Ides of March is on March 15th. The term “Ides” was an ancient marker the Romans used to reference dates that are related to the lunar phases and to divide each month. There were 3 different names specifying certain dates. The other two names were ‘Kalends’ (first of the month), ‘Nones’ (March 7th, May, July, and October 5th). Ides in particular is referred to the first new moon of a given month; the date ranges (March 15th, 13th of May, July, and October). This date also corresponds with the assassination of Julius Caesar who contributed to the transition from the historic period of The Roman Republic to The Roman Empire. Later on, English Poet William Shakespeare wrote the play “Julius Caesar” and included how the Roman Emperor was backstabbed (literally) on Ides of March. The phrase you might have heard of before “Beware of the Ides of March” comes from his play where he wrote a brief summary of Julius’ life and what happened to him. Now when most people hear Ides of March they think of betrayal generally because of Shakespeare’s play. Although that’s where most people know the term from it’s actually just the 15 of the month.