Inked Mag Staff
March 15th, 2021
Dagger Tattoos
Beware the Ides of March, especially if approached by men with daggers
Julius Caesar was hanging out, having a nice time with his buddies Brutus and Casca, when he was approached by a soothsayer. The soothsayer had a warning for the Roman—beware the Ides of March. Caesar ignored the warning—nobody actually listens to crazy folks on the street yelling doomsday prophecies—and when the day came around he found himself penetrated by countless daggers.
We know that Caesar really was assassinated by a group of senators who felt that he’d gone wild with power, but we don’t know if there is any truth to the story of the soothsayer. Most likely this detail, was added in by William Shakespeare as he wrote the play “Julius Caesar.” The anecdote offers up a juicy detail to further emphasize how Caesar’s hubris was ultimately his demise.
As you’re at Inked Magazine glancing at the text above a gallery of dagger tattoos, I’m guessing you’re wondering why we’re even bringing up the assassination of Julius Caesar at all. Well, here’s the thing, we’re taking a complicated gamble on the Google algorithm here. Maybe, just maybe, the Ides of March is going to be trending today. And we know for damn sure it’s not going to be trending as a reminder for Romans to pay up their debts (the Ides of March was essentially the Roman equivalent to Tax Day), so we wanted to throw together a gallery of Julius Caesar tattoos. But guess what, there aren’t that many. We pretty much only found one that was “Inkedworthy.”
Oh, we also found this one, but it’s got a couple of flaws. Most notably, Caesar is feline in this depiction, which is less than ideal.
This left us with quite the conundrum. What to do, what to do. Salad tattoos? Perhaps, but I was once told that you don’t win friends with salad, so we jettisoned that idea. I even considered doing a gallery of Jeep Rubicon tattoos, in honor of the supremely ugly automobile that takes its name from one of Caesar’s signature military campaign. But those don’t exist and if they did, who the hell would want to look at them?
Then the idea hit me, just like a couple dozen daggers hit Caesar on that March day so many years ago. No modern person would know about the Ides of March if it wasn’t for the work put in by the daggers. And you know what, people love getting dagger tattoos!
So, enjoy this gallery of dagger tattoos. And if you happen to be the emperor of the most powerful nation in existence, maybe watch out for men in togas approaching you with daggers today. Or really any day. That doesn’t seem like it would ever end well.
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