You probably learned that Julius Caesar was stabbed in the Capitol, inside a solemn temple. It wasn't there. The real place where he fell is still standing today, in the middle of Rome, and has become one of the most peaceful and unlikely corners of the city: a cat sanctuary.
The scoop of the legend
On the Ides of March 44 BC, the Senate did not meet in its traditional headquarters. The Hostília Curia, the usual building, had burned down years before and was under construction. That's why the senators met, provisionally, in an annex of the large Pompey Theater complex, called Pompey's Curia. It is there, and not in the Capitol, that the conspirators surround Caesar.
And the irony is cutting: Caesar falls dead at the feet of the statue of Pompey, the rival he himself had defeated years before in the civil war. The man who defeated Pompey in life dies under Pompey's stony gaze.
What's left is in Rome
The ruins of this Curia are today in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in the center of Rome, below the level of the current street. There are the remains of four temples from the Republican era, surrounded by the modern city that grew above. Those passing by rarely imagine that they are standing in front of the ground where the Roman Republic received its mortal wound.
No tourist imagines that they are stepping close to the place where the Empire was born while taking a photo of a cat sleeping on a broken column.
The cat sanctuary
Since the 1920s, Largo di Torre Argentina has also been a well-known sanctuary for stray cats, cared for by volunteers. It's funny and solemn at the same time: the place where the most powerful man in Rome fell has become one of the most peaceful spots in the city, inhabited by dozens of felines that sleep among the ruins.
If you go to Rome, it's worth the stop. There is no imposing monument announcing what happened there, just old stone, cats and the silence of a place that holds, without fanfare, one of the moments that changed the history of the West.
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See recommended readingsFrequently asked questions
Where was Julius Caesar really killed?
Caesar was not killed in the Capitol, as legend has it, but in Pompey's Curia, an annex to Pompey's Theater where the Senate temporarily met. The location today corresponds to Largo di Torre Argentina, in Rome.
Why didn't Caesar die in the Capitol?
The Hostília Curia, the traditional seat of the Senate, had burned down years before and was under construction. That's why the senators met in an annex to Pompey's Theater. It is there that Caesar falls, at the feet of the statue of Pompey, the rival he had defeated.
What is Largo di Torre Argentina today?
It is a square in Rome, below street level, with ruins of four republican temples. Since the 1920s, it has also been a well-known stray cat sanctuary, maintained by volunteers, on the ground where the Republic received its mortal wound.
Go deeper: Who was Julius Caesar · The Temple of Divine Julius, in the Roman Forum · Is "Et tu, Brute" historical?
Source class (YouTube): Júlio César, de Shakespeare (NousCast)