Item Code: Document1
DOK: 2
GLCE: 7-H1.1.2
Correct Answer: B
Step 1:
1. Students will read the article “The Ides of March: What is it? Why do we still observe it?” (by Brian
Handwerk for National Geographic News. (See link below)
Ides of March: What Is It? Why Do We Still Observe It? - National …
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
Updated March 15, 2011
Caesar: The ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Aye, Caesar, but not gone.
—Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1
Thanks to Shakespeare's indelible dramatization, March 15—also called the Ides of March—is
forever linked with the 44 B.C. assassination of Julius Caesar, and with prophecies of doom.
"That line of the soothsayer, 'Beware the ides of March,' is a pithy line, and people remember
it, even if they don't know why," said Georgianna Ziegler, head of reference at Washington,
D.C.'s Folger Shakespeare Library.
Until that day Julius Caesar ruled Rome. The traditional Republican government had been
supplanted by a temporary dictatorship, one that Caesar very much wished to make
permanent.
But Caesar's quest for power spawned a conspiracy to have him killed, and on the Ides of
March, a group of prominent Romans brought him to an untimely end in the Senate House.
It Wasn't Just Caesar Who Paid the Price on Ides of March
Aside from its historical connection, the concept of the Ides of March would have resonated
with English citizens in 1599, the year Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar was probably
performed, Ziegler said.
"This whole business of the Ides of March and timekeeping in the play would have had a strong
impact on audiences," she said.
"They were really struck by the differences between their Julian calendar [a revision of the
Roman calendar created by Caesar] and the Gregorian calendar kept in Catholic countries on
the continent."
Because the two calendars featured years of slightly different lengths, they had diverged
ESSTSBA Cohort 1
6th/7th Grade Selected Response
v 1.3
Author: Wendy Hunt
Item Code: Document1
significantly by the late 16th century and were several days apart.
(Related: "Leap Year: How the World Makes Up for Lost Time.")
In Roman times the Ides of March was mostly notable as a deadline for settling debts.
That calendar featured ides on the 15th in March, May, July, and October or on the 13th in the
other months. The word's Latin roots mean "divide," and the date sought to split the month,
originally at the rise of the full moon.
But because calendar months and the lunar cycle are slightly out of sync, this connection was
soon lost.
Ides of March Assassins: Heroes or Murderers?
The Ides of March took on special significance after Caesar's assassination—but observance of
the anniversary at the time varied among Roman citizens.
"How they felt depended on their political position," said Philip Freeman, a classicist at Luther
College in Decorah, Iowa, and the author of Julius Caesar.
"Some were thrilled that Caesar had died, and some were horrified," he said.
The debate about Caesar's fate has extended through the ages and was taken up by some
major literary figures. In Dante's Inferno, for example, Caesar is in Limbo, a relatively pleasant
place in hell reserved for virtuous non-Christians.
"But Brutus [one of the leaders of the assassination] is down in the very center of hell with
Judas, being munched on by Satan—it's about as bad as you can get," Freeman said.
The Folger library's Ziegler thinks the Bard had a more balanced view.
"I think Shakespeare shows both of them as being humans with their own weaknesses and
strong points," she said.
Whether they were heroes or murderers, the real-life Ides of March assassins were subjected
to less than pleasant outcomes.
"Within a couple of years Brutus and [fellow assassin] Cassius were dead," Freeman noted.
"They were not able to bring back the Republic, and really what they did was usher in more of a
permanent dictatorship under the future Roman emperors—the opposite of what they
intended."
Step 2:
DOK: 2
GLCE: 7-H1.1.2
ESSTSBA Cohort 1
6th/7th Grade Selected Response
v 1.3
Author: Wendy Hunt
Item Code: Document1
Correct Answer: B
I. Students will answer the selected response questions below. (Correct answer is bold/italic)
1.
Why does the article compare the historical event of the Ides of March with the Ides
mentioned in Shakespeare’s play?
a.
to show that March 15 is an unlucky day for people all over the world.
b.
to show that people in Shakespeare’s time were interested in how different calendars
c.
to show that calendar months and lunar months were out of sync with each other.
d.
to show why people remember the quote from Shakespeare’s play all this time.
worked.
DOK: 1
GLCE: 7-H1.1.2
Correct Answer: D
2.
Why was March 15 a particularly significant day for the Romans to choose for
assassination?
Caesar’s
a.
because the Senators thought it was important in both the Julian and the Gregorian
calendars.
b.
because Shakespeare had predicted Caesar’s death in his play years earlier.
c.
because it corresponded with the rise of the full moon in the middle of the month.
d.
because it was probably symbolic of settling a debt for the Roman people.
DOK: 2
GLCE: 7-H1.1.2
Correct Answer: B
3.
Why might people argue that Caesar’s death was really in vain?
a.
because all the assassins were also murdered so no one “won”.
b.
because the Roman people got rid of a dictator but just replaced him with another one.
ESSTSBA Cohort 1
6th/7th Grade Selected Response
v 1.3
Author: Wendy Hunt
Item Code: Document1
c.
because Caesar ended up in Limbo, which really wasn’t a bad place.
d.
because Caesar owed people money and died without paying his debts.
ESSTSBA Cohort 1
6th/7th Grade Selected Response
v 1.3
Author: Wendy Hunt