What Are The ‘Ides of March’ & Why Beware The ‘Ides of March’?

What Is The Ides of March?

The ‘ides’ was the day each month in the Roman calendar when the moon was full. The ides fell on the 15th day of the four 31-day months of March, May, July and October, and on the 13th of the other months. Therefore the ides of March fell on 15th March.

 Caesar is set upon by senators on the ides of March

As the party arrives at the senate-house the same soothsayer steps into their path and shouts ‘The ides of March have come.’ The conspirators block him and hustle him out of the way very quickly and Caesar enters the senate-house, where he is quickly murdered in one of the most brutal and bloody scenes in Shakespeare. After each one stabbing him, and Caesar lying dead at their feet, the assassins wash their hands in his blood. The soothsayer’s prediction and Caesar’s wife’s dream have both come true.

‘Beware the ides of March’ has become a famous quote because of all the above.