List of Roman dictators
The following is a list of dictators in ancient Rome as reported by ancient sources. Contemporary historians doubt whether some of these dictatorships actually occurred. In antiquity, the meaning of dictator was not pejorative but referred to one who ruled by dictat for a set period; rarely (as in case of Gaius Julius Caesar) it was a title for life.
All dates and names are given as they appear in Magistrates of the Roman Republic by T.R.S. Broughton.
Where a cause is not attested in ancient sources and is reconstructed by modern scholars, it is preceded by an asterisk (e.g., *Rei gerundae causa). Dicatators rei gerundae causa were appointed "for getting things done"; clavi figendi causa, "for driving a nail" as part of a ritual at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; comitiorum habendorum causa, "for holding elections"; and ludorum faciendorum causa, "for holding the Roman games." Other causes are unique to the case at hand, with the possible exception of seditionis sedandae et rgc, "for quieting sedition and getting things done."[1]
| Date (BC) | Term | Name | Cause/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 501 or 498 | Titus Lartius Flavus[2] | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 499 or 496 | Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 494 | Manius Valerius Maximus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 463 | Gaius Aemilius Mamercus? | *Clavi figendi causa (possibly interrex, not dictator).[3] | |
| 458 | 1st | Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus | Rei gerundae causa |
| 439 | 2nd | Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus | *Rei gerundae causa or *seditionis sedandae causa |
| 437 | 1st | Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 435 | 1st | Quintus Servilius Priscus Fidenas | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 434 | 2nd | Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 431 | Aulus Postumius Tubertus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 426 | 3rd | Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 418 | 2nd | Quintus Servilius Priscus Fidenas | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 408 | Publius Cornelius Rutilus Cossus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 396 | 1st | Marcus Furius Camillus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 390 | 2nd | Marcus Furius Camillus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 389 | 3rd | Marcus Furius Camillus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 385 | Aulus Cornelius Cossus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 380 | Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 368 | 4th | Marcus Furius Camillus | Rei gerundae causa |
| 368 | Publius Manlius Capitolinus | Seditionis sedandae et rei gerendae causa | |
| 367 | 5th | Marcus Furius Camillus | Rei gerundae causa |
| 363 | Lucius Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus | Clavi figendi causa | |
| 362 | Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 361 | Titus Quinctius Poenus Capitolinus Crispinus | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 360 | Quintus Servilius Ahala | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 358 | Gaius Sulpicius Peticus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 356 | Gaius Marcius Rutilus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 353 | 1st | Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 352 | Gaius Julius Iullus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 351 | Marcus Fabius Ambustus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 350 | 1st | Lucius Furius Camillus | Comitiorum habendorum causa |
| 349 | 2nd | Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus | Comitiorum habendorum causa |
| 345 | 2nd | Lucius Furius Camillus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 344 | Publius Valerius Publicola | Feriarum constituendarum causa | |
| 342 | Marcus Valerius Corvus | *Seditionis sedandae causa et rgc or *rei gerundae causa | |
| 340 | 1st | Lucius Papirius Crassus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 339 | Quintus Publilius Philo | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 337 | Gaius Claudius Inrelligensis | *Rei gerundae causa; his appointment was declared faulty and he abdicated | |
| 335 | Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 333 | Publius Cornelius Rufinus | *Rei gerundae causa; his appointment was declared faulty and he abdicated[4] | |
| 332 | 2nd | Marcus Papirius Crassus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 331 | Gnaeus Quinctius Capitolinus | Clavi figendi causa | |
| 327 | Marcus Claudius Marcellus | Comitiorum habendorum causa; his appointment was declared faulty and he abdicated | |
| 325 | 1st | Lucius Papirius Cursor | Rei gerundae causa |
| 324 | 2nd | Lucius Papirius Cursor | *Rei gerundae causa[4] |
| 322 | Aulus Cornelius Cossus Arvina | Ludorum faciendorum causa or rei gerundae causa[5] | |
| 321 | Quintus Fabius Ambustus | Comitiorum habendorum causa; his appointment was declared faulty and he abdicated | |
| 321 | Marcus Aemilius Papus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 320 | 1st | Gaius Maenius | (unknown)[6] |
| 320 | Lucius Cornelius Lentulus | *Rei gerundae causa | |
| 320 | 3rd | Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus | *Comitiorum habendorum causa |
| 316 | Lucius Aemilius Mamercinus Privernas | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 315 | 1st | Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus | Rei gerundae causa |
| 314 | 2nd | Gaius Maenius | Rei gerundae causa |
| 313 | Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus | Rei gerundae causa or clavi figendi causa[7] | |
| 313 | 2nd | Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus | *Rei gerundae causa[7] |
| 312 | Gaius Sulpicius Longus | Rei gerundae causa[8] | |
| 312 | Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus | *Rei gerundae causa (possibly magister equitum, not dictator)[8] | |
| 310 | 3rd | Lucius Papirius Cursor | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 309 | 4th | Lucius Papirius Cursor | *Rei gerundae causa[4] |
| 306 | Publius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 302 | 2nd? | Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 302 | 2nd | Marcus Valerius Corvus | *Rei gerundae causa |
| 301 | 3rd | Marcus Valerius Corvus | *Rei gerundae causa[4] |
| 292 - 285 | Marcus Aemilius Barbula | (unknown)[9] | |
| 291 - 285 | Appius Claudius Caecus | (unknown)[9] | |
| 291 - 285 | Publius Cornelius Rufinus | (unknown)[9] | |
| 287 | Quintus Hortensius | *Seditionis sedandae causa or *rei gerundae causa | |
| 280 | Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 263 | Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumalus | Clavi figendi causa | |
| 257 | Quintus Ogulnius Gallus | Latinarum feriarum causa[10] | |
| 249 | Marcus Claudius Glicia | (unrecorded); made to resign[11] | |
| 249 | Aulus Atilius Caiatinus | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 246 | Tiberius Coruncanius | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 231 | Gaius Duilius | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 224 | Lucius Caecilius Metellus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 221 | 1st | Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator | (unknown)[12] |
| 217 | 2nd | Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator | Interregni causa[13] |
| 217 | Marcus Minucius Rufus | Co-dictator or magister equitum[14] | |
| 217 | Lucius Veturius Philo | Comitorium habendorum causa; his appointment was declared faulty and he abdicated | |
| 216 | Marcus Junius Pera | Rei gerundae causa | |
| 216 | Marcus Fabius Buteo | Senatus legendi causa[15] | |
| 213 | Gaius Claudius Centho | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 210 | Quintus Fulvius Flaccus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 208 | Titus Manlius Torquatus | Comitiorum habendorum causa or ludorum faciendorum causa | |
| 207 | Marcus Livius Salinator | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 205 | Quintus Caecilius Metellus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 203 | Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus | Comitiorum habendorum causa | |
| 202 | Gaius Servilius Geminus | Comitiorum habendorum causa |
After 202, the office of Dictator, such as it was, became defunct, and the title went into abeyance for well over a century. The revival of the title by Sulla was attached to a very different office.
| Date (BC) | Bust | Name | Cause/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 82-81 |  |
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix | Legibus faciendis et rei publicae constituendae causa |
| 49-44 | .JPG){kind=small} |
Gaius Julius Caesar | Rei gerundae causa |
| 44 | -- | Gaius Julius Caesar | perpetuus |
In 43 BCE, the post of Dictator went into commission as the Second Triumvirate.
References
- ^ Marianne Hartfield argues that only Manlius Capitolinus was named dictator seditionis sedandae et rgc in 368 BC, and that it was his dictatorship that caused the Romans to institute new causes to distinguish between the traditional military office (rei gerundae causa) and other uses to which the powers of that office might be put. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ The name of the first dictator is also given as Manius Valerius Volesi, but Livy rejects this in favor of Titus Lartius Flavus on the basis of the law that only consulars could be named dictator and Valerius had not yet been named consul. Broughton follows Livy in this. Broughton, T. R. S. (1951). Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. 1. New York: American Philological Association. p. 9.
- ^ No dictator is listed for this year in the fasti consulares, but Lydus says that there was a dictator in the forty-eighth year of the republic. Bendel links this with the story that the senate appointed a dictator clavi figendi causa in 363 BC because that had worked to stop a pestilence a century earlier and concludes that Mamercus was this dictator. Broughton sees this as an insufficient reason to say that Mamercus was dictator in 463 BC, and suggests that Lydus has confused a dictator with an interrex. Broughton, T. R. S. (1951). Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. 1. New York: American Philological Association. p. 35 n.2.
- ^ a b c d The fasti consulares, but no other source, list four years in which there was a dictator but no consuls elected: 333, 324, 309, and 301. In each case, Livy includes the names of the dictator and magister equitum under the previous years consuls. See Broughton, T. R. S. (1951). Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. 1. New York: American Philological Association. p. 141.
- ^ The sources for the causa of this dictator conflict. Most historians accept that Cornelius carried on the Ludi Romani games when the praetor fell ill and attempt to explain how an annalist would have altered the records to make this a dictator rei gerundae causa. See Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. p. 420.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Maenius is one of three dictators appointed in 320, none of whom is listed as having abdicated and been replaced by another dictator. This fact, combined with the fact that Cornelius Lentulus can only have been appointed rei gerundae causa, her conclusion that Manlius Torquatus was appointed comitiorum habendorum causa, and her judgment that the quaestionibus exercendis cannot have been his causa and is never said to be by Livy (the source of the phrase) lead Hartfield to conclude that Maenius must have had a religious function. She cannot conclude which religious causa he might have had, except that it certainly was not clavi figendi causa. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 425–28.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b Livy and the fasti consulares suggest that Poetelius was dictator rei gerundae causa, but Livy preserves a source who claims that one of the consuls that year instead captured the town Poetelius was said to have captured and that his dictatorship was instead clavi figendi causa. Some modern historians do not dismiss this alternate account. Because an rgc does not hammer in the sacred nail, if Poetelius did, then he must have been appointed dictator twice this year, once for each causa. Diodorus Siculus attributes the victories credited to Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus to one Κόιντος Φάβιος instead. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 443–51.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b The fasti consulares list Gaius Sulpicius Longus as the dictator rei gerundae causa and Gauis Junius Bubulcus Brutus as his magister equitum, but Livy names the latter as dictator, without following his usual procedure of recording the magister equitum. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 452–54.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b c Three dictators are known only from various literary sources. Historians date them to a period for which the fasti consulares and Livy's history are missing but nothing about their causa can be known. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 471–76.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ This is the only known instance of this causa, "for celebrating the Latin games."
- ^ The fasti consulares do not record Claudius' causa, but do note that he had been a clerk and that he was forced to abdicate. Normally, dictators were senators of consular rank, not equestrians. It seems that the consul naming him did so to scorn the senate, which had voted to appoint a dictator to relieve him in Sicily. Claudius' nomination would not declared by the augurs to have been invalid, but the senate forced him to resign by means unknown. Aulus Atilius Caiatinus was appointed in Claudius' stead. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 480–83.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Livy says that Fabius Maximus was appointed dictator "again" in 217, so he must have had a dictatorship for some unknown cause in the periods covered by the portions of Livy that are lost.
- ^ This causa, "because of the interregnum," is unique and perplexing, as there was no interregnum (one consul was still alive). Some scholars suggest that the fasti consulares misstate Fabius' causa, since he clearly took the field like a dictator rei gerundae causa. Hartfield suggests that the senate did not want to alter the forms of dictator already in use to meet the almost unique situation it found itself in, and so said that the situation was like an interregnum. Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 303–6.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Minucius was appointed Fabius Maximus' magister equitum but opposed his strategy of delay, so a tribune proposed a law to make his authority equal to that of the dictator. Scholars disagree whether this made Minucius a co-dictator or instead a magister equitum with dictatorial imperium. Since he was known to have been a dictator, those who advance the second possibility identify an additional dictatorship for him in the period for which the Livian history is missing, perhaps comitiorum habendorum causa. See Hartfield, Marianne (1981). Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. pp. 489–99.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) and Broughton, T. R. S. (1951). Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Vol. 1. New York: American Philological Association. pp. 243–44. - ^ This is the only instance of this causa. The senate decided to appoint a dictator to enroll new senators after Cannae rather than push up elections for new censors to do the same.