Caesar’s Murder – An Unexpected Crime Scene

The story of the murder of Julius Caesar is one of the most famous moments of the Roman history; everybody knows he was assassinated by fellow Senators on the Ides of March (March 15^th) of the year 44 B.C.  who ambushed him in the Senate Hall, thus putting an end to the life of one of the greatest Romans, and, in turn, to the Roman Republic, and paving the way to the foundation of the Empire.

What is less known is that this crime, considered by some the halting of a rising tyrant, by others just another cruel political murder, did not happen in the Senate building that stands nearly untouched in the middle of the Forum (better known as the “Curia Ostilia”), but in a rather neglected archaeological area in Largo di Torre Argentina, called “Curia Pompeii”,  just a few hundreds of meters away from Piazza Venezia, and less of 1 km from the Forum. In that area, now the territory where many street cats live, there are the ruins of several buildings, where it’s identifying four temples, one of which (the “Aedes Fortunae Huiusce Diei” – Temple of the Present Day’s Luck) has a round shape, and it’s easily found because of the remainders of columns which are still standing. Behind that building, is the place where the infamous, history-changing murder took place.