In case you haven’t noticed, today is the ides of March. I can’t say I’m superstitious but I am aware it’s a day when often remarkable things have happened. Yet my research suggests it probably only began with Julius Caesar. Before his murder, it was known to the Romans for a very different reason.
According to the ancient Roman calendar, the months of the year were divided in terms of the lunar cycle into three groups of days. The ides corresponded with the rise of the full moon in the middle of the month. The word is derived from the Latin iduera which means to divide. Hence it was somewhere between the 13th and 15th. The Kalends corresponded with the new moon at the beginning of the month and fell on the 1st or thereabouts. The Nones fell on the quarter phase in between, which makes it the fifth or seventh day.
Furthermore, according to the ancient calendar, the new year originally began in March. This meant the ides marked the first full moon of the year. It was, therefore, also an occasion for feasting and celebration. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says it was also a date for settling debts.
In 44 BC, the ides of March took on a new meaning. Ignoring warnings from his wife Calpurnia and a soothsayer — if you go by Shakespeare’s version — Caesar insisted on going to the Senate, where he was stabbed to death. From that date onwards, the ides has been associated with doom and foreboding.
The amazing thing is since then many events of note have happened on the ides of March. I discovered that in 1493 Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after “discovering” America on this date. Five centuries later, in 1906, the first Rolls Royce rolled out on March 15. In 1917, Tsar Nicholas the 2nd abdicated on the ides of March. It was on this day in 1939 that the Nazis marched into Czechoslovakia. In 2011, the start of the Syrian civil war is attributed to mass protests on March 15. And in 2019, terrorist attacks overwhelmed New Zealand on the ides of March.
The ides of March has also been a date of significance for India. In 1564, Akbar revoked the jiziya tax, in 1946 Clement Attlee announced the British government’s intention to give India independence, and in 1934, the politician Kanshiram was born. Nearly 60 years later, in 1993, Alia Bhatt was also born on this day.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, the date has begun to fascinate the countries of the west. Thornton Wilder named one of his novels after the ides of March.
In America, a jazz rock band took the date as its moniker in the sixties. Hollywood films have used the date as their name and so too have pieces of music. And most people know the ominous associations of the date. It’s almost as well-known as April fool’s day, which follows 18 days later.
In the ’80s, the ides of March was often an excellent excuse for a rollicking party. I’ve been to a fancy dress dinner where the guests were asked to come dressed as ancient Romans. Most of the men donned togas and tied laurel wreaths to their heads. Everyone wanted to be Julius Caesar even though he came to a sorry end. Very few opted to dress up as Brutus or Mark Antony. No one was sure who the women guests pretended to be. None wanted to become Calpurnia.
Alas, I can’t think of anything of importance that’s happened to me on the ides of March. But I guess there’s always a first time. Caesar, if you recall, scoffed at the date. When the soothsayer warned him, he dismissed him as a dreamer. Later in the play he taunted him. “The ides of March are come,” he teased. “Ay but not gone”, was the famous response. So, I take comfort from the fact the day has just begun. Who knows what might happen before it’s done?
Karan Thapar is the author of Devil’s Advocate: The Untold Story. The views expressed are personal
