Assassination of Julius Caesar facts for kids

The assassination of Julius Caesar was a famous event in ancient Roman history. It happened because a group of about forty Roman senators planned to kill him. These senators called themselves the Liberatores, which means "The Liberators." Their main leaders were Cassius and Brutus.

The senators attacked Caesar and stabbed him to death in a building called the Theatre of Pompey. This happened on the Ides of March, which was March 15, in the year 44 BC. At that time, Caesar was the dictator of the Roman Republic. He had recently been declared dictator perpetuo, meaning "dictator for life," by the Senate. Many senators worried that Caesar wanted to take all power for himself and become a tyrant, ending the Republic.

Caesar's death led to a long and difficult civil war in Rome. Eventually, a group called the Second Triumvirate took power. This led to Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, becoming the first emperor. This marked the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. So, even though the Liberators killed Caesar to save the Republic, their actions actually caused its end.

Who were the Conspirators?

A group of Roman senators believed that Julius Caesar had too much power. They worried he would become a king and destroy the Roman Republic, where citizens had a say in their government. To prevent this, they formed a secret group to remove him from power.

Here are some of the known members of this plot:

• Gaius Cassius Longinus
• Marcus Junius Brutus
• Servius Sulpicius Galba
• Quintus Ligarius
• Lucius Minucius Basilus
• Servilius Casca
• Gaius Servilius Casca (Servilius Casca's brother)
• Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
• Tillius Cimber
• Caius Trebonius
• Caecilius
• Bucolianus (Caecilius' brother)
• Rubrius Ruga
• Marcus Spurius
• Sextius Naso
• Minucius Basilus
• Pontius Aquila

Images for kids

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  Possible bust of Julius Caesar, made after his death, 44–30 BC, found in the Vatican Museums.

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  A map showing the city of Rome in 44 BC.

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  Deification of Julius Caesar, an old picture from the 1500s by Virgil Solis. It shows how people believed Caesar became a god after he died.

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  Brutus and the Ghost of Caesar (1802), an engraving by Edward Scriven. It shows a scene from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.

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  This painting, La Mort de César by Jean-Léon Gérôme, shows Caesar's body left on the ground after the attack.

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  Mark Antony standing over the dead body of Caesar, painted by Bela Čikoš Sesija.

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  The death of Caesar by Victor Honoré Janssens, painted around the 1690s.