Happy Ides of March!

15th March is The Ides of March:  The word Ides derives from a Latin word, meaning to divide. The Ides were originally meant to mark the full moons, but because calendar months and lunar months were different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The Romans also had a name for the first day of every month. It was known as the Kalends and that is where the word calendar is derived.

Simply, the Romans followed this monthly cycle:

·        Kalends = day 1
·        Before the Nones = days 2 – 6
·        Nones = day 7 – which signified the first quarter of the moon
·        Before the Ides = days 8 – 14
·        Ides = day 15 - originally the full moon
·        Before the Kalends = days 16 – 30 / 31 [ie before the next month]

Originally the Ides of March once signified the new year, which meant celebrations and rejoicing, however it became synonymous with doom and gloom courtesy of William Shakespeare.  In the play Julius Caesar the dictator was warned by a soothsayer “Beware the Ides of March” and the following scenes played out the events of 44BC when Caesar was assassinated by 60 senators led by Brutus and Cassius.  

​So - there you go!