Oscar Bellina Lishner
20 oct 2024
A Dictator or a Tyrant (Absolute Ruler) Have a meaning and historical use that differs in time, space, and TV channel or Newspaper.
The history of Giulio Cesare, is very clear unanimously in the fact that he was invested by the Roman Senate: SPQR (Senatvs PopvlvsQve Romanvs), the democratic power emanating from the Roman Citizens, as: Dictator!
So Giulio Cesare could, change or create new laws directly, without any filter or formal opposition or process.
At the beginning his charge as dictator was for one year, but after he got unanimous respect and support by the Romans, he was declared: Dictator Perpetuus(Lifetime Dictator).
It is true as well, that the senators approved this exceptional and unlimited power in exchange to not lose their privileges and positions as senators, in the fear that Giulio Cesare wanted to become the first Roman Emperor!
Unfortunately, this fear detonated in the murder of the Dictator, not just by the hand of his adopted son Decimo Bruto(Brute fili mi) but with the active physical aggression of all the Senate members that feared him. More than 20 times the body of Giulio Cesare was stabbed.
He’s maybe the most known and respected part of history of the Roman Empire legacy and he was a Dictator in fact! How easy it is now a days to use, change, or classify world leaders as Dictators and Tyrants, when in most cases the power they hold is not a product of a violent revolution but of a Democratic transition, that can be so relative and difficult to validate, endorse or agree with.
History is the only way to learn and get confused.