JULIUS CAESAR ASSASSINATION HOW TO

But in a culture where the concept of “dignitas” - a complex term that meant not just dignity, but also worth, prestige and honor - was the “cherished ideal,” a life spent in Caesar’s shadow rendered Decimus uneasy.Ĭassius, a general and senator, had several motives for wanting Caesar dead. Strauss says the bard was two-thirds correct.ĭecimus Junius Brutus Albinus (Decimus) was a great general and a close friend of Caesar’s who rose in the ranks to become one of the most powerful men in Rome. Shakespeare cites two men, Gaius Cassius Longinus (Cassius) and Marcus Junius Brutus (Brutus), as having ignited the conspiracy against Caesar. Strauss says the two enlisted the help of a third man to help carry out Caesar’s assassination.

Busts of Marcus Junius Brutus ( left, by Michelangelo, 1539) and Gaius Cassius Longinus. In the eyes of increasing numbers, Caesar had to be taken down. The reasons for Antony’s actions are unclear - he may have been trying to flatter Caesar, or perhaps convince him to give up his breathless quest for power - but many believed it a test engineered by Caesar himself to preview the people’s reactions should he be made king.įor many, this was the final proof they needed that Caesar’s ambition had turned dangerous. At one point, Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), the chief priest of Rome and Caesar’s cousin and longtime compatriot, approached the platform with a crown and placed it on Caesar’s head, proclaiming, “The people give this to you though me.” As the stunned crowd stood silent, Caesar removed it, and “Antony tried again, only to get the same response.” Having rejected the crown, Caesar told the crowd, “Jupiter alone of the Romans is King.” 15, Romans enjoyed the annual Lupercalia Fertility Festival, where “after a sacrifice, priests wearing only loincloths ran around central Rome and touched bystanders, especially women, with goatskin straps.”Ĭaesar sat atop the Speaker’s Platform in the Roman Forum, an 11-foot-high stand he’d use to address his subjects. Strauss sees one episode as the final straw. Several incidents followed, including one where Caesar was perceived to mock the senators just after they’d voted him honors, that hurt public and senatorial perception of Caesar.

After the obsequious Senate declared that upon his death, Caesar would become “an official god of the Roman state,” the perception became that Caesar was too power-mad for comfort. In early 44 BC, in tribute to Caesar’s recent military victories, the Senate proclaimed him Rome’s Dictator in Perpetuity, and there had long been talk that Caesar sought to be King, an unacceptable occurrence for many Romans. In time, though, his hunger for power made even longtime admirers squeamish. Strauss points to Caesar refusing the crown from Mark Antony at the Lupercalia Fertility Festival as the final straw that hurt the public and senatorial perception of him Getty Images His soldiers were well-paid, and he passed laws (over the Senate’s objections) helping the poor, including protecting them from abusive government officials.

JULIUS CAESAR ASSASSINATION HOW TO

He believed that the Republic was an entity whose time had come and gone, and that “only his genius offered the people of the empire peace and prosperity.” The Roman Senate, having grown comfortable with their own power, believed otherwise.Ĭaesar understood how to nurture the love of his people.

Caesar had just been declared Dictator for Ten Years by the Roman senate, and sought more. In 45 BC, Rome was emerging from five years of civil war and policy debates concerned the very nature of the Roman Republic. He did not say anything about the “Ides of March,” just one difference of many between the version of Caesar’s assassination presented by William Shakespeare and the likely truth, according to Cornell University history professor Barry Strauss’ new book, “The Death of Caesar.” Strauss pored through ancient texts to determine the truest possible version of the events surrounding the assassination of the legendary leader.

The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination”Īs per the ritual, Caesar “sacrificed a bull,” and Spurinna “made the chilling announcement that the beast had no heart.”īrave Caesar was “unmoved,” but Spurinna said that he feared Caesar’s life “might come to a bad end,” and warned the dictator that “his life would be in danger for the next 30 days.” 15, in the year 44 BC, Julius Caesar, the all-powerful ruler of Rome, visited a soothsayer named Spurinna, who “predicted the future by examining the internal organs of sacrificial animals,” among other omens.

Julius caesar assassination