#roman republic

[victusinveritas]

I don't know who the fuck censored "hell" in that last image, but it sure as shit wasn't me. What is this, 3rd grade internet?

[shranstan]

Reading any historical fiction and non-fiction set in I century B.C.E. and Cicero my friend Cicero is always there <3 #mycicero

[tridentandtales]

Roman ring, made from gold and aquamarine depicting a woman riding on a hippocamp

1st century AD

Altes Museum Berlin 30891 C

[goose-the-corvid]

genuinely weeping over how funny this is. imagine being so confident that you’re going to win your case that you LEAVE COURT during the jury proceedings to gET A FUCKING HAIRCUT TO CELEBRATE. you put on a new outfit, meet your friend at the door and they tell you “um actually. you lost. like really hard” so you go back inside, THROW YOURSELF ONTO YOUR BED AND DIE

[neutralspace]

[eurydiceauxenfers]

I know we all love the Ides of March here and I know how very cathartic it would be if our own current wannabe dictator experienced some serious deja vu. I get that most of you are not being serious here when you say you want an Ides of March repeat, but for those who are, let me seriously explain something to you.

Caesar’s assassination did not save the Roman Republic, it was its final death blow. Do you know what happened immediately after the Stabbening?

Caesar’s supporters turned him into a martyr and whipped his populist power base into a violent bloody mob. The second Triumvirate enacted a bloody war and purge against Caesar’s enemies before turning on each other like Cadmus’ dragon teeth warriors, until eventually Octavian emerged on top and officially ended the Republic. And throughout it all, the common man suffered.

I’d also like to remind you that the men who stabbed Caesar were not protecting our Enlightenment inspired Democratic Republic. They were protecting Roman Republicanism. They were not rebels, they were wealthy, elite men, fighting to preserve their own power base and wealth. Ultimately the entire downfall of the Republic was centered on one issue: land reform. The elites of Rome sought to forcibly buy out land from yeoman farmers and consolidate it into large villas, forcing the previous owners out into poverty to be replaced with cheap slave labor. Populists like Caesar fought to enact land reforms to protect the small farmers. He also funded a lot of public infrastructure and welfare projects as well as the arts.

Caesar was more of a “leftist” (whatever the fuck that even means for someone who lived thousands of years before the development of feudalism let alone capitalism and socialism) than the men who stabbed him. He was also a dictator and tyrant, unbelievably corrupt and a callous ruthless opportunist to his core (not to mention, like all Romans, a genocidal, colonizing racist). The Ides of March is not a guide, it’s a cautionary tale.

[dicklessthewonderclown]

GUYS GUYS LISTEN. tomorrow is the ides of march. someone has the chance to do the funniest thing ever. just saying.

on a completely unrelated note, did you guys know that julius caesar assumed dictatorship for life about a month before the ides of march? fun fact about the roman republic government system, ‘dictator’ was a temporary position. and the dictator was nominated by a consul (often at the request of the senate), then confirmed by a vote of the comitia curiata. most dictators were appointed for 6mo-1 year, bc they were often appointed to resolve a specific situation. enough out of me, the point is that it was a temporary and elected position. and when someone tried to have that position be for life, well, sic semper tyrannis

[jacks-the-flower]

i love that both julius caesar and brennan lee mulligan are trending right now- like brennan would take a look at our ides of march posts, point out how technically historically caesar was killed because he was doing too much good for the commoners, and then would turn around and metaphorically stab the motherfucker like the rest of us because fuck dictators and facists