Site of Caesar’s demise said to be uncovered

Demonstrating that there may be nothing beyond knowing, archaeologists said Wednesday they believe they have found the exact spot in Rome where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death more than 2,000 years ago.

The assassination of Julius Caesar by Roman senators on March 15, 44 BC, was recorded by ancient historians and immortalized in William Shakespeare’s eponymous play, in which the Roman dictator uttered the last words: “Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar.”

A team from the Spanish National Research Council said they have unearthed evidence that reveals precisely where the infamous attack took place, according to Agence France-Presse.

They base their claim on the discovery of a concrete structure 10 feet wide and nearly seven feet high, erected by Caesar’s adopted son and successor, Augustus.

Augustus, after taking sole power of Rome sometime after 27 BC, ordered the structure be placed exactly over the spot where the attack occurred so as to condemn the slaying, the scientists said.

“This finding confirms that the general was stabbed right at the bottom of the Curia of Pompey while he was presiding, sitting on a chair, over a meeting of the Senate,” the Spanish research council said in a statement.

British hoard turns up coin from 32 BC

Included in a massive hoard of coins discovered in Bath, England, five years ago is one silver piece that dates back to before the birth of Christ, researchers recently learned.

A Roman coin dating from 32 BC is the oldest found so far from among the approximately 22,000 pieces unearthed in a stone-lined box by archaeologists working in Bath in 2007, according to the BBC.

That makes it more than 200 years older than any of the other coins already examined from among the so-called Beau Street Hoard, according to Stephen Clews, manager of the Roman Baths.

The silver coins are believed to date from 274 AD and have been described as the fifth-largest hoard ever found in the United Kingdom, according to the BBC.

The coins were fused together and sent to the British Museum, according to media outlet. Conservators are expected to take at least a year to work through them.

The coins were discovered about 150 yards from the Roman Baths, the BBC added.

The previous oldest coin found in the hoard was from about 190 AD but that figure has had to be revised considerably with the discovery of the coin dating back to the time of Marc Antony, Clews said.