Dictator perpetuo

Dictator perpetuo (English: "dictator in perpetuity"), also called dictator in perpetuum,[2] 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 BCE. He would be killed shortly later on 15 March.[3] By abandoning the time restrictions usually applied in the case of the Roman dictatorship, it elevated Caesar's dictatorship into the monarchical sphere.

Denarius of P. Sepullius Macer, 44 BC, with the head of Julius Caesar on the obverse. The legend on the obverse reads DICT PERPETVO CAESAR.[1]

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).[4]

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.[5]

See also

References
  1. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 490.
  2. For this title in inscriptions and texts cf. the Fasti Capitolini (Rome): ..../ [C(aius) Iulius C(ai) f(ilius) C(ai) n(epos) Caesar in perpetuum dict(ator)] / [rei gerundae causa]... and the Fasti Amiternini (Amiternum/ Poggio San Vittorino): ...[C(aius) Iulius Ca]esar dict(ator) [in p]erpetuum/ [bellu]m civil(e) Mutine(n)se / cum M(arco) [A]ntonio...; important is also Livy, Perioch. CXVI: Caesar... Et cum plurimi maximique honores a senatu decreti essent (inter quos... dictator in perpetuum esset...)... For the date "Julius Caesar: Dates and Events".
  3. "Julius Caesar: Dates and Events"
  4. Martin Jehne, Der Staat des Dicators Caesar, Köln/Wien 1987, p. 15-38.
  5. Stefan Weinstock, Divus Julius, Oxford 1971.

Bibliography
  • Michael Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press, 1974, ISBN 9780521074926.
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