The root cause of Caesar's assassination was his seizure of dictatorial powers in Rome and his declaration that he was 'dictator perpetuo', sometimes mistranslated as 'dictator for life'. The Romans who assassinated him did not like this for many reasons. Dictator was a title that was only to be given in emergency circumstances and only for six month terms, not for indefinite periods. This went against Rome's traditions in the same way a president artificially...
The root cause of Caesar's assassination was his seizure of dictatorial powers in Rome and his declaration that he was 'dictator perpetuo', sometimes mistranslated as 'dictator for life'. The Romans who assassinated him did not like this for many reasons. Dictator was a title that was only to be given in emergency circumstances and only for six month terms, not for indefinite periods. This went against Rome's traditions in the same way a president artificially extending their term would be unconstitutional today. The Romans also had great animosity toward kings, having centuries prior overthrown their own. While Caesar had tried to disavow claims to kingship, his new position seemed uncomfortably close to that of a monarch.
These violations of Roman tradition and law resulted in a diminishment of senatorial power, Rome's ruling body, engendering resentment amongst Rome's senators. Caesar's other reforms, aimed at preventing the kind of state breakdown and civil strife of the 1st century BCE, also had the effect of weakening the oligarchic power of the senate further. This resentment was compounded by the various titles and honors Caesar had awarded to himself as well as the pre-existing bitterness among Roman elites who had sided against Caesar during the civil war.
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