<P> A dictator was a magistrate of the Roman Republic , entrusted with the full authority of the state to deal with a military emergency or to undertake a specific duty . All other magistrates were subordinate to his imperium , and the right of the plebeian tribunes to veto his actions or of the people to appeal from them was extremely limited . However , in order to prevent the dictatorship from threatening the state itself , severe limitations were placed upon its powers : a dictator could only act within his intended sphere of authority ; and he was obliged to resign his office once his appointed task had been accomplished , or at the expiration of six months . Dictators were regularly appointed from the earliest period of the Republic down to the Second Punic War , but the magistracy then went into abeyance for over a century , until it was revived in a significantly modified form , first by Sulla , and then by Julius Caesar . The office was formally abolished after the death of Caesar , and not revived under the Empire . </P>
<P> A dictator was a magistrate of the Roman Republic , entrusted with the full authority of the state to deal with a military emergency or to undertake a specific duty . All other magistrates were subordinate to his imperium , and the right of the plebeian tribunes to veto his actions or of the people to appeal from them was extremely limited . However , in order to prevent the dictatorship from threatening the state itself , severe limitations were placed upon its powers : a dictator could only act within his intended sphere of authority ; and he was obliged to resign his office once his appointed task had been accomplished , or at the expiration of six months . Dictators were regularly appointed from the earliest period of the Republic down to the Second Punic War , but the magistracy then went into abeyance for over a century , until it was revived in a significantly modified form , first by Sulla , and then by Julius Caesar . The office was formally abolished after the death of Caesar , and not revived under the Empire . </P>
a roman dictatorship was supposed to last a maximum of
a roman dictatorship was supposed to last a maximum of
six months
six months