You probably don’t need to be a fan of William Shakespeare to have heard the saying, “Beware the Ides of March.” But do you know what an Ide actually is?
In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” a soothsayer warns the Roman general about his impending assassination. In 44 B.C., that prophecy came true — Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The term “Ides of March” later became part of the English language, meaning a day of evil.
However, an Ide means nothing more than the first full moon of the month. Since the Roman calendar was based on lunar cycles, a full moon usually fell between the 13th and 15th. Ides is just a term that refers to the midpoint of the month.
The Ides also fall on the 15th of May, July and October and on the 13th the rest of the year.
Despite its origins, Ides continues to have a negative connotation in pop culture. TV shows and even a movie starring George Clooney have used the reference. At least two television episodes have used “Ides of March” in their titles — “Party of Five” in 1995 and “Xena: Warrior Princess” in 1999. An American jazz-rock band named itself The Ides of March in 1964 — and it still exists today.
So, the next time someone warns you to, “Beware the Ides of March,” you’ll know how the saying came to be — though hopefully, you won’t have anything to worry about.