A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome

by Emma Southon

When the Senate – correctly – said he was committing insubordination and treason, he invaded Rome and beat the shit out of Pompey for a few years. And that was pretty controversial, to put it mildly. Once he finished beating Pompey, he made himself dictator and started rejigging the entire system, beginning with how the Romans counted time, and allowing petrified minions to vote him more and more honours. The honours he was granted are staggering, quite apart from the dictator-for-life thing. Cassius Dio lists them all and as a list they’re pretty tedious, so here are the highlights. He was consul, dictator for life and censor of the Senate. He was called imperator and father of the country. He had golden statues built and placed among the statues of ancient kings and among the gods. He had altars and temples in his name. A college of priests was founded to dedicate their whole lives to looking after his temples and praying for him. When he revised the calendar, he changed the name of the fifth month to his own name. He had a golden throne that he could sit in whenever he liked. He was allowed to wear special knee-high red boots which were seen as the stereotypical clothing of the ancient kings and he was allowed to wear the big purple Triumphal robe all the time. He got special lictors and the right to ride his horse in places where horses weren’t allowed. Official prayers were given every year for his safety and wellbeing, and on and on and on.