Dictator perpetuo (English: "dictator in perpetuity"), also called dictator in perpetuum, [1] was the office held by Julius Caesar just before the end of his life. He was granted the title between 26 January and 15 February during the year 44 BC, shortly before his assassination on 15 March. [2] By abandoning the time restrictions of the regular Roman dictatorship, it elevated Caesar's to a rank more akin to the ancient Roman kings.
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. [3]
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. [4]
The 1st century BC, also known as the last century BC and the last century BCE, started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC. The AD/BC notation does not use a year zero; however, astronomical year numbering does use a zero, as well as a minus sign, so "2 BC" is equal to "year –1". 1st century AD follows.
The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The gens is perhaps best known, however, for Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator and grand uncle of the emperor Augustus, through whom the name was passed to the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first century AD. The nomen Julius became very common in imperial times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history.
A Roman dictator was an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman Republic endowed with full authority to resolve some specific problem to which he had been assigned. He received the full powers of the state, subordinating the other magistrates, consuls included, for the specific purpose of resolving that issue, and that issue only, and then dispensing with those powers immediately.
The assassination of Julius Caesar refers to the stabbing attack that killed Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 44 BCE.
The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius, also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star, is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.
Et tu, Brute? is a Latin phrase literally meaning "and you, Brutus?" or "also you, Brutus?", often translated as "You as well, Brutus?", "You too, Brutus?", or "Even you, Brutus?". The quote appears in Act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, where it is spoken by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, at the moment of his assassination, to his friend Marcus Junius Brutus, upon recognizing him as one of the assassins. The first known occurrences of the phrase are said to be in two earlier Elizabethan plays; Henry VI, Part 3 by Shakespeare, and an even earlier play, Caesar Interfectus, by Richard Edes. The phrase is often used apart from the plays to signify an unexpected betrayal by a friend.
Divi filius is a Latin phrase meaning "son of a god", and was a title much used by the emperor Augustus, the grand-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar.
The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The exact date is unknown. Scholars usually place it on the night of 10 and 11 January because of the speeds at which messengers could travel at that time. It is often asserted that Caesar's crossing of the river precipitated Caesar's civil war; however, Caesar's forces had already crossed into Italy and occupied Ariminum the previous day.
Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March of 44 BC during a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome where the senators stabbed Caesar 23 times. They claimed to be acting over fears that Caesar's unprecedented concentration of power during his dictatorship was undermining the Roman Republic. At least 60 to 70 senators were party to the conspiracy, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. Despite the death of Caesar, the conspirators were unable to restore the institutions of the Republic. The ramifications of the assassination led to his martyrdom, the Liberators' civil war and ultimately to the Principate period of the Roman Empire.
The Fasti Capitolini, or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rome and elsewhere, they form part of a chronology referred to as the Fasti Annales, Fasti Consulares, or Consular Fasti, or occasionally just the fasti.
The constitutional reforms of Julius Caesar were a series of laws to the Constitution of the Roman Republic enacted between 49 and 44 BC, during Caesar's dictatorship. Caesar was murdered in 44 BC before the implications of his constitutional actions could be realized.
Gaius Julius Vercondaridubnus was a Gaul of the civitas of the Aedui. He was the first high priest (sacerdos) of the Altar of the Deified Caesar at Lugdunum, which was inaugurated August 1 in either 12 or 10 BCE at the confluence of the Saône and Rhone rivers. The dating of the inauguration to 12 would connect it to the year in which Augustus assumed the office of pontifex maximus.
Gaius Julius Caesar was a prominent name of the Gens Julia from Roman Republican times, borne by a number of figures, most notably by the general and dictator Gaius Julius Caesar.
In Roman Imperial cult, the flamen Divi Julii or flamen Divi Iulii, was the priest of the divinised Julius Caesar, and the fourth of the so-called flamines maiores to be created. The new flaminate was established by the Roman senate in 42 BC, as part of Caesar's consecration as a divus two years after his assassination. Caesar had, in his lifetime, been the recipient of unofficial, divine cult from his supporters, and had designated Mark Antony to serve as his priest. Caesar's cult continued after his death, and in 40 BC, the senate confirmed Antony as the first flamen Divi Iulii.
Caesar's Comet was a seven-day cometary outburst seen in July 44 BC. It was interpreted by Romans as a sign of the deification of recently assassinated dictator, Julius Caesar. It was perhaps the most famous comet of antiquity.
The Roman temple of Alcántara is located at one side of the Alcántara Bridge, Cáceres, Extremadura (Spain). Along with the Roman temple of Vic, it is one of the only two Roman temples preserved nearly complete in Spain.
Lucius Cassius Longinus was the brother of the Gaius Cassius Longinus, a leading instigator in the assassination of Julius Caesar.
The lex Valeria was a law in 82 BC which established the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Going around the traditional process for nominating a dictator, the law ratified Sulla's previously illegal actions and facilitated Sulla's goal of effecting large scale reforms to the Roman Republic by granting him constituent legislative power.
Plotius Firmus was a Roman knight and senator who flourished in the sixties of the first century AD. He started his career in the army as a simple soldier, and in 69 AD, during the reign of Galba he was praefectus vigilum in Rome, helping Otho to oust the emperor. After Galba's seizure of power, he was acclaimed by the soldiers praefectus praetorio, and remained quite popular with the military. After Otho's defeat at Bedriacum he encouraged the depressed Emperor who wanted to quit his power to persevere. Despite that, Otho killed himself, and Plotius found him in his chamber liying in his blood.After the suicide of his patron, Plotius tried to rapproach himself with Vitellius, but was prevented to do that by his soldiers. It cannot be excluded that he managed to be pardoned later, but after the end of the 69 AD crisis there are two possible hypotheses: he could either have been the adoptive father or father of C. Tullius Capito Pomponianus Plotius Firmus, or under Vespasian he could have been adopted by the senator Gaius Tullius Capito Pomponianus, taking himself the name Gaius Tullius Capito Pomponianus Plotius Firmus. Thereby he gained entry into the ordo senatorius, and was immediately sent to the military district of Numidia as legate of the Legio III Augusta.
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