Julius Caesar was invited to a meeting of the Senate.

These were busy days.

The government of Rome was in flux.

Caesar was formerly dictator, and no one doubted that he was the one true power in Rome.

But even though the recent Civil War had settled who would be in charge, no one knew what form the government would take in the long run.

There was an added sense of urgency to figure this out, as Caesar had recently announced that he would soon be headed to the eastern border of Rome's provinces to lead an invasion of the mighty Parthian Empire.

The Senate needed to both figure out the scope of its powers and settle a long list of important administrative decisions before he left.

So these were busy days for Rome's ruling class, and it wasn't surprising that Julius Caesar was invited to a meeting of the Senate to weigh in on some urgent business.

The meeting of the Senate had not yet formally commenced when a friend of Caesar's, Lucius Tilius Kimber, approached him and made an urgent petition to recall his exiled brother.

Suddenly there was a crowd of urgent petitioners crowding around Caesar and making requests.

Caesar tried to dismiss him, but Tilius pulled him in by his toga, pleading more urgently.

Caesar cried out, why, this is violence.

At that moment, another one of the petitioners, Publius Servilius Casca, produced a dagger and struck

at Caesar's neck.

The blow glanced off Caesar's shoulder, who grabbed his arm and shouted,

Kaska, you villain, what are you doing?'

For a moment, one brief moment, the conspirators hesitated.

Koska cried out, brother, help me!'

Caesar was able to throw Costco off the speaker's platform, but at the same moment

Casca's brother stabbed Caesar in the side.

With this, the conspirators gained their courage, and knife thrust began to rain down

on Caesar from all directions. He was stabbed 23 times, and was dead from blood loss within a couple of

...