Yes, I know. Some of you are complaining that you don’t read my blog to ‘learn things.’ Tough doo doo. Ha ha! When I first typed the last sentence, I accidentally typed “touch doo doo” – Freudian slip??
Anyway, I was talking to Jim the other day and we started talking about the Ides of March. I thought it was March 4, but, March 4 is “march forth.” Jim thought the Ides of March was the middle of March – March 15.
So, today I Googled it. Here’s the scoop:
The Ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar.
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, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than 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.” The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
Although March was the third month of the Julian calendar, in the oldest Roman calendar it was the first month of the year. The holidays observed by the Romans from the first through the Ides often reflect their origin as new-year celebrations.
So, there you go. I’m planning on doing more trip updates next. Enough learning for one week!