beware the Ides of March!

Tomorrow (15th March) is the day of the famous Ides of March in the Roman calendar. (Today is the day of the second Equirria, a chariot-racing festival dedicated to the god Mars.) The Ides of each month was dedicated to Jupiter, the king of the gods. The Ides of March was also the day of the feast of Anna Perenna, a goddess of the year, and her festival was, originally, the concluding event of the festivities held to celebrate the Roman new year; the day was celebrated by the masses with picnics, alcohol and general revelry. The Ides of March also became famous or infamous for being the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in the year 44 BC. (In the play Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare, Caesar is famously warned by a soothsayer to ‘beware the Ides of March!’.*)

Julius Caesar (July 100 BC-15th March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, consul and author. He had a significant role in the end of the Roman republic and the start of the Roman empire. Believe it or not, he may also have attacked and captured the original Colchester! His conquest of Gaul, by 51 BC, extended Roman territory as far as what are now the River Rhine and the English Channel. He built a bridge across the Rhine and later conducted the first Roman invasion of or expedition into Britain, in 55 BC. He repeated the exercise in 54 BC. He also invaded Roman territory itself, when he had been ordered to surrender his military command, and took control of the Roman government. He was assassinated in Rome on the 15th March, 44 BC, and his adopted heir Octavian – later known as Augustus – took over and began the period of the Roman empire. The history of Caesar’s life is known from his own writings and from other contemporary sources, especially the letters and speeches of Cicero, and later biographies by Suetonius and Plutarch. Caesar is considered to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.

Both of Caesar’s military expeditions into Britain were limited to Kent and Hertfordshire or Essex. Trust director Philip Crummy thinks that, during his expedition of 54 BC, Caesar entered Essex and got as far as Camulodunum (now Colchester). Caesar himself, in his account of the Gallic War, recounts how he crossed the Thames and attacked the British tribal leader Cassivellaunus’ stronghold. Cassivellaunus ruled over the Trinovantes, which was a tribe occupying what is now Essex. In fact, this second Roman foray into Britain had been initiated under a pretext provided by Mandubracius of the Trinovantian tribe, who appealed to Rome for help when Cassivellaunus murdered his father, the tribal leader of the Trinovantes, and took over the Trinovantes. It would appear that Cassivellaunus established a heavily-fortified settlement in Trinovantian territory, and this was known as Camulodunum. When Caesar was in Britain, accompanied by Mandubracius, it is said that his force included a war elephant. The Romans entered Cassivellaunus’ terrritory; the Trinovantes promised supplies to Caesar; and Caesar besieged Cassivellaunus’ stronghold – was this Camulodunum? Caesar restored Mandubracius as the leader of the Trinovantes, and the supplies were given. Five further British tribes submitted to Caesar. The Roman army then withdrew from Britain. In the Roman invasion of AD 43, 100 years later, when Britain became part of the Roman empire, the force of the Roman commander Claudius also included war elephants and he received the submission of the British tribal kings at Camulodunum. So, if Philip’s theory is correct, then Caesar’s expedition of 54 BC would have been replicated by Claudius’ invasion in AD 54, and both would have led Rome straight to Camulodunum, the heart of Iron Age Britain…

To read more about Caesar and Camulodunum, see the article titled ‘Julius Caesar and Camulodunon’, by Philip, on pages 8-11 of the Trust’s magazine The Colchester Archaeologist, no 22, 2009.

The image shows a sculpture of the head of Julius Caesar, which was included in the Trust’s popular book City of Victory: the story of Colchester, Britain’s first Roman town.

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* In the also famous  ‘Carry on’ film Carry on Cleo, the character of Julius Caesar cries out ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me!’ as he is attacked by his assassins, which is, apparently, considered to be one of the greatest one-liners in history…)

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