapegoat or ancient Greek pharmakos ritual involved beating an old man dressed in animal skins and perhaps driving him from the city The ritual may have been a new year festival representing the expulsion of the old year 7 8 In the later Imperial period the Ides began a holy week of festivals celebrating Cybele and Attis 9 10 11 being the day Canna intrat The Reed enters when Attis was born and found among the reeds of a Phrygian river 12 He was discovered by shepherds or the goddess Cybele who was also known as the Magna Mater Great Mother narratives differ 13 A week later on 22 March the solemn commemoration of Arbor intrat The Tree enters commemorated the death of Attis under a pine tree A college of priests the dendrophoroi tree bearers annually cut down a tree 14 hung from it an image of Attis 15 and carried it to the temple of the Magna Mater with lamentations The day was formalized as part of the official Roman calendar under Claudius d 54 AD 16 A three day period of mourning followed 17 culminating with celebrating the rebirth of Attis on 25 March the date of the vernal equinox on the Julian calendar 18 Assassination of Caesar EditMain article Assassination of Julius Caesar Reverse side of the Ides of March Coin a denarius issued by Caesar s assassin Brutus in the autumn of 42 BC with the abbreviation EID MAR Eidibus Martiis on the Ides of March under a cap of freedom between two daggers In modern times the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate As many as 60 conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius were involved According to Plutarch 19 a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar on the Ides of March On his way to the Theatre of Pompey where he would be assassinated Caesar passed the seer and joked The Ides of March are come implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled to which the seer replied Aye Caesar but not gone 19 This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare s play Julius Caesar when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to beware the Ides of March 20 21 The Roman biographer Suetonius 22 identifies the seer as a haruspex named Spurinna Caesar s death was a closing event in the crisis of the Roman Republic and triggered the civil war that would result in the rise to sole power of his adopted heir Octavian later known as Augustus 23 Writing under Augustus Ovid portrays the murder as a sacrilege since Caesar was also the pontifex maximus of Rome and a priest of Vesta 24 On the fourth anniversary of Caesar s death in 40 BC after achieving a victory at the siege of Perugia Octavian executed 300 senators and equites who had fought against him under Lucius Antonius the brother of Mark Antony 25 The executions were one of a series of actions taken by Octavian to avenge Caesar s death Suetonius and the historian Cassius Dio characterised the slaughter as a religious sacrifice 26 27 noting that it occurred on the Ides of March at the new altar to the deified Julius See also EditThe Ides of March a novel by Thornton Wilder The Ides of March a film by George Clooney Beau Willimon and Grant Heslov The Ides of March a music album by Myles Kennedy The Ides of March an American musical groupReferences Edit Anscombe Alfred 1908 The Anglo Saxon Computation of Historic Time in the Ninth Century PDF British Numismatic Society p 396 Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Ostberg Rene Ides of March Roman History Encyclopedia Britannica Scullard H H 1981 Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic Cornell University Press pp 42 43 ISBN 9780801414022 Scullard H H Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic p 43 Scullard H H Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic p 90 Lydus John 6th century De mensibus 4 36 Other sources place it on 14 March Salzman Michele Renee 1990 On Roman Time The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity University of California Press pp 124 amp 128 129 ISBN 9780520065666 Fowler William Warde 1908 The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic London Macmillan pp 44 50 Lancellotti Maria Grazia 2002 Attis Between Myth and History King Priest and God Brill p 81 Lancon Bertrand 2001 Rome in Late Antiquity Routledge p 91 Borgeaud Philippe 2004 Mother of the Gods From Cybele to the Virgin Mary amp Hochroth Lysa Translator Johns Hopkins University Press pp 51 90 123 164 Gary Forsythe Time in Roman Religion One Thousand Years of Religious History Routledge 2012 p 88 Lancellotti Attis Between Myth and History p 81 Michele Renee Salzman On Roman Time The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity University of California Press 1990 p 166 Jaime Alvar Romanising Oriental Gods Myth Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele Isis and Mithras translated by Richard Gordon Brill 2008 pp 288 289 Firmicus Maternus De errore profanarum religionum 27 1 Rabun Taylor Roman Oscilla An Assessment RES Anthropology and Aesthetics 48 Autumn 2005 p 97 Lydus De Mensibus 4 59 Suetonius Otho 8 3 Forsythe Time in Roman Religion p 88 Forsythe Time in Roman Religion p 88 Macrobius Saturnalia 1 21 10 Forsythe Time in Roman Religion p 88 Salzman On Roman Time p 168 a b Plutarch Parallel Lives Caesar 63 William Shakespeare Julius Caesar Act 1 Scene II The Literature Network Jalic Inc 2010 Retrieved 15 March 2010 William Shakespeare Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene I The Literature Network Jalic Inc 2010 Retrieved 15 March 2010 Suetonius Divus Julius 81 Forum in Rome Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome p 215 Ovid Fasti 3 697 710 A M Keith entry on Ovid Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome p 128 Geraldine Herbert Brown Ovid and the Fasti An Historical Study Oxford Clarendon Press 1994 p 70 Melissa Barden Dowling Clemency and Cruelty in the Roman World University of Michigan Press 2006 pp 50 51 Arthur Keaveney The Army in the Roman Revolution Routledge 2007 p 15 Suetonius Life of Augustus 15 Archived 31 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine Cassius Dio 48 14 2 Archived 22 November 2022 at the Wayback MachineExternal links EditPlutarch The Parallel Lives The Life of Julius Caesar Nicolaus of Damascus Life of Augustus translated by Clayton M Hall Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ides of March amp oldid 1144712118, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
