Julius Caesar Assassination

Who started the assassination of Julius Caesar?

It was a senator named Gaius Cassius who first began to talk of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Soon, he gathered the support of sixty other men. Among them was Marcus Brutus, who some believed was Julius Caesar 's illegitimate son. Julius Caesar once had a long affair with Brutus' mother and even with her daughter, Brutus' sister. Brutus had been born shortly after. Julius Caesar always showed favoritism for Brutus. In the battle against Pompey he gave specific orders that Brutus was not to be harmed, even though he had sided with Pompey. Brutus was not a strong man - he was weak and somewhat bookish - but he had prestige in Rome and the conspirators thought their deed would win more popular support with Brutus on their side.

What was the date of Julius Caesar 's assassination?

The conspirators fixed the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar for March 15 - the Ides of March. The plan was that when Julius Caesar arrived at the senate, there would be a signal, and each man would approach and stab Julius Caesar. They wanted the murder to occur in the open where it would look like an honorable deed committed for the sake of the republic.

The premonition before Julius Caesar 's assassination

The evening of March 14, Julius Caesar was gathered with some friends when the subject of death arose. They were debating what kind of death was most desirable and Caesar, then 56 years old, is reported to have said: "a sudden one."

The night before the day Julius Caesar was assassinated, his wife had a terrible dream which she took as a premonition that something bad was going to happen to Julius Caesar. In the morning of day of the assassination of Julius Caesar, she begged him not to go to the senate as planned. However, eventually Julius Caesar was convinced to go to the senate.

It was crowded and even though some friends tried to warn Julius Caesar of the terrible assassination that was about to happen, it was too crowded and busy for Julius Caesar to pay attention to all the warnings. Even Marc Anthony was separated from Julius Caesar so that the assassination could occur without interruption.