Pop Quiz - where was Julius Caesar murdered? On the Senate steps right? Every documentary or movie recreating the assassination always shows him walking up those marble steps and getting a jolly good knifing. There's only one problem with this. Rome's Senate House was burnt down in January 52BC and on March 15th 44BC it still hadn't been rebuilt. In fact during this period the Senate had been meeting in Pompey's theatre - a few blocks away on the edge of the Forum. What's more, poor old Caesar wasn't even entering via the main entrance when he was stabbed - he was actually stepping from a dark alleyway and through the small backdoor used by the theatre's staff when he was accosted. In true theatrical drama he died behind the stagedoor having been stabbed in an alley. Not quiet the impression we're given whenever we see the latest version on TV. And perhaps more by luck than good planning, that little door and its alleyway do still exist if you want to see the where Caesar met the realities of democracy.
Find out what Calvus thought of Caesar
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