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 apotheosisasDivus Iulius, a complex of honors aimed at eternity and divinity.[4]