”Cleopatra and Marcus Antonius at the Funeral Bier of Julius Caesar” - painted in 1878 by Lionel-Noël Royer (1852 - 1926). Oil on canvas; dimensions: 115.57 x 147.32 cm or 45.5 x 58.0 in. Private Collection.

Julius Caesar was murdered on March 15, 44 BC and there are no firsthand accounts as what took place at Caesar’s funeral and cremation. What we know comes from two sources: the Greek historian Appian of Alexandria (c. 95 - c. 165 AD), in his Roman history writings History of the Civil Wars, and the Roman scholar Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c. 71 - c. 135 AD), in his Lives of the Twelve Caesars, both written decades after Caesar’s funeral. From these two accounts, we get a picture as to what may have taken place in 44 BC.

A few days after Caesar’s assassination his body, still in the clothes he wore when murdered, was taken on a bier of ivory and placed on the Rostra in the Roman Forum. In the Forum today is the reconstructed rostra that sit on that site near the Temple of Saturn and the Arch of Severus. The condition of Caesar’s body couldn’t have been very good after days in the heat of Rome, embalming hadn’t been invented in 44 BC. This would have added to the horror of the event. Also on the Rostra, next to the body, was a torso of Caesar made of wax, which revolved mechanically, showing the 23 stab wounds.

The large crowd that had gathered for the funeral was becoming more and more agitated as time went on, and there was great wailing and moaning coming from them. Armed men were placed in front of the Rostra to hold back the crowd as Caesar’s friend and Consul Marcus Antonius took to the platform to give the funeral oration. It is not known what he said, but after Antonius’ speech, the mob rushed the Rostra, pushing past the guards, seizing the bier with Caesar’s body, and carried it down the Via Sacra to the Forum’s square, between the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

There they sat it down, covering it with wood, clothes, furniture, anything that would burn, and set it ablaze. It was said that fire was so large and out of control that several of the building in the Forum were damaged. And after the funeral pyre had burned out the crowd, still enraged, went through the city burning the houses of the conspirators. This caused many of them to flee the city. Both Antonius and Octavian used this anger to their own political ends, getting rid of the senate conspirators and to form their own seat of power in Rome.

Caesar’s ashes had been collected and later placed in the base of the Alter the Rome Senate had erected on the site of his cremation. By the middle of April, everything started to change and Cleopatra left Rome with her and Caesar’s 3-years-old son Caesarion. Precisely when they returned to Egypt is not known. She no doubts witnessed Caesar’s funeral on 20 March and appreciated Antonius’ display of respect for Caesar. In 31 BC Octavian began the construction of a temple to honor his adopted father also at that site. In 29 BC, two years later, the temple was dedicated to “Divus Julius,” the Deified Caesar.