News (Ancient) Spanish researchers find the exact spot where Julius Caesar was stabbed

 

Bestiola

Nequissima

  • Civis Illustris

  • Sacerdos Isidis

Several ancient Roman texts describe the assassination of Julius Caesar in Rome, at the Curia of Pompey in 44 BC, which was the result of a plot among a group of senators to eliminate the General. 2,056 years later, a team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council has found the exact plot where the military man was stabbed.
A concrete structure of three meters wide and over two meters high, placed by order of Augustus (adoptive son and successor of Julius Caesar) to condemn the assassination of his father, has given the key to the scientists. This finding confirms that the General was stabbed right at the bottom of the Curia of Pompey while he was presiding, sitting on a chair, over a meeting of the Senate. Currently, the remains of this building are located in the archaeological area of Torre Argentina, right in the historic centre of the Roman capital.
Classical sources refer to the closure (years after the murder) of the Curia, a place that would become a chapel-memory. CSIC researcher explains: "We know for sure that the place where Julius Caesar presided over that session of the Senate, and where he fell stabbed, was closed with a rectangular structure organized under four walls delimiting a Roman concrete filling. However, we don't know if this closure also involved that the building ceased to be totally accessible."
In Torre Argentina, in addition to the Curia of Pompey, researchers have started to study the remains of the Portico of the Hundred Columns (Hecatostylon). The aim is to identify what connecting links can be established between archaeology, art history, and cinema in these spaces of the death of Julius Caesar. Monterroso adds: "We also aim to better understand that sense of closure and dismal place described in classical texts."
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121010102158.htm
 

Akela

sum

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Location:
BC
*typing with shaking hands* Forgetting the factor of the educated guess and all, this is still so exciting. What would I not give to see this spot in person.
 

Arca Defectionis

Civis Illustris

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Location:
USA
O locum sanctum, o factum beatum!
 

Carolus Victor

New Member

Location:
Holmia, Suecia
Oh almighty Caesar, even two millenniums after your death we will never forget you! Nor will we prevent ourselves from learning more about you.
 

Jeff Priest

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Location:
Britannia
I wonder... :browaction1: wheter scientists could find DNA remains, and clone them...
C for Cæsar!!!
 

Ignis Umbra

Ignis Aeternus

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USA
There could very well be descendants of Caesar (through many many generations obviously) with his DNA.
 
 

Matthaeus

Vemortuicida strenuus

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Varsovia
Very interesting article. Thanks. So I'm descended from Charlemagne.
That explains why I've always had delusional visions of grandeur. :D
 

Iosue

New Member

Location:
Ma On Shan, Hong Kong
Is this the same story where Cæesar said Et Tu Brute?
 

jondesousa

New Member

Location:
Bostonia, Massachusetta
Sadly the area is now closed off and is run as a cat sanctuary for homeless cats. Imagine the sadness of seeing the place where a man as great as Caesar died only to find that it smells of cat urine. Very sad indeed. Below is a link to the cat sanctuary homepage.

http://www.romancats.com/index_eng.php
 

Aurifex

Aedilis

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Sadly the area is now closed off and is run as a cat sanctuary for homeless cats. Imagine the sadness of seeing the place where a man as great as Caesar died only to find that it smells of cat urine. Very sad indeed.
I think it's a healthy sign. It suggests Italians are doing what they can to discourage personality cults; which, given mid-20th century Italian history, is not surprising.
 

Ioannes Salinator

Member

Location:
Toletum, Carthaginensis, Hispania
No kidding? Do you have any proof or is a story in your family?
Sadly there can't be any straight downward line natural descendants of Julius Caesar. In any case we would be descendants of the father of Julius Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder. Julia Caesaris (the daughter of Julius Caesar) had a son with Pompey, but died together with her at his birth in 54 BC. Caesarion (Ptolemy XV Philopator Caesar) had no children; was assassinated at 17 by his step-brother Octavianus in 30 BC. Finally, Octavianus (Augustus) was simply Julius Caesar's great-nephew adopted by him.
 

LacrimæRerum

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Location:
Londinium, Britannia
Wow. It's so sad that I didn't know this when I went to Rome in 2013; but then I had no idea that I'll be fascinated by Rome like I am now.
 

SpanishOmelette

New Member

I wonder... :browaction1: wheter scientists could find DNA remains, and clone them...
C for Cæsar!!!
Of course, you would simply have a man with Roman features that would simply live as he would live if any person was raised in this era.

Sorry to be nerdy.

Would love, however, to see that spot. Am of course, assuming there is no wax Caesar there...
 

tim05000

Member

Location:
Australia
Is this the same story where Cæesar said Et Tu Brute?
1) Of the several accounts of Caesar’s assassination, only one writer mentions Caesar saying something to Brutus. So he probably didn’t say it.
2) If he did say ‘you too, Brutus?’, he said it in Greek (kai su) as per the account everyone’s referring to. Cultured Romans liked speaking Greek to their close associates.

Source: History Today magazine. I read the article months ago so I forget the exact words in Greek or who wrote it. Someone less influential than Shakespeare.
 
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