this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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Rough Roman Memes
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A place to meme about the glorious ROMAN EMPIRE (and Roman Republic, and Roman Kingdom)! Byzantines tolerated! The HRE is not.
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Well for starters the word tyrant comes from Greek, meaning illegitimate ruler. Which one can argue, Caesar was one after he was named dictator for life (several senators were against that). Officially he never was emperor, and he was never elected.
Dictator perpetuo, which has connotations that historians and linguists often argue over. But yes, in the sense of a ruler coming to power by unconstitutional means, Caesar fits.
By the modern usage, however, only dirty Opt*mate sympathizers would dare call the Divus Julius a tyrant!