The Ancients - The Assassination of Julius Caesar

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

March 15th 44BC is perhaps the most notorious date in all of ancient history. On that fateful day, the Ides of March, 55-year-old Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of disaffected senators.In this episode, Tristan (with a little help from Dr Emma Southon and Dr Steele Brand) untangles fact from fiction, truth from myth, to take you back to that very afternoon in the heart of Rome's doomed republic.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code ANCIENTS sign up now for your 14-day free trial HERE.You can take part in our listener survey here.First published March 2022

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the Ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's episode, we are going back to one of the most well-known days in ancient history, the Ides of March, the 15th of March, 44 BC, the day that Julius

Caesar, dictator of Rome, was brutally assassinated. In this special episode, featuring Dr Emma Southern, Dr Steele Brand and myself, we're going to explain the story of Caesar's assassination, from the background and the events that led to a conspiracy emerging, to the main players in the murder and the events of the infamous day itself fall to the brim with anecdotes immortalised thanks to the likes of Shakespeare. I really do hope you enjoy, and here's our special explainer on the assassination of Julius Caesar. It was the 15th of March, 44 BC. Gaius Julius Caesar, 55 years old, has risen to become the most powerful man in Rome. He was a master of battle, of bribery and of benefaction.

He had recently emerged the victor of a brutal civil war. He had reformed the calendar, making it more fixed and regulated. And he had received an unprecedented number of honours from the Roman people, as Dr Emma Southern explains. He's given himself virtually every possible title. He is censor, he is imperator, he is pontifex maximus,

he is dictator. For 10 years, until just about six weeks or so before he's murdered, he declares that he is dictator for 10 years until just about six weeks or so before he's murdered, he declares that he is dictator for life. He has got a shiny golden chair, which he's allowed to sit in. He's got a statue of his which is carried amongst the gods. So when they parade the statues of the gods at the beginning of games and things, there's a statue of Caesar in there. He's got a statue of himself amongst the ancient kings. He's made himself sacrosanct, so touching him in public is now illegal, and not just illegal but blasphemous, or getting in his way. He's got temples to himself, he's got temples, he's building a temple to his

ancestors. He has inaugurated a college of priests for himself so people are now making sacrifices to julius caesar and he has granted himself the right to wear red knee-high boots which sounds ridiculous but in the same way that if you were to draw a stereotypical french person you draw them with a beret and a stripy shirt that's like the stereotype of a king if you asked a roman child to draw a king they would draw shiny red knee-high boots and so he's given the stereotype of a king. If you asked a Roman child to draw a king, they would draw shiny red knee-high boots. And so he's given himself all of this stuff which is above and beyond anything that anyone else has ever got

and at every point in his day-to-day life he is being placed on a pedestal that is amongst the gods rather than amongst the people. The 15th of March was set to be a big day for Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome. He had called a senate meeting for that day. He planned to gather together the most esteemed men in Rome for one final assembly before he left the city and embarked upon his next great military campaign. Backed by his legionaries, his first objective was to subdue the Dacians in present-day

Romania. His armies would then march further east, across the Hellespont into Asia, following in the footsteps of Caesar's hero, Alexander the Great. Caesar's ultimate goal was a campaign of vengeance against the Parthian Empire east of the Euphrates River. He aimed to avenge the disastrous defeat that his former rival-slash-colleague Marcus Licinius Crassus had suffered against the Parthians just over a decade earlier at the catastrophic Battle of Cari, a crushing defeat where the Parthians had destroyed seven legions in a day and had seized several sacred Roman standards. Caesar's planned Parthian expedition was set to be a massive military venture. Finally, here was Caesar's chance to march east

to the wealth-laden lands of Babylonia and Susiana. chance to march east to the wealth-laden lands of Babylonia and Susiana. Here was his chance to follow in the footsteps of his great hero Alexander. For three years, if not for longer, Caesar expected to be away fighting in the east, hundreds of miles away from Rome and the central Mediterranean. As the sun rose on the 15th of March 44 BC, the beginning of Caesar's greatest military venture to that point in his career was only days away. But first, Caesar had to attend this senate meeting. In the morning of the 15th of March, Caesar was at home. And it's here that we have the first of many interesting, prophetic, bad omen stories that have come to dominate the Ides of March story.

According to the later Greek writer Plutarch, one of Caesar's first actions of the day was to offer a series of animal sacrifices. The previous night, Calpurnia, Caesar's wife, had a nightmare. She had dreamt that something terrible would befall Caesar that day if he ventured to the Senate meeting. One version has Calpurnia envisaging their house collapsing, another has her holding Caesar's murdered body in her hands. She begged Caesar to postpone the meeting. body in her hands. She begged Caesar to postpone the meeting. Concerned by Calpurnia's distress, Caesar had arranged for his seers to conduct the necessary sacrifices, hoping for a favourable sign from the gods for the upcoming meeting. But the sacrifices failed to reassure him. In fact,

they did quite the opposite. Sacrifice after sacrifice returned unfavourable omens. But it wasn't just these sacrifices that seemingly portended ill fortune for Caesar on the Ides of March. Over the preceding days, our sources include a whole host of other foreboding, fantastical omens predicting Caesar's demise. The omens that are listed are completely different in every source, which I quite enjoy. There's no overlap whatsoever, which suggests they're just completely made up. Suetonius is the earliest one to have kind of proper omens.

He loves an omen. He has one where some tombs were dug up in Capua and a guy called Capus, who's the ancient founder of the town of Capua, his tomb is discovered and it has a bronze tablet in it, which basically says something like when this tomb is moved, a son of Ilium will die and Italy will suffer, which is a bit much. His second one is even more on the nose and it has a bird called the king bird flying into the theatre of Pompey chased by other birds while carrying a laurel leaf in his beak and then the other birds kill him on the statue of Pompey which is like okay sure the one that comes up most often is

that they have lots of dreams the Romans loved to have terrible omens precede infamous moments in their history. The fantastical bad omens that supposedly targeted Caesar in the run-up to the 15th of March 44 BC, the Ides of March, are great examples of this. From the troubling dreams to the swarm of killer birds. the swarm of killer birds. Now, whatever the truth among all of these troubling signs, Caesar ultimately decided that he would not attend the Senate meeting that day. He was also slightly ill, we must mention that, and so he decided that he would stay at home on the 15th of March. That's the end of the story, except of course it's not. That wasn't the end of the story. Except, of course, it's not. That wasn't the end of the matter. Enter Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, better known as Decimus Brutus, the other Brutus, who we'll largely refer to as Decimus from now on. Decimus was one of Julius Caesar's closest allies, a leading military

subordinate and a personal friend of the dictator. For years, Decimus had proven his loyalty to Caesar, having served with him throughout both the Gallic and Civil Wars. Politically too, Decimus' career looked set to thrive under Caesar's authority. Already Caesar had selected Decimus to receive the consulship in 42 BC. The consulship, by the way, was one of the highest positions in the Roman Republic at that time, below Caesar himself. Caesar rated Decimus extremely highly. He had even named Decimus in his will. Decimus reaped the rewards that friendship with Caesar offered. He visited the dictator of Rome often. He had even dined with Caesar the previous night on the 14th of March 44 BC. Over dinner, the two had discussed what kind of death was best.

Caesar had said that he favoured a sudden death, rather ominously. It was after Caesar had decided to stay at home on the 15th of March that Decimus intervened. Approaching Caesar, Decimus hoped to change the man's mind. He hoped to persuade Caesar to think again and to still attend this vital meeting. He told Caesar not to be daunted by these bad omens and to ignore the pleas of Calpurnia. In no uncertain terms, Decimus basically told Caesar to pull himself together. After all, it was Caesar who had called the senate meeting. Hundreds of the most esteemed men in the empire were awaiting his arrival. He should not insult them by now deciding not to attend. Besides, in only a few days Caesar was set to leave Rome for the foreseeable future.

As he set forth on his great eastern venture, he must attend the meeting, Decimus stressed. Decimus' persuasions worked. Calpurnia's pleas were ignored. Caesar entered his litter and headed for the senate meeting. Caesar entered his litter and headed for the Senate meeting. Decimus, a man let me once again stress that Caesar considered amongst his closest allies, had convinced Caesar to ignore the warnings and to attend the meeting regardless. For Caesar, this trust in Decimus was a fatal mistake. What he didn't know was that Decimus' loyalty was a facade. Caesar's supposed erstwhile

ally was not as loyal as the dictator believed. In fact, he was a turncoat, a conspirator, a key figure in a deadly senatorial plot aimed at assassinating Caesar that very day. aimed at assassinating Caesar that very day. So what was this plot? And who was involved? Although one of its most senior members, Decimus was far from its only standout figure. The sources differ on the overall total, but there seem to have been between 30 and 80 senators involved in the conspiracy. Less than a tenth, however, of the whole 900-strong Senate. Alongside Decimus Brutus, there were two other leading conspirators that our sources point out. Marcus Junius Brutus and

Gaius Cassius Longinus or Gaius Cassius Longinus. Dr. Steele-Brand highlights the backgrounds of these two figures. Brutus, he's mild, he's mild-tempered, very philosophically minded. He seems to get along with people, but he more importantly inspires people because he has an upright character. There's maybe only one or two people with a more famous upright character, Cato being one of them, possibly Cicero, although Cicero knows how to do politics and knows how to do it in a dirty fashion in a way that Brutus doesn't seem to be able to do. And he is possibly, this is what some people think, he's possibly the illegitimate son of Caesar. Probably not, almost certainly not. But Plutarch mentions this, and he's a foil to his friend who's the instigator for Brutus. And that's Cassius.

And Cassius, poor Cassius. And this is what I'm always telling my students. Don't get Cassius from Shakespeare because Cassius, he's a lot more than that. And Shakespeare, kind of playing off Plutarch but not fully, wants to set these two up as two very different people. Temperamentally, they are different. Cassius has a remarkable background. He is the guy who's constantly rescuing the Republic from defeat. So when the disastrous Battle of Karai happens and Crassus gets himself isolated and then murdered with most of his army destroyed

by the Parthians, you've got Cassius saving the day, keeping disaster from occurring back in Syria and basically holding the line against repeated offensives of the Parthians. And then in the phases of the Civil War, he is successful at sea against the forces of Caesar, whereas Pompey is unsuccessful. So he's the stellar subordinate, but he's always fighting for lost causes. And there's even a story that as a young boy, he'd shown his temperament for always hating tyranny personally by getting in basically a fistfight with the son of Sulla. When Sulla's son Faustus had said, my father's awesome and my father is, you know, all powerful. And Cassius said, absolutely not. And he beats the boy and he even offers to do it twice when he almost gets in trouble with Sulla.

So you've got these two really different personalities. One who is fiery. He knows how to lead men. He's pretty good in a crisis. The other who's softer, but he's inspiring because of his sense of virtue. And these two men get together and get a cabal, pretty substantial cabal of others to lead this first faction.

They're the liberators, if you are a Republican, or they're conspirators, if you like Julius Caesar, they're the ones who end up affecting the assassination. Both Marcus Brutus and Cassius had slightly different backgrounds to Decimus. Whereas Decimus had fought for Caesar during the preceding civil war, both Marcus and Cassius had fought against Caesar. Caesar, however, had subsequently pardoned both of them. Indeed, in 44 BC, Caesar had named both as praetors, important political positions beneath Caesar. He had also named Marcus as the urban praetor, the most senior magistrate in Rome

aside from the consuls, an appointment that Marcus gained at Cassius' expense. Decimus Brutus, Marcus Brutus and Cassius were the ringleaders of the conspiracy. But why had these three figures, who had all received senior positions under Caesar, why had they decided that they now had to assassinate their benefactor? Why had so many senators joined the plot? And what had made them decide that now, the 15th of March 44 BC, the Ides of March, was the day to see through the infamous act? Their motives were many and varied. Underlying them all, however, was a sense that Caesar's perpetual dictatorship position was a square peg in a round republican hole. perpetual dictatorship position was a square peg in a round republican hole. His position and his powers were eroding the republic and its values. Caesar was so far above everyone else in Rome,

including those in the senate. He was in charge of everything, a king in all but name, an object of worship by those beneath him. No one could contest Caesar's power. And what was more, Caesar knew it. The man was getting more arrogant by the day. For the conspirators, Caesar's position was no longer tenable. He had to go. A few preceding incidents deserve mention here. Several of these have to do with the issue of kingship. Over the previous months, the question of whether Caesar would take the infamous title of Rex, king, had reared its ugly head on a few different occasions. During a parade, members of the crowd had hailed Caesar as Rex when he passed by. Another citizen had then placed a wreath on one of Caesar's statues,

a clear symbol of kingship that greatly concerned many among the Roman elite. But for the people of Rome, there was another more stark symbol of kingship that Caesar regularly showed off. These were his red knee-high boots, which the Senate had recently granted Caesar the privilege of wearing. As Emma mentioned, for the Romans, red knee high boots were another clear symbol of kingship. The issue of kingship was on many a person's mind in early 44 BC, including Caesar's. And one event would come to epitomise this. A huge Roman festival that occurred every year in Rome on the 15th of February. The Lupercalia. It is a big festival where a bunch of elite men get naked

in a cave and then cover themselves in blood and then run through the streets of Rome hitting women with sticks. Right, okay. It's a cracking good time for all of the family and it's kind of a fertility festival and everybody thinks it's hilarious but it's a really big deal. It's a cracking good time for all of the family. And it's kind of a fertility festival and everybody thinks it's hilarious, but it's a really big deal. It's a big festival. And Mark Antony, who is Caesar's right-hand man, he is the kind of leader this year of the Lupercalia. And so they run through the city and they end up in the forum

in front of Caesar sitting on his fancy chair, overseeing the whole thing and the whole city's there to have a great time and be hit with a stick and then Antony out of somewhere remembering that he is nude but out of somewhere he pulls a crown an actual diadem and he presents it to Caesar and depending on which source you read depends on what happens. But basically, he's offered it. Caesar either lets it be put on his head or takes it and then gauges how the crowd reacts. And the crowd is not keen on seeing Caesar wearing a crown. They boo when they see it and they cheer when he takes it off.

And he puts it on and off a couple of times just to check. They're not happy with it. And so he makes it look as though he has been forced to put this on he has plausible deniability but to his enemies to the people who supported Pompey to the people who are already very frightened by what Caesar has been doing for the past 10 years what they have just seen is their greatest enemy wearing a crown, sitting in a golden chair in front of a crowd of Romans wearing a crown. And this just really kicks them into high gear. The Romans hated kings. The Republic had emerged following the expulsion of the last king of Rome

some 450 years earlier. For the likes of Decimus, Marcus, Cassius and their fellow conspirators, the idea that Caesar could have been testing the waters for a return to the monarchy with him as its uncontested head, was deeply concerning. These Rex incidents helped send more senators into the conspirators' ranks, including several figures who had previously supported Caesar through thick and thin. But another important factor to mention was the anger, the sheer anger, that many senators had developed towards Caesar as a result of the dictator's growing arrogance, his growing ill temper, his contempt for and disrespect towards

Rome's elite. One key event that has come to epitomise Caesar's growing contempt for the senators occurred at the turn of 44 BC. A group of senators had approached Caesar in the forum as the dictator was sitting down in front of the Temple of Venus Genetrix and was overseeing one of his building projects. The senators had dressed up for the occasion. They were eager to let Caesar know, in their sycophantic state, that the Senate had just passed a new law that bestowed a whole heap of new honours on Caesar. They hoped that these new honours would please Caesar. They were in for a shock.

As they announced the new titles to Caesar, the dictator treated them with complete contempt. He refused to stand up and greet them, a courtesy that the proud senators expected even from Caesar. Caesar had then proceeded to add insult to injury by cherry-picking the honours. Some he accepted, others he showed no interest in. With that, he returned to his work.

For the well-dressed senators, Caesar's disrespect towards them was humiliating. This is just an unbelievable act of disrespect and of rudeness, which cannot be tolerated. All the senators have left, really, is their self-respect and their ego and the idea that people will treat them correctly. And Caesar is now not even doing that. He's taken away their right to fight elections. He's taken away the chance that they will ever be able

to bring honour to their family again and now he is stamping on their faces, essentially. And the best thing, the only defence that anyone can come up with for this is Dio, who's much, much later and who really likes Caesar and thinks Caesar is brilliant because he's very used to emperors. who's much, much later and who really likes Caesar and thinks Caesar is brilliant because he's very used to emperors. And his best reason is that he thinks that Caesar was having an attack of diarrhoea and didn't want to stand up in case he made a mess.

And something's gone really badly wrong with your legacy, if that's the best thing someone can say about you. Having lost first their power and now Caesar's respect, for many senators this was another key factor that helped drive more and more of them into the arms of the conspirators. Of course, we must also mention personal ambitions when talking about the motives of these senators. High positions in the new regime that followed Caesar's death were no doubt expected by many of those involved in the plot, especially the likes of Marcus Brutus, Decimus Brutus and Cassius. So there were all of these motives for murdering Caesar,

underlined by a deep-felt fear of just how powerful Caesar was becoming. how powerful Caesar was becoming. And so it was, as by the 15th of March 44 BC, some 60 disillusioned senators, both former friends and foes of Caesar alike, had come together in a plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. Over the preceding weeks, they had gathered in small groups at each other's houses, planning, plotting the finer details of their infamous undertaking. A key question for the conspirators was how. How were they going to assassinate Caesar, the most powerful and protected man in the empire? Several options were put forward. They could attack Caesar at a gladiatorial show, or they could overwhelm the dictator as he made his way along the Via Sacra, the main street of ancient Rome.

Ultimately, however, they opted for neither of the above. The conspirators wanted to kill Caesar somewhere where they could get close to the dictator without having to deal with his bodyguard. They also wanted somewhere where they could portray the killing as a heroic act, done for the benefit of the Republic. where they could portray the killing as a heroic act, done for the benefit of the Republic. With these thoughts in mind, they opted to kill Caesar at a Senate meeting. Now this had several advantages.

First, the conspirators could get close to Caesar without having to worry about his bodyguards, for instance under the pretense of petitioning Caesar, petitioning the tyrant. Second, they could hide their daggers within the great folds of their togas. And third, the meeting would take place in a religious space where the conspirators could portray themselves as tyrant killers, as heroes of the Republic. They agreed to kill Caesar at a Senate meeting. The 15th of March was the day that the plotters had been waiting for. Indeed, time was running out. Only a few days later, Caesar would start heading east, surrounded by his bodyguard as he embarked upon his Dacian and Parthian campaigns.

Even more troubling for the conspirators, by the 15th of March a rumour had started to spread across Rome. It was being reported that the prophetic writings of the Sibylline books, that they said that only a king could conquer the Parthians. The great orator Cicero would later state that this rumour was untrue, it was unfounded. Nevertheless, on the 15th of March 44 BC, it appears that many believed it. All of these rumours of kingship, combined with Caesar's growing arrogance and the fact that he would be leaving Rome within days for goodness knows how many years, convinced the plotters that this senate meeting on the 15th of March 44 BC was their opportunity, perhaps their

only opportunity. It's here that we should quickly highlight our sources for the events of the Ides of March 44 BC. The earliest one is from the reign of Augustus, so it's only about 30-odd years later and is by far the most flattering to Caesar because Niclaus of Damascus, he is trying to get back into Augustus' good books when he writes it. But they're all fairly consistent.

Details change, but they're all fairly consistent details change but they're fairly consistent we've got Niklaus then we have Suetonius who is writing under the emperor Hadrian so he is about 100 odd years later then we have Appian who's about the same time he's writing a thing of the civil wars and Plutarch who is a little bit later about 200 ish who writes biographies so he writes what called parallel lives and he sees Caesar as being a parallel to Alexander the Great and then we have Cassius Dio who is the least detailed and is writing in 220 230 odd so 250 years later and is very clearly drawing off of the previous ones and you can see as you go through,

because they're so detailed, and they all see this as an incredibly significant event, where they take from one another, but they're mostly from about 150 to 200 years later. Sadly, none of these five sources are contemporary accounts. But what about Cicero? We've mentioned him already, the orator who's renowned for his writings, and we do know that he was both present in Rome and writing letters in early 44 BC. Sadly, however, these letters were never published and they do not survive to this day. But back to the story of the 15th of March 44 BC. Five hours into the day, Caesar had left his house and was en route to

the Senate meeting, having been convinced to attend by Decimus. But still, the warnings kept coming. As Caesar was making his way along the streets towards the awaiting senators, several of our sources include foreboding tales. They state how various people tried to warn Caesar of the plot against him. Suetonius, for instance, stated that someone handed Caesar a note with information about this plot. But Caesar merely added it to the bundle of petitions he already held in his left hand, planning to read it later. And then there was Spirina, the soothsayer made famous by Shakespeare. Days before the eyes of March, Spirina had warned Caesar to, and I quote, be on his guard against great peril on the Ides of March.

This warning, as you might have guessed, was the inspiration for Shakespeare's famous line, Beware the Ides of March. As Caesar was making his way towards the Senate meeting, Cassius Dio has him spot Spirina. He sees Spirina on the way and being charming, jocular Julius Caesar, he says, hey, the Ides of March has come and I'm still going. And Spirina replies, ah, but they're not finished yet. Caesar pressed on, undeterred by these en route warnings. Soon he and his entourage arrived outside the agreed Senate meeting location. This wasn't the Senate House. That building had recently burned

down during a riot following the murder of a very colourful figure called Clodius, a figure that you can learn much more about, a very terrible figure, in another of our Ancients podcasts, Clodius, best villain of the Roman Republic, question mark, with the always fantastic Dr Emma Southern. Now construction of a new Senate house was currently underway on the eyes of March 44 BC, but in the meantime the Senate was using another building for its meetings. This was the Curia, or meeting hall, of the Theatre of Pompey, a monumental building that Caesar's great rival Pompey the Great had overse of the Theatre of Pompey, a monumental building that Caesar's great rival, Pompey the Great, had overseen the construction of several years earlier. It was located in the Campus Martius, one of the key centres of ancient Rome.

Caesar arrived outside the theatre, and as soon as he stepped out of his litter, he became the object of great attention. Now, a favourite story of mine here is preserved in the writings of Appian. According to Appian, as soon as Caesar steps down from his litter, a certain senator approached him. Now, this senator's name was Popilius Lena. And just before approaching Caesar, this is the really interesting bit, Lena had called out Marcus and Cassius to their faces, revealing that he knew of their plots because Lena himself was not one of the conspirators. It's fascinating, therefore, to imagine the horror, the sheer terror that supposedly gripped the faces of the conspirators, the minds, the worries of the conspirators,

as they watched on from a distance as Lena conversed with Caesar, worried that Lena was revealing all to Caesar about the plot in front of their very eyes, so close to the meeting's location. Fortunately for them, Lena didn't do this. He didn't reveal the conspiracy to Caesar. In fact, he was petitioning Caesar on something completely different. What? We don't know. Fact or fiction, this tale is another good example of all of these stories that have come to surround Caesar's ill-fated trip to the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March, and more would follow. Before entering the meeting room, Caesar oversaw another sacrifice with the priests.

He hoped for a more auspicious sign. Once again, however, he was to be disappointed. Again and again, Nicolaus of Damascus claimed, the indications from the gods were unfavourable. Ultimately, Caesar had enough. Once again, he pondered postponing the meeting, but once more Decimus, that key man Decimus, intervened. the meeting, but once more Decimus, that key man Decimus, intervened. Just as he had earlier in the day, Decimus convinced Caesar to ignore these foreboding signs. He played on Caesar's ego, the dictator's pride, basically telling Caesar that he was so great that his good fortune would trump any bad omens. Besides, several hundred senators had gathered, they were only metres away and were expecting to see Caesar. Indeed, if Caesar was concerned for his safety, then Decimus may also

have reassured him by pointing out that he had his own private security force, shall we say, nearby. Now this force was a group of gladiators owned by Decimus, which he had stationed at the theatre of Pompeii earlier that morning. Caesar, once again, was persuaded. He overlooked the bad signs, the foreboding signs. He entered the meeting room, his disloyal friend Decimus close by. We might overlook Decimus Brutus today, thanks to the minor role he plays in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. But make no mistake, his deception, his role in the conspiracy, was the keystone of the whole plot. And so Caesar entered the Senate meeting room, next to the theatre of Pompeii. Mark Antony, Caesar's right-hand man, did not accompany him.

At that time, Mark Antony held the office of consul. He was one of the most powerful men in Rome beneath Caesar. He too intended to attend the meeting. But outside the theatre, his and Caesar's paths would diverge for the last time. It was there that Gaius Trebonius, an old ally of Mark Antony, pulled the consul aside to discuss some pressing matters. Trebonius was another long-standing ally of Caesar. He had served alongside Caesar, Mark Antony, and Decimus Brutus since the Gallic Wars. But like Decimus, he too had grown disillusioned with Caesar. He too had joined the conspiracy against the dictator. It was his mission to separate Mark Antony from Caesar, and he succeeded. Interestingly, some of the conspirators had wanted to kill Mark Antony along with Caesar at the Senate meeting,

for instance Cassius. But Marcus Brutus, according to the likes of Appian and Cassius Dio, But Marcus Brutus, according to the likes of Appian and Cassius Dio, convinced them not to. Their sole aim was to kill Caesar, the dictator, to free Rome from a tyrant, to murder the man whose power and position was eroding the very ideas of the Republic. Marc Antony was a problem for another day. It was definitely a decision that would come back to haunt the likes of Marcus Brutus and Cassius and even Decimus Brutus. Now, with Mark Antony preoccupied, Caesar entered the meeting room devoid of this loyal adjutant. Straight away, he headed for his gilded chair, the senators rising to greet Caesar as he walked through the room.

In total, the senators' present numbered in the few hundreds. Most were not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen before the meeting commenced. But for those 30 to 80 senators involved in the conspiracy, the time had come. They had arrived early. They had watched as Caesar entered the room, their daggers hidden within the folds of their togas. A senator approached Caesar. His name was Tilius Cimber. Cimber had supported Caesar in the preceding civil war, but since then relations between the two had soured, especially after Caesar had exiled Cimber's brother. As soon as Caesar had seated himself on his ornate chair, C Kimber walked up to the dictator, hoping to speak to him before the meeting officially began. Kimber threw himself to his knees before Caesar.

He asked Caesar for clemency on behalf of his exiled brother. Let him return from exile, please. For Caesar, this issue was not a priority. Recalling Kimber's exiled brother was not a pressing matter. He shrugged off Kimber's plea, telling the senator that he would consider the issue. He would sleep on it. But then, standing up, Kimber grabbed hold of Caesar's toga, shocking the seated dictator and many of those surrounding them. There was Kimber, grabbing onto the revered Caesar, a man who had recently been

declared sacrosanct, untouchable. It was a shocking, blasphemous move. But Kimber had his reason. He was one of the conspirators. His grabbing of Caesar's toga, either to hold Caesar down in his chair or to expose the dictator's neck, was the agreed-upon signal for the assassination to begin. The first assassin stepped forwards, Publius Casca. Like Kimber, Casca was another former supporter of Caesar who had since become disillusioned with the statesman. Casca had positioned himself directly behind Caesar and his gilded chair, centimetres from the seated tyrant. Now, with Kimber holding Caesar down, Casca took out his dagger from the folds of his toga, raised his weapon into the air and aimed for Caesar's neck, presumably in a downward attack

motion if he was striking at a seated Caesar from right behind his target. But he missed. Rather than stab Caesar in the neck, an obviously nervous Casca drove his dagger into Caesar's shoulder. Casca, worried, cried out to his brother, another senator also in on the plot, to help. But Caesar would not sit idly by in the meantime. Immediately, he leapt up and reacted to Casca's blow. At this point, Caesar's reaction depends on who you're reading.

Some of them have him just being shocked and being thrown around silently as everybody comes at him and stabs him. One of them has him grabbing the knife, which I quite like as quite a badass move. One has Caesar stab the hand that is holding the knife, stab Casca's hand with his pen. My personal favourite is one has him grab Casca from behind him

and then throw him across the room. But regardless of what his reaction is, he is vulnerable, he is exposed, he's got a knife in him and everybody just comes at him and 20-od odd people start coming at him. They all describe it as Caesar being buffeted about from one knife to the next and people trying so hard to hit Caesar that they're hitting one another and a lot of them come away with injuries to themselves because they're being hit by knives which are coming into the fray,

like it's a real mob that attacks him. By this point, complete chaos had engulfed the meeting room. Marcus Brutus was among the wounded, having been accidentally struck on the hand by Cassius as the latter tried to land a blow on Caesar. Those senators not involved in the plot watched on in panic and soon started to flee. Only two senators, two senators out of the several

hundred senators present at the meeting, attempted to aid Caesar. But their efforts proved fruitless. Soon they too were forced to flee. Dagger after dagger punctured Caesar's body. His toga was smeared with his own very mortal blood. According to Nicolaus, the dying dictator ultimately fell to the ground before the statue of his old rival Pompey. Having received more than 20 stab wounds, there Caesar breathed his last. That's the end of the story in Nicolaus, but our later sources include another event during Caesar's dying moments, an event that has become one of the most famous parts of the assassination story. According to Suetonius,

after receiving multiple stab wounds but before he breathed his last, Caesar caught sight of Marcus Brutus, standing among the ranks of the conspirators. Suetonius claimed that once Caesar saw Marcus about to deliver his blow, he said the Greek words, Now that's the later story, anyhow, preserved in the likes of Suetonius' Life of Caesar. But did Caesar really say, Well, the legacy of these words are striking whether they were said or not, this was the inspiration for Shakespeare's immortalised line et tu brute, more than a millennia later. Today, those three Latin words, et tu brute, have become one of the most famous

sayings we associate with Julius Caesar. But it's important to note here, to stress, that in none of our ancient sources does Caesar say those words before he died. For this, for et tu Brute, we have Shakespeare and Shakespeare alone to thank. Some now even debate the whole intended meaning of Caesu Technum. Rather than you too, my child, they posit that Caesar was actually cursing Brutus, something along the lines of, I'll see you in hell. That is, if Caesar even said the words caesu technon at all, which to me at least seems highly unlikely. Now just like Alexander the Great's supposed legendary last words to the strongest, it seems very plausible that Caesar's iconic you to my child final words are a later fabrication. A colourful addition to the assassination story, inserted in by sources writing much later with

the benefit of hindsight. For the Alexander historians, this hindsight was knowing that the tumultuous, chaotic, ancient Game of Thrones wars of the successors would follow Alexander's death, hence the prophetic to the strongest. For the Ides of March historians, wars of the successors would follow Alexander's death, hence the prophetic to the strongest. For the eyes of March historians, it was the later emergence of a fictional rumour that Marcus Brutus was actually Caesar's illegitimate son, hence the you too, my child. Indeed, if Caesar had really said anything like you too, my child, he certainly would not have said this to Marcus Brutus. More likely, he would have said this to Decimus Brutus. This was the man that Caesar had considered among his most trusted allies. This was the figure who had convinced

Caesar to come to the meeting that day, despite all the troubling signs. Seeing Decimus among the ranks of his killers would have been a mental stab in the back for Caesar, alongside the many physical stab wounds he had already suffered. But enough on Caesar's last words. Did he say them or didn't he? The debate will continue. Back to the assassination itself. Having received more than 20 stab wounds, Caesar fell to the ground by the statue of Pompey, covered his face with his toga, and breathed his last. Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, was dead. Over the past few years, films and TV series centred around Julius Caesar, the life of Julius

Caesar, have included the assassination, basing their recreations on our surviving ancient accounts. One which deserves special mention is the portrayal of Caesar's death in the HBO series Rome, where Julius Caesar is expertly played by Kieran Hines. When I imagine Caesar, I just imagine Kieran Hines, like that is perfect casting. And the way that they do it with him being buffeted about by the various things, like a kind of scared beast. And then as he falls at the feet of Pompey's statue and he pulls his toga over his head, which is a very early one that's from Niklaus,

it's really, really well done. It's less chaotic, but that's because you need to see it. But it's a really good... And he'll be my Julius Caesar forever. No-one else will ever live up to that. By the time Caesar died, the Senate meeting room was largely deserted. Most of the senators not involved in the assassination, as mentioned, had already fled. Only the conspirators themselves, bloodied daggers in hand, remained.

Alongside Caesar's dead body itself, of course. One account has Marcus Brutus now raise his dagger in the air and shout, in the name of the Republic and Cicero. A strange rallying cry, especially as Cicero had not been involved in the conspiracy itself, although he would later show its support. It was now, as Caesar's body turned cold on the meeting room floor, that the lack of a clear what next plan among Caesar's killers came to the fore. I think they just thought the Republic was spontaneously going to resurrect itself. That isn't what happened. The senators in the Senate, they're actually in the theater of Pompeii, or they're in a building attached to it.

They are panic when they see Caesar being assassinated. The mob dearly loves Caesar for a whole host of reasons. They're a little uncomfortable, a little uncertain about what Caesar had intended for himself. Nobody knows what Caesar had intended for himself. So the people are confused. The senators are scared. The conspirators actually have to go run up and hide out on the Capitol line. The Capitol is basically almost in a state of siege.

There are people who want to even burn down the conspirators or the assassins' houses, and you don't have the re-emergence of the Republic. What follows next, almost inevitably, was a state of complete confusion. Suddenly, with Caesar dead, with the most powerful man in Rome dead, new figures became bastions of power and authority in the capital. Mark Antony, the man who had eluded death because of the supposed intervention of Marcus Brutus, well he became one of these new figures. He was one such figure who was now incredibly powerful, as was Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar's master of horse. Like Mark Antony, Lepidus had also remained loyal

to Caesar until the end. It would be he and Mark Antony who would attempt to calm things down as the conspirators fled up to the capital and the people demanded blood. Mark Antony and Lepidus would even meet with leading conspirators such as Marcus Brutus and Cassius, ironing out issues over dinner in the days ahead. Yes, you heard me right, in the days that immediately followed Julius Caesar's death. Things, however, would not remain cordial for long. This truce was always going to be held by a very, very thin thread, and that thread was very quickly cut. Soon, Cassius, Marcus Brutus, and Decimus Brutus would find themselves at war with the likes of Mark Antony and Lepidus, as well as another figure. A much younger man who was about to emerge onto

the bloody Roman political stage. Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, Gaius Octavius, Octavian the young Caesar. Contrary to the hopes of the conspirators, Julius Caesar's death did not bring about an immediate return to the Roman Republic of old. Instead, it marked the start of more than a decade-long struggle that ultimately ended in the rise of Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus, and the birth of the Roman Empire, capital E. As Caesar died, a return to civil war loomed. As for Caesar's body, for a time it remained where Caesar had fallen in the Senate meeting room near the statue of Pompey, soaked in the tyrant's blood. That was, however, until three of Caesar's slaves arrived at the Curia,

the meeting room, later that day on the 15th of March 44 BC. Having placed Caesar's body on a litter, they then carried his corpse back to his house, to his wife Calpurnia. Caesar's funeral would occur three days later, on the 18th of March, another incredibly important, significant, huge event, but one that will have to save for another day, for another podcast. And so, thanks to this infamous assassination, the 15th of March, 44 BC, has become one of the most well-known dates, if not the most well-known date, in ancient history. But how significant was Caesar's death? How did it help pave the way for the end of the Roman Republic and the dawn of the Roman imperial age? How did the conspirators, the likes of Brutus, Marcus Brutus, Decimus Brutus and Cassius, how did they get it so wrong?

Marcus Brutus, Decimus Brutus and Cassius, how did they get it so wrong? Well, to understand that, you have to turn your attention to Caesar's adopted son, Octavian. The young Caesar, a man who was about to emerge onto the Roman political stage and embark on an incredible rise that would ultimately see him become the first emperor of Rome. The main significance is that it teaches Octavian how not to be assassinated and it teaches Octavian what he needs to do because Octavian is incredibly smart and very very good at public relations with the people and with the army and then with eventually after he stopped killing them with the senate. He's incredibly good at knowing what he needs to do to keep people on his side or to get rid of people who are not on his side. And what it teaches him is that you cannot go outside

of the bounds of what senators will accept. Basically, you need to let them have their pride. You need to let them have their respectability. You need to let them have some kind of semblance of self-respect and you can't take anything which has not been precedented so you can't outright say oh i'm dictator for life you have to give yourself the power to be dictator for life without telling anybody that that's what you've done and what he learns is that you have to be a for life without telling anybody that that's what you've done. And what he learns is that you have to be a lot more subtle than Caesar ever was. And this is really Octavian's genius. Partly he's really good at using people,

but partly he's really good at looking back on past mistakes and how overt people have been when they are trying to, quote unquote, restore the Republic and how not to do that. And that's what kills the Republic. Well, there you go. There was Dr Emma Southern, Dr Steele Brand and myself telling the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar, the Ides of March. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, one that was originally released in early 2022. I wish you a fantastic Christmas break. Last thing from me, wherever you're listening to the podcast, whether it be Spotify, Apple Podcasts or somewhere else, make sure that you are subscribed, that you are following

the ancients so that you are notified and don't miss out when we release new episodes twice every week. But that's enough from me and I will see you in the next episode.