A report on Julius Caesar and Roman dictator

The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy.

Depiction of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. Fabius was dictator in 217 BC.

Head presumed to be that of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Sulla was dictator from 82–79 BC.

Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.

Depiction of the Assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (mid 19th century).

A denarius depicting Julius Caesar, dated to February–March 44 BC—the goddess Venus is shown on the reverse, holding Victoria and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA

The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests

Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by Lionel Royer. Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.

A Roman bust of Pompey the Great made during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70 to 60 BC, Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy.

Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii is probably a depiction of Cleopatra VII as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as Cupid. Its owner Marcus Fabius Rufus most likely ordered its concealment behind a wall in reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Octavian in 30 BC.

Green Caesar, posthumous portrait of the 1st century AD, Altes Museum, Berlin

Statue of Julius Caesar, Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome

La clémence de César, Abel de Pujol, 1808

Denarius (42 BC) issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus, from the military mint in Smyrna. Caption: C. CASSI. IMP. LEIBERTAS / LENTVLVS SPINT.

The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty

The Death of Caesar, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1867

Bust of Mark Antony made during the Flavian dynasty (69–96 AD)

Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral by George Edward Robertson

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Caesar's adopted heir

The Chiaramonti Caesar bust, a posthumous portrait in marble, 44–30 BC, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums

Reliefs of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, at the Temple of Dendera

Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting Cleopatra VII, wearing her royal diadem, consuming poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her

Bust in Naples National Archaeological Museum, photograph published in 1902

Bust in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum

Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy

Flowers placed on the remains of the altar of Caesar in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy

Portrait at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta

Bronze statue at the Porta Palatina in Turin

Bust in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth

A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator of Rome from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

- Julius Caesar

It was later revived in a significantly modified form, first by Sulla between 82 and 79 BC, and then by Julius Caesar between 49 and 44 BC. This later dictatorship was used to effect wide-ranging and semi-permanent changes across Roman society.

- Roman dictator

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Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC

Roman Republic

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State of the classical Roman civilization, run through public representation of the Roman people.

The "Capitoline Brutus", a bust possibly depicting Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the revolt against Rome's last king and was a founder of the Republic.

The Temple of Hercules Victor, Rome, built in the mid 2nd century BC, most likely by Lucius Mummius Achaicus, who won the Achaean War.

Bust of Pyrrhus, found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, now in the Naples Archaeological Museum. Pyrrhus was a brave and chivalrous general who fascinated the Romans, explaining his presence in a Roman house.

The Roman Republic before the First Punic War.

Denarius of C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, 125 BC. The reverse depicts the triumph of his great-grandfather Lucius, with the elephants he had captured at Panormos. The elephant had thence become the emblem of the powerful Caecilii Metelli.

Principal offensives of the war: Rome (red), Hannibal (green), Hasdrubal (purple).

A Carthaginian quarter shekel, perhaps minted in Spain. The obverse may depict Hannibal under the traits of young Melqart. The reverse features one of his famous war elephants.

Roman marble bust of Scipio Africanus, found in the Tomb of the Scipios.

Scene of the Battle of Corinth (146 BC): last day before the Roman legions looted and burned the Greek city of Corinth. The last day on Corinth, Tony Robert-Fleury, 1870.

Bust, traditionally identified as Gaius Marius, instigator of the Marian reforms.

Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla, 56 BC. It shows Diana on the obverse, while the reverse depicts Sulla being offered an olive branch by his ally Bocchus I. Jugurtha is shown captive on the right.

A Roman marble head of Pompey (now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)

The Tusculum portrait, a Roman sculpture of Julius Caesar, Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

The Curia Julia, the senate house started by Julius Caesar in 44 BC and completed by Octavian in 29 BC, replacing the Curia Cornelia as the meeting place of the Senate.

The Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, religious, and political center of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government

Detail from the Ahenobarbus relief showing (centre-right) two Roman foot-soldiers c. 122 BC. Note the Montefortino-style helmets with horsehair plume, chain mail cuirasses with shoulder reinforcement, oval shields with calfskin covers, gladius and pilum.

Roman warrior, fresco in Pompeii, ca. 80—20 BC

A Roman naval bireme depicted in a relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste, c. 120 BC; now in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican Museums

Temple of Janus as seen in the present church of San Nicola in Carcere, in the Forum Holitorium of Rome, Italy, dedicated by Gaius Duilius after his naval victory at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC

An inscribed funerary relief of Aurelius Hermia and his wife Aurelia Philematum, former slaves who married after their manumission, 80 BC, from a tomb along the Via Nomentana in Rome

The "Togatus Barberini", depicting a Roman senator holding the imagines (effigies) of deceased ancestors in his hands; marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): mid 1st century BC

Ruins of the Aqua Anio Vetus, a Roman aqueduct built in 272 BC

The Temple of Portunus, god of grain storage, keys, livestock and ports. Rome, built between 120 and 80 BC

The tomb of the Flavii, a necropolis outside the Nucerian gate (Porta Nocera) of Pompeii, Italy, constructed 50–30 BC

Denarius of Lucius Caesius, 112–111 BC. On the obverse is Apollo, as written on the monogram behind his head, who also wears the attributes of Vejovis, an obscure deity. The obverse depicts a group of statues representing the Lares Praestites, which was described by Ovid.

Inside the "Temple of Mercury" at Baiae, a swimming pool for a Roman bath, built during the late Roman Republic, and containing one of the largest domes in the world before the building of the Pantheon

Denarius of Caesar, minted just before his murder, in 44 BC. It was the first Roman coin bearing the portrait of a living person. The lituus and culullus depicted behind his head refer to his augurate and pontificate. The reverse with Venus alludes to his claimed descent from the goddess.

The ruins of the Servian Wall, built during the 4th century BC, one of the earliest ancient Roman defensive walls

The Orator, c. 100 BC, an Etrusco-Roman statue of a Republican senator, wearing toga praetexta and senatorial shoes; compared to the voluminous, costly, impractical togas of the Imperial era, the Republican-era type is frugal and "skimpy" (exigua).

Banquet scene, fresco, Herculaneum, Italy, c. 50 BC

The Amphitheatre of Pompeii, built around 70 BC and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius 79 AD, once hosted spectacles with gladiators.

These multiple tensions led to a series of civil wars; the first between the two generals Julius Caesar and Pompey.

Despite his victory and appointment as dictator for life, Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar's heir Octavian and lieutenant Mark Antony defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, but they eventually split up thereafter.

Augustus

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The first Roman emperor, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

A denarius from 44 BC, showing Julius Caesar on the obverse and the goddess Venus on the reverse of the coin. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA

The Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome

A bust of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC. Capitoline Museums, Rome

Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the regulation of the Republic". Caption: M. ANT. IMP. AVG. III VIR RPC M. BARBAT. Q. P. / CAESAR IMP. PONT. III VIR PRC. The M. Barbatius Pollio was a moneyer

A denarius minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: comet of eight rays with tail upward; DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS).

Fresco paintings inside the House of Augustus, his residence during his reign as emperor.

A denarius of Sextus Pompeius, minted for his victory over Octavian's fleet. Obverse: the place where he defeated Octavian, Pharus of Messina decorated with a statue of Neptune; before that galley adorned with aquila, sceptre & trident; MAG. PIVS IMP. ITER. Reverse, the monster Scylla, her torso of dogs and fish tails, wielding a rudder as a club. Caption: PRAEF[ECTUS] CLAS[SIS] ET ORAE MARIT[IMAE] EX S. C.

Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Battle of Actium, by Laureys a Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London.

This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii, Italy, showing Venus holding a cupid is most likely a depiction of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as the cupid, similar in appearance to the now lost statue of Cleopatra erected by Julius Caesar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix (within the Forum of Caesar). The owner of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii walled off the room with this painting, most likely in immediate reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Augustus in 30 BC, when artistic depictions of Caesarion would have been considered a sensitive issue for the ruling regime.

Aureus of Octavian, circa 30 BC, British Museum.

Octavian as a magistrate. The statue's marble head was made c. 30–20 BC, the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (Louvre, Paris).

The Arch of Augustus in Rimini (Ariminum), dedicated to Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC, one of the oldest surviving Roman triumphal arches

Portraits of Augustus show the emperor with idealized features

The Blacas Cameo showing Augustus wearing a gorgoneion on a three layered sardonyx cameo, AD 20–50

Augustus as Jupiter, holding a scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD)

Head of Augustus as pontifex maximus, Roman artwork of the late Augustan period, last decade of the 1st century BC

A colossal statue of Augustus from the Augusteum of Herculaneum, seated and wearing a laurel wreath.

Bust of Augustus wearing the Civic Crown, at Glyptothek, Munich

Bust of Tiberius, a successful military commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and successor

Muziris in the Chera Kingdom of Southern India, as shown in the Tabula Peutingeriana, with depiction of a "Temple of Augustus" ("Templum Augusti"), an illustration of Indo-Roman relations in the period

The victorious advance of Hermann, depiction of the 9 AD Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, by Peter Janssen, 1873

Augustus in a late 16th-century copper engraving by Giovanni Battista Cavalieri. From the book Romanorum Imperatorum effigies (1583), preserved in the Municipal Library of Trento (Italy)

The deified Augustus hovers over Tiberius and other Julio-Claudians in the Great Cameo of France

The Mausoleum of Augustus restored (2021)

The Virgin Mary and Child, the prophetess Sibyl Tivoli bottom left and the emperor Augustus in the bottom right, from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. The likeness of Augustus is that of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos

The Augustus cameo at the center of the Medieval Cross of Lothair

Augustus as Roman pharaoh in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the Kalabsha Temple in Nubia

Coin of Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the style of Roman emperor Augustus. British Museum. AE dichalkon, Chach, c. first half of 1st. Century, Weight:3.26 gm., Diam:18 mm. Caption: obverse in Greek ΚΟΖΟΛΑ ΚΑΔΑΦΕΣ ΧΟΡΑΝΟΥ ΖΑΟΟΥ, reverse in Kharoshti.

Fragment of a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus, 1st century AD, National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia, by Jean-Joseph Taillasson, 1787

Coin of Augustus found at the Pudukottai hoard, from an ancient Tamil country, Pandyan Kingdom of present-day Tamil Nadu in India, a testimony to Indo-Roman trade. British Museum. Caption: AVGVSTVS DIVI F[ILIVS]. (The vertical slice, not part of the original design, was likely an old test cut to make sure the coin was solid rather than a fourrée.)

1st century coin of the Himyarite Kingdom, southern coast of the Arabian peninsula. This is also an imitation of a coin of Augustus.

Close up on the sculpted detail of the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), 13 BC to 9 BC

The Temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne, late 1st century BC

The Meroë Head of Augustus, bronze Roman portraiture bust from Meroë, Kingdom of Kush (Nubia, modern Sudan), 27–25 BC

Portrait of Augustus; Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Turkey

His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC and Octavius was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir; as a result, he inherited Caesar's name, estate, and the loyalty of his legions.

Following their victory at the Battle of Philippi (42 BC), the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as de facto dictators.

Pompey

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Leading Roman general and statesman.

A view of Monte Conero in Marche, Italy (formerly Picenum), birthplace of Pompey

Roman statue putatively depicting Pompey, at the Villa Arconati a Castellazzo di Bollate (Milan, Italy), brought from Rome in 1627 by Galeazzo Arconati

Marble bust of Pompey at the Louvre, Paris

Modern bust of Pompey in the Residenz, Munich

A Roman portrait of Crassus, Pompey's political rival turned begrudging ally, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris

A tetradrachm of Tigranes II the Great of Armenia, minted at Antioch, 83–69 BC

Pompey in the Temple of Jerusalem, a miniature by Jean Fouquet, 15th century

The bust of Mithridates of Pontus in the Louvre, Paris

Judea (shown in blue) under Hyrcanus II in 63 BC, having been reduced to a small vassal as Pompey annexed the north for Rome (shown in red)

A modern bust of Pompey, restored in the 17th century with a black marble base, Vaux-le-Vicomte, France

18th-century depiction of the third triumph

From left to right: Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey the Great

The Tusculum portrait, a bust of Julius Caesar in the Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

The Flight of Pompey after Pharsalus, by Jean Fouquet

Roman bust of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt, mid-1st century BC, Altes Museum, Antikensammlung Berlin, showing Cleopatra with a "melon" hairstyle and Hellenistic royal diadem worn over the head

Theodotus shows Caesar the head of Pompey; etching, 1820

The head of Pompey on a denarius minted in 40 BC by his son Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius

He was (for a time) a student of Roman general Sulla as well as the political ally, and later enemy, of Julius Caesar.

Sulla defeated the Marians and was appointed as Dictator.

Sulla

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Roman general and statesman.

Denarius minted in Rome, portraying Sulla's first great victory, in which he ended the Jugurthine War: The front depicts Diana wearing a cruciform earring, a double necklace of pearls and pendants, and jewels in her hair, pulled into a knot; crescent above, lituus behind. The reverse shows Sulla seated on a raised seat with a bound Jugurtha kneeling beside him; before him kneels Bocchus, offering an olive branch

Marius as victor over the invading Cimbri

So-called "Sulla", a copy (probably from the time of Augustus) after a portrait of an important Roman from the second century BC, with similarities to the so-called "Marius", suggesting that both statues were conceived and exhibited together as either siblings or rivals; Munich, Glyptothek

Ruins of the town Aeclanum, conquered in 89 BC by Sulla

Bust formerly thought to be of Sulla, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Asia Minor just before the First Mithridatic War

A Roman bust most likely depicting Sulla, a first-century AD copy of an original from 80–50 BC, Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Sulla had the distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as reviving the dictatorship.

Later political leaders such as Julius Caesar would follow his precedent in attaining political power through force.

Mark Antony

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Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.

Antony's brother Lucius, on a coin issued at Ephesus during his consulship in 41 BC

Hellenistic bust of Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes.

The ancient Mediterranean in 50 BC at the end of Caesar's Gallic Wars, with the territory of Rome in yellow.

Cato the Younger, a member of the Optimates faction, was one of the chief architects of the decree which provoked Caesar into civil war.

The Battle of Pharsalus: the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. Antony commanded the left wing of Caesar's army.

The Death of Julius Caesar, as depicted by Vincenzo Camuccini. Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC.

"Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral" as depicted by George Edward Robertson

Octavian, Julius Caesar's adopted son. Antony would struggle with Octavian for leadership of the Caesarian party following Caesar's assassination.

A denarius of Marcus Antonius struck in 42 BC

Denarius struck at Ephesus in 41 B.C. commemorating the Second Triumvirate. One on side is Octavian, later Caesar Augustus, and on the other is Antony

The vengeance of Fulvia by Francisco Maura Y Montaner, 1888, depicting Fulvia, Antony's wife, inspecting the severed head of Cicero

First Battle of Philippi – 3 October 42 BC

Second Battle of Philippi – 23 October 42 BC

Antony and Cleopatra (1883) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicting Antony's meeting with Cleopatra in 41 BC.

A map of the Parthian Empire. Parthia shared its western border along the Euphrates River with Rome.

Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Marcus Antonius (left) and Octavianus (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavianus, Antonius and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC.

A denarius of both Octavianus and Marcus Antonius struck in 41 BC

Antony and Octavia on the obverse of a tetradrachm issued at Ephesus in 39 BC. Antony and his brother-in-law, Octavian, enacted a new treaty that year which redivided control over the Roman world.

A Roman bust of Mark Antony, late 1st century AD, Vatican Museums

A late Ptolemaic or Roman sculpted head of an Alexandrian nobleman, perhaps a depiction of Mark Antony, Brooklyn Museum

A map of the Donations of Alexandria (by Mark Antony to Cleopatra and her children) in 34 BC.

The Battle of Actium (1672) by Laureys a Castro (National Maritime Museum, London)

Fragmentary portrait bust from Smyrna thought to depict Octavia, sister of Octavian and Antony's wife

A tetradrachm of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt

Antony (George Coulouris) addresses the crowd in the Mercury Theatre production of Caesar (1937), Orson Welles's modern-dress adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy

Map of the Roman Republic in 43 BC after the establishment of the Second Triumvirate:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyThe LiberatorsRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

Map of the Roman Republic in 42 BC after the Battle of Philippi:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyParthian EmpireRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

Map of the Roman Republic in 39 BC after the Treaty of Brundisium and the Treaty of Misenum:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyParthian EmpireRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

Antony was a relative and supporter of Julius Caesar, and served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul and the Civil War.

Fearing the persecutions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla only thirty years earlier, they avoided granting Pompey the dictatorship by instead naming him sole consul for the year, giving him extraordinary but limited powers.

Bust of Crassus, in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Marcus Licinius Crassus

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Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

A Roman marble head of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus, mid-1st century BC, Grand Palais, Paris

Denarius minted by Publius Licinius Crassus, son of the triumvir Marcus, as monetalis in 55 BC; on the obverse is a laureate bust of Venus, perhaps in honor of his commanding officer Julius Caesar; on the reverse is an unidentified female figure, perhaps representing Gaul

Following Sulla's assumption of the dictatorship, Crassus amassed an enormous fortune through real estate speculation.

A political and financial patron of Julius Caesar, Crassus joined Caesar and Pompey in the unofficial political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Romulus and his brother, Remus, with the she-wolf. Romulus is credited with creating the patrician class.

Patrician (ancient Rome)

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The patricians (from patricius) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

This status difference was marked at the beginning of the Republic: patricians were better represented in the Roman assemblies, only patricians could hold high political offices, such as dictator, consul, and censor, and all priesthoods (such as pontifex maximus) were closed to non-patricians.

By Julius Caesar's time so few of the patriciate were left that a special law was made, the Lex Cassia, for the enrollment of new patricians.

The Proscribed Royalist, 1651, painted by John Everett Millais c. 1853, in which a Puritan woman hides a fleeing Royalist proscript in the hollow of a tree

Proscription

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Proscription (proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (Oxford English Dictionary) and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment.

Julius Caesar was an influential framer of the law on treason.

An early instance of mass proscription took place in 82 BC, when Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed dictator rei publicae constituendae ("Dictator for the Reconstitution of the Republic").

Flavius Anastasius (consul of the Eastern Roman Empire for AD 517) in consular garb, holding a sceptre and the mappa, a piece of cloth used to signal the start of chariot races at the Hippodrome. Ivory panel from his consular diptych.

Roman consul

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A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic (c.

An antoninianus commemorating the third consulate ("COS III") of the emperor Philip (248 AD).

In times of crisis, when Rome's territory was in immediate danger, a dictator was appointed by the consuls for a period of no more than six months, after the proposition of the Senate.

For instance, the year 59 BC in the modern calendar was called by the Romans "the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus", since the two colleagues in the consulship were Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus — although Caesar dominated the consulship so thoroughly that year that it was jokingly referred to as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar".

Senatus consultum ultimum

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Modern term given to resolutions of the Roman senate lending its moral support for magistrates to use the full extent of their powers and ignore the laws to safeguard the state.

An 1889 depiction of Cicero denouncing Catiline in the senate. In the First Catilinarian, Cicero references a senatus consultum ultimum – "we have a resolution of the senate, a formidable and authoritative decree against you" – empowering him to take action against Catiline's conspiracy.

A senatus consultum ultimum was decreed against Octavian, pictured in a later bust, which became unenforceable when the senate's forces defected to Octavian's side.

Rather, it is a modern term that emerges from Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Civili, in which he writes:

Its usage in the late republic also was in contrast to the general practice of the early republic to appoint dictators to resolve domestic unrest.