Dictator perpetuo (Redirected from Dictator perpetuus)

Denarius of Publius Sepullius Macer, 44 BC, with the head of Julius Caesar on the obverse. The legend on the obverse reads DICT PERPETVO CAESAR.

Dictator perpetuo (English: "dictator in perpetuity"), also called dictator in perpetuum, was the office held by Julius Caesar towards the end of his life. He was granted the title between 26 January and 15 February during the year 44 BC. He would be killed shortly thereafter on 15 March. By abandoning the time restrictions usually applied in the case of the Roman dictatorship, it elevated Caesar's dictatorship into the monarchical sphere.[clarification needed]

History

Julius Caesar held the dictator position for only eleven days in 49 BCE (holding elections either as dictator Comit. habend. or as dictator rei gerundae causa) and again for the year 48/47 BCE. In 46 BCE, he was elected dictator for the next ten years. At some point between January and February 44 BCE he was appointed dictator perpetuo, but was assassinated less than two months later (on the Ides of March).

Stefan Weinstock has argued that the perpetual dictatorship was part of the senatorial decrees regarding Caesar's divine honors, as well as his planned apotheosis as Divus Iulius, a complex of honors aimed at eternity and divinity.

See also


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