Beware The Ides Of March

About

Beware The Ides Of March refers to history memes and discussions about the 15th of March, notably marking the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The date is also known for having religious significance and was important in Rome for being a deadline for settling debts. The catchphrase was first coined in Shakespearre's play Julius Caeser, where the ruler was warned by a soothsayer, "Beware the ides of March," a phrase that has come to be used in various memes.

Origin

The Romans followed a calendar system in accordance with lunar cycles, and "Ides" was a word used for the 13th of most months or the 15th of March, May, July, and October. The ides of March used to align with the first full moon of the new year, and correlated with a number of religious and superstitious omens. Most notably, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides Of March in 44 BC.^[1]

William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar contains a scene where Caesar is warned about Brutus's betrayal by a soothsayer who says, "Beware the ides of March."^[2] In a later scene, Caesar passes by the soothsayer on his way to the amphitheater and says, "The ides of March are come," to which the soothsayer responds, "Ay, Caesar; but not gone."^[3]

An early use of the phrase "Beware the ides of March" in a meme can be traced to a January 17th, 2012 post to DeviantArt^[5] by user @DogHollywood, where it gathered over 4,700 views in over ten years (seen below). Another early use of the meme trope was in a March 15th, 2015 post by Facebook^[4] page Not an Exact Science Show, where it gathered over 500 likes in over seven years (seen below).

Spread

On March 15th, 2015, Tumblr user eleftheriatic posted a tweet commemorating Annoy Squidward day, and received a number of responses chiming in with how they think March 15th is a bad day in fiction. The thread ends with Tumblr user kamen-apple-kinkshaming posting a reply that reads, "It’s the fucking Ides of March people. Todays the day Julius Caesar was stabbed like 23 times." The post gathered over 600,000 notes in over seven years (seen below).^[6]

On March 13th, 2016, Redditor swagfleekneat posted an image to /r/mildlyinteresting, showing a bottle of caeser dressing that expires on March 15th, gathering over 5,000 upvotes in nearly eight years (seen below, left).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References