Cimber had supported Caesar in the preceding civil war, but since then relations between the two had soured. Image Credit: via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain The assassinationĪ senator approached Caesar. The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty. The moment of the assassination was nearly at hand. They had arrived early, they had watched as Caesar entered the room, their daggers hidden within the folds of their togas. Most were not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen before the meeting commenced.įor those 30-80 senators involved in the conspiracy, however, the time had come.

In total, the senators present numbered in the few hundreds. Straight away, he headed for his gilded chair, the senators rising to greet Caesar as he walked through the room. With Marc Antony preoccupied, Caesar entered the meeting room devoid of this loyal adjutant. Marc Antony was a problem for another day. To murder the man whose power and position were eroding the ideas of the Republic. Their sole aim was to kill Caesar, the dictator. But Marcus Brutus, according to the likes of Appian and Cassius Dio, convinced them not to. Interestingly, some of the conspirators, such as Cassius, had wanted to kill Marc Antony along with Caesar at the senate meeting. Sit back, relax, and let us take you on a journey back to Rome on the Ides of March 44BC. Soon after, Caesar would enter the meeting room and be greeted by a bloody coup. It was his mission to separate Marc Antony from Caesar. But like Decimus, he too had grown disillusioned with Caesar, he too had joined the conspiracy against the dictator. He had served alongside Caesar, Marc Antony and Decimus Brutus since the Gallic Wars. Trebonius was another longstanding ally of Caesar.

It was there that Gaius Trebonius, an old ally of Marc Antony, pulled the consul aside to discuss some pressing matters. But outside the Theatre, his and Caesar’s paths would diverge. At that time, Marc Antony held the office of consul: he was one of the most powerful men in Rome beneath Caesar, and had intended to attend the meeting. Marc Antony, Caesar’s right-hand man, did not accompany Caesar into the meeting. The Senate meeting room was situated in the Theatre of Pompey, which itself was located in the Campus Martius, one of the key centres of ancient Rome. This is the story of how the most famous assassination in ancient history unfolded. In the afternoon of 15 March 44 BC, the Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar entered the Senate meeting room where he met his doom.

Assassination of julius caesar