http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/Cesar-sa_mort.jpg

"That was the moment for the men to set to work. All quickly unsheathed their daggers and rushed at him. First Servilius Casca struck him with the point of the blade on the left shoulder a little above the collar-bone. He had been aiming for that, but in the excitement he missed. Caesar rose to defend himself, and in the uproar Casca shouted out in Greek to his brother. The latter heard him and drove his sword into the ribs. After a moment, Cassius made a slash at his face, and Decimus Brutus pierced him in the side. While Cassius Longinus was trying to give him another blow he missed and struck Marcus Brutus on the hand. Minucius also hit out at Caesar and hit Rubrius in the thigh. They were just like men doing battle against him.
"Under the mass of wounds, he fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. Everyone wanted to seem to have had some part in the murder, and there was not one of them who failed to strike his body as it lay there, until, wounded twenty-three times, he breathed his last."


-b0b
(...rocks on.)

Nice. The  "Et tu, Brute?" line, which wasn't mentioned here, was just in the Shakespeare account of the killing. It's interesting that killing Caeser did not bring about peace and restore the Republic that Rome once was. The military was still in Rome, watching everyones movements, and Marc Antony and Octavian were each trying to get control. Octavian, Caeser's nephew, was named heir in Caeser's will, but was instead forced to become a member of the last Triumvirate with Marc Antony, and one of Caeser's loyal military leaders. The 3 of them were in control, but eventually there was a civil war, and Antony and Octavian killed the third member of the Triumvirate, leaving just the two of them. Another civil war broke out, this time between Octavian and Antony, who was with Cleopatra. Octavian eventually defeated Antony, and became the first Roman Emporer after Antony and Cleopatra were killed at Actium.  Octavian took the name Caesar Augustus and ruled Rome for about 40 years, bringing prosperity and peace. He kick started the time in Roman history known as Pax Romana.

I love Roman history. Theres a sweet show that aired on HBO called Rome that was just awesome. It cost them about 100 million to make 12 episodes. Thankfully it did well enough to be picked up for another season. The first season coveres Caeser and other Romans during Caesers rise to power and the last episode ends with his murder.  The second season will cover Octavians rise to power.

Great show.

~Briney

I've been studying Pax Romana recently myself, with an emphasis on the mid-level Roman hierarchy (i.e. provincial rulers) around Christ's era.  All kinds of political intrigue occurred during that time.

Gaius Caligula suffered from an unknown illness about 10 years into his reign as the governor of Judea/Samaria/Syria/etc.  He recovered physically, but he went insane because of it.  He ordered his subjects to worship him like a god, and ordered a statue to be erected in his honor in the center of the the Jerusalem Temple.  Suffice it to say he was assasinated before that occurred.

Two successions later, Herod Agrippa II tried to marry his half-sister, Bernice.  He was killed by his own bodyguards, the Praetorian Guard.

I could be getting some names switched around, so I'll take a look at my notes tonight and throw a few more relevant facts up here.  Pax Romana is an amazing chronicle in history...

-b0b
(...would love to take a trip to Rome some day.)

Rome is my dream vacation location.

Gaius Octavius was quite a famous emperor for Rome, along with his adopted son, Octavian.

Its amazing how many successors there were to the rule of the empire.

Stick
(...is done with his random sentences of the day)

Yea Octavian (Octavius, Augustus Caeser, whoever... they all had a ton of names) is my favorite Emperor as well. But seriously the rise to power of Caeser is a very interesting time in Roman history. The 13th Legion's historic march across the Rubicon and into Italy marked the turning point in changing Rome from a Republic to an Empire.

Watch out cause America will have this happening soon.