Some Interesting facts about the "Ides of March"
Julius Caesar met his death March 15,44 BC
(March 15) - "Beware the Ides of March," the warning given to Roman ruler Julius Caesar, sounds like a foreboding line in a Halloween horror flick. It certainly turned out horribly for Caesar, who was murdered March 15, 44 B.C. -- the Ides of March. Truth be told, it wasn't always such an ominous date; it was just a name.
Here are some facts about the Ides. 1. Every month has Ides, and the 15th is not the only date. The Ides fall on the 15th of March, May, July and October. The Ides are on the 13th of the remaining months. 2. What are the Ides? The Ides come from the Roman calendar, which according to myth was created in ancient times by Romulus, the founder of Rome. The calendar focused on three days that became a reference for all the others. Kalends (the first day of the month), Nones (the seventh or fifth day of the month) and Ides (the 15th or 13th day of the month). The Kalends marked the sighting of the new moon, the Nones the quarter moon, and the Ides the full moon. (Caesar instituted the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., but kept the system of Kalends, Nones and Ides.) 3. Calculating the date using the Roman calendar was complicated, and probably the reason the calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar most of the world uses today. If you want to say the date using the ancient vernacular, you'd have to say, for example, today, March 15, is the Ides of March; March 16 would be XV Kalends April, or 15 days before April 1. Make sense? If not, join the rest of us and be glad we upgraded to something simpler. (Only the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar.) 4. The concept for the calendar was partially based on the bill collection cycle. Yes, even in Roman times the bills were due on the first. The word calendar is derived from the word Kalends, which means the first of the month. A word with the same root, kalendrium, means "account book." Seems that keeping track of money was as important then as it is now. 5. Caesar's death put the Ides of March on the calendar. If it hadn't been for Caesar's assassination, the March Ides would have been just another day. Sixteen centuries later, when Shakespeare's play about Caesar was in full swing, the date March 15 was still commonly referred to as the Ides. --------------------------------------------------------
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