dictator

At Rome, the dictatorship was an ad hoc magistracy, admitted to the Roman constitution soon after the expulsion of the kings in 509 BC to allow supreme authority to be entrusted temporarily to one individual in times of grave crisis (compare COLLEGIUM 1). The dictator was appointed by the nomination of a consul on the senate's proposal. He had supreme military and judicial authority, which was not subject to appeal, and he could not be called to account for his actions. The dictator, who was also known as magister populi, ‘master of the infantry’, immediately appointed as his assistant a magister equitum, ‘master of the horse’. The other magistrates remained in office but were subordinate to the dictator, who held office for six months at most. This time limit meant that the office was of little use outside Italy, and it declined in importance in the third century BC. However, in 82 BC Sulla was appointed dictator ‘to restore the republic’, i.e. for an indefinite period. Similarly, Julius Caesar was appointed dictator first in 49 BC for the specific purpose of holding the elections for 48; secondly in 48, perhaps for a year; thirdly in 46 for ten years; and finally in 44, for life. These dictatorships obviously were different in intention from the earlier office. After Caesar's murder the dictatorship was formally abolished, and Augustus refused to revive it.