Bust of Julius Caesar. Marble, ca 50 BC.

All Hail Caesar!

Today marks the 2050th anniversary of Julius Caesar's death. (I hope you've all got parties planned!) Yes, it's the Ides of March! If your significant other has had any dreams of your death lately, it might be a good idea to call in sick. Especially if your name is Julius Caesar. This noble bust of him, by some great unknown artist, belongs to the Vatican.

Caesar has had quite an amazing effect on the world - and I really mean the whole world. He is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Roman Empire - after his murder by Brutus (et tu, Brute?), the then Roman Republic erupted in a civil war that was won by Caesar's three followers: Marc Antony, Lepidus and Caesar's great nephew and adpoted son Octavian. A fight between Marc Antony and Octavian prompted a second civil war, and when Octavian won, he became Rome's first emperor and changed his name to Caesar Augustus, in honor of his adopted father. Two years after Julius' death, Rome declared him to be a god.

The next few Roman emperors also took on the name Caesar because they were his relations, part of the Julio-Claudian family line. When Nero, the last Julio-Claudian emperor died, Roman emperors began to use the name Caesar as a title rather than as a family designation. The word "Caesar," then, began to mean a great leader - Russian Tsars, German Kaisers, Islamic Qaysars and US Intelligence czars all derive their names from Caesar. And the name "Julius" is where we get the word July, the month Caesar was born.

Wish you could feel closer to Caesar? According to a number of scholars, every breath we take contains at least one air particle that came from Caesar's last breath. Naturally you could say the same thing about just about everyone - we're probably breathing part of Abe Lincoln's last breath, Genghis Khan's last breath, King Henry VIII's last breath... but for some reason high school and college chem teachers like to talk about Caesar's. If you're nutty and really want to try to understand the math, visit http://www.npr.org/.