Julii Caesares

For other people named Julius Caesar, see Julius Caesar (disambiguation).
Julius Caesar, a.k.a. Gaius Julius Caesar IV, the best known of the Julii Caesares

Julii Caesares is a subdivision of the patrician Julii family in the Roman Republic, and the beginnings of the Julian side of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. All its members had the nomen Julius and the cognomen Caesar. When further historical details are lacking they can be told apart by (often recurring) praenomina, the offices they held, the era they lived in and/or known or surmised relatives.

Descendancy

Emperor Caligula and his three sisters (Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla), Julii Caesares after adoption of their father Germanicus by Tiberius

The first Caesar may have been a grandson of the Lucius Julius Libo who was consul in 267 BC.[1] His praenomen may have been Numerius[2] or Sextus.[3] Genealogies show a lot of variation up to the grandfather of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator. For these earlier generations of Caesars descendancy is largely a conjectural construct by later historians,[3] often intended to illustrate some noble or even divine descent (e.g. translatio imperii) with little or no evidence from the period these people actually lived. From the generation of the dictator's grandfather the descendance is better documented, including the adoptions from Julius Caesar's posthumous adoption of his grandnephew Octavian.

The paths chosen in the descendancy trees below are, for the generations between Libo and the grandfather of the Roman dictator, among the variants offered by historians.[4] Other variants are indicated below in the by praenomen section.

Male lineage

Male lineage with the same uncertainties for the generations between Libo, the consul, and Julius Caesar's grandfather as in the general descendancy tree above:

Abbreviations for praenomina
  • C. = Gaius
  • Drus. = Drusus
  • Germ. = Germanicus
  • L. = Lucius
  • M. = Marcus
  • N. = Numerius
  • Sex. = Sextus
  • Ti. = Tiberius
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Libo I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Libo II
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
N. Julius Caesar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Caesar I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sex. Julius Caesar I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sex. Julius Caesar II
 
 
 
 
C. Julius Caesar I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Caesar II
 
 
 
 
C. Julius Caesar II
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Caesar III
 
C. Julius Caesar Strabo
 
 
C. Julius Caesar III
 
 
Sex. Julius Caesar III
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Caesar IV
 
 
 
 
 
C. Julius Caesar IV
 
 
Sex. Julius Caesar IV
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L. Julius Caesar V
 
 
 
 
Augustus (C. Julius Caesar V)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
C. Julius Caesar VI
 
L. Julius Caesar VI
 
Tiberius (Ti. Julius Caesar I)
 
M. Julius Caesar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Drus. Julius Caesar I
 
 
 
 
 
Germ. Julius Caesar
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ti. Julius Caesar II
 
Nero Julius Caesar
 
Drus. Julius Caesar II
 
Caligula (C. Julius Caesar VII)
 Legend
Yellow
 Dictator
Orange
 Emperor
Green
 Consul
 
 
 descent
 
 
 adoption

Without adoptions

Some of the adopted Julii Caesares had Julii Caesares among their ancestors before adoption. From the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty only Tiberius, Augustus' stepson when he married Livia, had no such ancestor before adoption. Expliciting these blood lines without the adoptions (note that the offspring of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder appears twice, they descended from Julii Caesares both from the paternal and the maternal side):

Men (by praenomen)

Germanicus, descendant of Lucius Julius Caesar III through his mother Antonia Minor, became one of the Julii Caesares himself after adoption by Tiberius, adopted into the Julii Caesares by Augustus, the posthumously adopted son of Julius Caesar

When a praenomen recurs, without other distinguishing features of the name, there is a tradition to use ordinals in order to distinguish the names.[5]

Among these praenomina below, Drusus and Nero were originally cognomina of the gentes Livia and Claudia respectively. Germanicus was an agnomen (from Germanicus's father Drusus's victory in Germania).[6]

Drusus

Gaius

Main article: Gaius Julius Caesar

Germanicus

Lucius

Main article: Lucius Julius Caesar

Marcus

Nero

Numerius

Sextus

Main article: Sextus Julius Caesar

Tiberius

Women (chronological)

Main article: Julia Caesaris
Julia Caesaris, daughter of Julius Caesar
Julia the Elder, granddaughter of Julius Caesar's sister, daughter of Augustus, was known in her time as Julia Caesaris filia (Julia, daughter of Caesar) or Julia Augusti filia (Julia, daughter of Augustus)

Feminine names were their father's gens and cognomen declined in the female form, and so all female members are Julia Caesaris.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Griffin 2009 p. 13–14 (info partly derived from Livy 27.22.9)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Everett Francis Briggs. A Briggs memorial: some ancestors of John Briggs of Taunton, Massachusetts : with collateral Deighton (Williams), Whitney, and Mayflower-Rogers lines, p. 5 Family History Publishers, 1997 ISBN 0965435512 ISBN 9780965435512
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1870. Volume 1 p. 536 ff.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Napoleon III. Histoire de Jules César Volume 1, p. 253 Paris: H. Plon 1865
  5. ↑ Wurts 1945
  6. ↑ Suetonius, 121, Claudius I 1. 3, "... and the surname Germanicus for himself and his descendants."
  7. ↑ Griffin 2009 pp. 15–16
  8. 1 2 Wurts 1945 Vol. 4 p. 627
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Griffin 2009 p. 14
  10. ↑ Griffin 2009 p. 15

Sources

External links

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