Human Flower Project
Ides of March: Say It with Laurel
Purple roses and other flowers, March 2005, laid at the site of Julius Caesar’s cremation in the Roman Forum.
Photo: Mary Harrsch
Are we superstitious about the Ides of March? Completely. Both our grandmothers died March 15, so we will be treading, driving, eating and (maybe) speaking with caution Monday, which happens to be the full moon, too.
On this day Julius Caesar was ambushed by members of the Roman Senate, who stabbed him to death in the Theater of Pompey, 44 B.C. His funeral took place five days later. An “improvised funeral pyre was made of furniture and other things at hand, and Caesar’s body burned in the middle of the Forum,” at a spot later dedicated to the Temple of Divus Julius.
As recently as 2005, the general, diarist and dictator was still remembered with flowers in the ancient Forum on the Ides of March. Mary Harrsch, who was visiting Rome that spring, took purple roses of tribute. She wrote, “When we arrived, we found some beautiful flowers already there, and two elderly gentlemen paying their respects. They kindly climbed over the barrier and laid our bouquet on top of the altar. As they left, one saluted, and with tears in his eyes, said, ‘Ave, Caesar!’”
We imagine there will be some observances this year as well. (Roman readers, please let us know.)
Laurel wreath laid in 1975 A.D. where Julius Caesar’s funeral took place, 44 BC, in the Roman Forum.
Photo: Paula Chabot
A heavy-hitter if ever there was one, Caesar is not often associated with flowers. He is said also to have “refused the diadem,” a regal emblem, “saying Jupiter alone is king of the Romans.” But the Hellenic victory emblem – the laurel crown—apparently was much to his liking, as there are many images of him, in statuary and on coins, wearing the laurel wreath.
So we think he would have been especially pleased with this tribute, photographed by Paula Chabot in 1975: a grand laurel wreath “commemorating Rome’s 2728th birthday” at the site of Caesar’s obsequies.