The Saturday briefing

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

- by CAROLINE FORD

Is there anything you're yearning to know? Send your questions, on any subject, to the contacts given below, and we will do our best to answer them...

I understand that after the murder of Julius Caesar, his body was cremated. Can you tell me what happened to his ashes?

Pat Tams, via email

The assassination of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar on March 15, 44BC - known as the Ides of March - is arguably one of antiquity's most famous events.

Caesar was ambushed in the Theatre of Pompey by the Roman senators who conspired against him - led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus - and stabbed 23 times.

His funeral was held a few days later and although a pyre was prepared at the Campus Martius (Field of Mars), his cremation took place in the Forum Romanum.

Julius Caesar was immensely popular with the people of Rome and Roman historians describe a grief stricken and angry crowd seizing control of the funeral and relocating Caesar's body to the eastern end of the Forum, near the Regia, and setting it ablaze.

Ancient sources refer to a monument built at the site of the cremation in the aftermath of the funeral, with a statue and an altar.

The Temple of Caesar was later built on the site by his adopted heir, Octavian (Emperor Augustus), to honour Caesar and house the altar - said to contain his ashes.