Julius Caesar and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

All roads lead to Rome! Here at Reading Road Trip, we recognize a good figure of speech when we see one. This one means that there are many different ways of doing something, that there are different ways of achieving a goal. 
Today, we follow the road signs and find ourselves in Ancient Rome, March 15, 44 B.C.  Rumors spread through the city that a soothsayer (fortune teller) has warned the great military and political leader Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," predicting grave danger to the general and statesman on the fifteenth day of the month. We follow Caesar as he travels through the crowded streets of Rome.  He spies the soothsayer and announces, "Well, the Ides of March have come."  The fortune teller  replies, "Aye, they have come, but they are not gone."

Caesar mistakenly thinks he is safe from harm: moments later, he is stabbed to death by enemies! The soothsayer has spoken the truth.  Sooth, after all, is an Old English word meaning truth. William Shakespeare dramatized the famous story in his play Julius Caesar. With apologies to Shakespeare and to Caesar, Reading Road Trip proudly presents an encore Ides of March performance:

 

For Julius Caesar, the Ides of March in 44 B.C. proved to be a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day-- with apologies to Judith Viorst's picture book Alexander, too!

We can learn more about Julius Caesar and Ancient Rome when we visit the Library of the Chathams or the Madison Public Library:

In See You Later, Gladiator by Jon Scieszka, Time Warp Trio favorites Joe, Fred, and Sam demonstrate some of their favorite professional wrestling moves when they're transported to ancient Rome and forced to fight as gladiators in the Colosseum (87 pages, RL 4.8).

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Soldier!  Barbarians You'd Rather Not Meet by David Stewart offers humorous illustrations, captions, and sidebars describing the life of a Roman soldier in the year 98 A.D. (32 pages, RL 5.8).

Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome by Marissa Moss introduces us to twelve-year-old Galen, who describes his life as a slave in Rome under the Emperor Augustus. The book features hand-printed text, drawings, and margin notes (52 pages, RL 5.4).

The Roman News by Andrew Langley delivers a "special edition" of a Roman newspaper containing articles about Roman history, politics, religion, fashion, food, and daily life, spanning the years of the Roman Empire from 753 B.C. to 476 A.D. (32 pages, RL 5.0).

Julius Caesar: The Life of a Roman General by Gary Jeffrey presents  a very cool graphic biography of Julius Caesar, describing the origin of Rome, Roman Democracy, and Caesar's quest for power (48 pages, RL 4.4). 

Once upon a time, all roads did lead to Rome: The Ancient Roman road system was one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of its time. Over 50,000 miles of paved road connected Rome with the surrounding countryside. The roads were used by Roman soldiers and citizens.  We can play a dress the Roman soldier game.  Click on the red-highlighted words to get started!

Oops! Not a Friend of the Library: Ancient Greek historian Plutarch wrote that during a visit to Alexandria, Egypt, in 48 B.C., Julius Caesar accidentally burned down the largest and greatest library of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria, when he set fire to his own ships while battling an enemy!

July is for Julius: Caesar's heir, Octavian, also known as Augustus Caesar, paid tribute to the great Julius Caesar by renaming his birth month: the Roman month of Quintilus became July.