You might not be alone in wondering what is the Ides of March.
Today, March 15, 2017 is the Ides of March. It sits in the middle of the month and there is an ides for each month. While not knowing exactly what is the Ides of March isn’t uncommon, many definitely know about a famous event that happened at this time. This is the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar’s assassination was carried out by a group of conspirators on March 15, 44 B.C. The group believed that his death would restore the Roman Republic, but it actually led to a series of civil wars and the creation of the Roman Empire.
The phrase “beware the Ides of March” is one that is now associated with the day. These words were said by a soothsayer to Julius Caesar shortly before his assassination. The soothsayer was warning Caesar that harm would come to him, but the dictator of Rome felt that the danger had already passed.
While the Ides of March is mostly know for the assassination of Julius Caesar, there have been other horrible events that happened on this day throughout history. The following list has
- La Réunion, an island in the Indian ocean, saw rainfall of 73.62 inches over a 24-hour period back in 1952.
- A cyclone at Apia, Samoa’s harbor in 1889 destroyed three United States and three German ships and killed 200 sailors.
- Germany’s Nazi troops took over Czechoslovakia’s provinces of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939.
- In 1988 NASA warned that the ozone layer deteriorated three times faster than what it was expecting.
- The World Health Organization started a global alert after an unknown respiratory disease hit citizens in several countries. The disease later became known as SARS.
Now if someone ever asks “What is the Ides of March”, you’ll have an answer.
