But Caesar’s reign is to be short–lived….

44 BCE: JULIUS CAESAR

The Emperor of Rome is assassinated on the “Ides of March” (March 15).

“Et tu Brute?” (“You as well, Brutus?”) exclaims Caesar to Brutus in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Brutus, once a friend of Caesar’s, had joined the rebels who assassinate Caesar, hoping to restore the Republic.

[There is an antecedent biblical parallel to the famous line “Et tu Brute” in Samuel I (Shmuel Aleph), written 900 years earlier:

“Ha–gam Sha–ul ba–N’veim?” [“Is (King) Saul as well with these false prophets?”]

The rebels against Caesar are known as known as the Liberatores (“liberators”). After the initial knife thrust by a senator named Casca is deflected by Caesar, approximately sixty senators participate in the stabbing of the Emperor.

Although the assassins hoped to restore the Republic, the denouement is another civil war, which leads eventually to the (almost) permanent establishment of the Roman Empire (military dictatorship). Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavius (later to be called Augustus) becomes emperor.

Caesar is front–and–center on the stage of world history, with details of his life recorded by many historians, including Plutarch and Strabo.