The Ides of March

The Ides of March is an unlucky day in history. It occurs annually on March 15th. 

Now, you may be wondering, why is some random date in March unlucky? Well, to accurately explain this, let’s first look at the calendar. There are twelve months in a year. They are January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. Originally there were only ten months. July and August were added into the calendar. Notice how every month other than July and August have some type of numerical prefix, whether it be “Dec-” or “Oct-”.

So, why were these months added into the perfectly named ten-month year? This all stems from Julius and Augustus Caesar. 

Julius, a Roman dictator, and his son, Augustus, added in these months to the year in order to honor themselves. This is just one example of Julius’s evils as dictator. He soon reigned supreme, which his people didn’t like. 

At the time, society was much different than it is now, and so, the logical solution of the time was to murder the dictator in order to get him out of power. In the Roman Senate house, on March 15th, 60 conspirators were present when Julius Caesar was killed. He was stabbed 23 times, and even his best friend, Brutus, “took a stab at it.” His famous last words were, “Et tu Brute?” which expressed his surprise that his best friend was in on; this attempt as well. 

And so, the next Ides of March, think back to this unlucky day in history, and beware!