About Those Ides . . .

March 9th, 2011

Well, we can blame the whole of it on the Roman calendar, that from the Latin [Kalendae], meaning “accounts”, as debts were due on the first day of each month, even then.

It gets a little fuzzy from there, but one sensible version derives ides from the Latin [iduare], “to divide”. So, the famous “Ides of March” refers to the middle, or 15th of March.

Of course March, named after the Roman god Mars, can be a rocky month, as fitting for a god of war. Julius Caesar found that out the hard way, having put in a very sticky day at the Senate on the 15th of March, 44 BC. Hence the admonition, “Beware the Ides of March!”

A Google search finds some interesting trivia, such as:

Our modern calendar is based on the Roman one, which originally had ten months of 30 or 31 days each, with a 61 day period between December and March that fell outside the calendar.

This gap was presumably because the calendar was chiefly used to regulate planting and harvesting and this period was unimportant to farmers.

The later addition of two more months explains why the numerical Latin roots of the months’ names are two off from their position on the calendar. October was originally the eighth month, September the ninth, December 10th etc.

And, this…

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martii) is the name of 15 March in the Roman calendar, probably referring to the day of the full moon. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months. The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held.

In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the day Julius Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by Marcus Brutus and 60 co-conspirators.

On his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Julias saw a seer who had foretold that harm would come to him not later than the Ides of March.

Caesar joked, “Well, the Ides of March have come”, to which the seer replied “Ay, they have come, but not gone.”

So let’s show a little respect!