# The Ides

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ides/108962>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 14, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ides/108962 "2002-05-14T03:27:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CrAcKmOo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@CrAcKmOo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrAcKmOo)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ides/108962/1 "2002-05-14T03:27:42Z")

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Can someone tell me where the Ides of March (and all the other months) came from? I know the Romans brought it about and that Caesar was killed on the Ides of March but that they were known before Caesar died (he didn’t bring about the Ides of March with his death). So where did they come from, and why were they used? I know that its the 15th on some months and the 13th on others, whats the deal?

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ides/108962/2 "2002-05-14T03:53:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> The soothsayer’s warning to Julius Caesar , “Beware the Ides of March,” has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression “Ides of March” did not necessarily evoke a dark mood?it was simply the standard way of saying “March 15.”

> **[The Ides of March](https://www.infoplease.com/history/ancient/the-ides-of-march)**
>
> Find out what Ides of March means

Google works well.