Beware the Ides of March. Almost everyone knows that the phrase comes from the story of the assassination of Julius Caesar, most familiarly in the Shakespeare version, although "The Life of Augustus," written by Nicolauas of Damascus, contains what is thought to be the earliest narrative of the plot to murder Julius Caesar, based in part on eyewitness accounts. But, not everyone knows that The Ides Of March is also a band [flash intro] (best known for the song "Vehicle") [YouTube], an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder (with forward by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.), an instrumental song by Iron Maiden [YouTube], and two paintings, one by Edward Poynter and one by Andrew Wyeth.
posted by amyms on Mar 15, 2007 - 10 comments

"Crossing the Rubicon" is a phrase widely believed to refer to the moment when Julius Caesar and his army crossed the stream separating Gaul from Italy, a move which meant civil war and commonly used to mean "point of no return". Now Swiss archaeologists are challenging that theory with a phrase that should be "Double Crossing the Rubicon".
posted by stbalbach on Apr 12, 2004 - 14 comments

Bloggus Caesari: the weblog of Julius Caesar. This was mentioned in the historical blogs thread in MT the other day by ljromanoff, but those of you who didn't read it shouldn't miss out. Does your favorite historical or fictional character have a weblog?
posted by darukaru on Jun 13, 2002 - 16 comments