Caesar's Death: The Backstab Myth
You picture Caesar alone, surrounded by traitors, stabbed in the back by Brutus and friends. The phrase 'backstabbing' comes to mind.
Unknown — "Idealized Head" (50 BCE–100 CE), CC0
Stabbed in the back?
You picture Caesar, betrayed, daggers in his back—famous for being literally 'backstabbed' by his closest friends. That word gets tossed around at every office meeting and political scandal to this day.
All the wounds in the front.
The ancient historian Suetonius lists 23 stab wounds, most to Caesar's chest and torso. He was not surprised from behind—he faced his killers head-on. Plutarch says he even tried to fight back before being overwhelmed by numbers.
Why do we think 'backstabbed'?
The English phrase comes from this story, but it's poetic, not anatomical. Renaissance painters loved the drama of a knife in the back. Real betrayal in Rome was face-to-face, blade-to-gut—not a sneak attack.
Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times, but most wounds were in the front. He fought back—until his strength gave out. Ancient sources say he pulled his toga over his head, determined to fall with dignity.
