March 15, 44 BCE

Assassination of Julius Caesar

On the Ides of March a conspiracy of about 60, led by Brutus and Cassius, stabs Caesar, dictator in perpetuity, in the Curia of Pompey. The Republic is not restored: civil war follows.

Caesar was stabbed about 23 times in the Curia of Pompey, the Senate house inside the Theatre of Pompey. An autopsy found that only one wound was fatal. The ringleaders were Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Brutus and Gaius Trebonius. Mark Antony brokered a compromise two days later, but the conspirators were defeated at Philippi in 42 BCE. The Second Triumvirate and the civil wars that followed ended with Octavian becoming Augustus.