The term ides (idus in Latin) comes from the earliest Roman calendar and simply means the middle of the month.
For the Roman ruler Julius Caesar, the ides of any month would have been just another day. Only because of Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar, have the Ides of March in particular become inextricably linked with a sense of doom. In Act I, Scene 2, a fortune teller warns the dictator to beware the approaching ides. Too proud and arrogant, he fails to heed the warning. (Click to view a one minute video clip from the play.)
History records that Caesar was assassinated on March 15th (the Ides of March) in the year 44 BC as depicted in this painting by Vincenzo Camuccini:
Sources:
Brunner, Borgna. "The Ides of March". Infoplease. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/ides1.html.
Bunson, Matthew.
Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. Facts on File: New York, 2002. Available in print at Lincoln Park Library Reference
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