Julius Caesar’s death site opened to the public in Rome

One of the most interesting places of ancient history has become available to tourists

The square where Julius Caesar was assassinated opens to the public in Rome. Tourists visiting the Eternal City will be able to see the place where the Roman dictator is said to have been assassinated.

Tourists will be able to walk close to the place where Julius Caesar met his bloody end when the authorities of Rome open a new alley on the ancient site on Tuesday, writes The Guardian citing Reuters.

The Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of conspiring senators opposed to him on the Ides of March – March 15 – in 44 BC, and this story was embellished by William Shakespeare in his play named after Caesar.

It is assumed that Caesar died in the central square of the capital of Largo Argentina, where the remains of four temples are located. The ruins are all below street level and, until recently, could only be seen from behind railings next to a busy road junction, Reuters notes.

For decades, the curious have had to look down from the busy sidewalks that line Largo Argentina (Argentina Square) to admire the temples below. That’s because over the centuries, the city has been built up layer by layer, reaching a level several meters above the place where Caesar developed his political strategies, the Associated Press emphasizes.

Behind the two temples is a foundation and part of a wall that archaeologists believe was part of Pompey’s Curia, a large rectangular hall that temporarily housed the Roman Senate when Caesar was assassinated.

What led archaeologists to pinpoint that the ruins were Pompey’s Curia? “We know this with certainty because latrines have been found on the sides” of Pompeii’s curia, and ancient texts have mentioned latrines, says Claudio Parisi Presicce, an archaeologist and Rome’s top cultural heritage official.

The temples are labeled A, B, C and D and are believed to have been dedicated to female deities. It is believed that one of the temples, reached by an imposing staircase, has a round shape and six surviving columns, was erected in honor of Fortuna, the goddess of chance, associated with fertility.

Taken together, the temples are “one of the best preserved remnants of the Roman Republic,” Parisi Presicce said.

From Tuesday, June 20, visitors will be able to move around the area at ground level on a footpath and see the facilities up close.

The work was funded by the Italian fashion house Bulgari at the site, which was first discovered and excavated during construction work in Rome in the 1920s.

In this area, not far from the place where Caesar, according to Shakespeare, exclaimed “And you, Brutus ?!” upon seeing his friend Brutus among his killers, there is also an orphanage for stray cats today.