The earliest Caesar who served in a magisterial position (and who was also the first Caesar noted in history) was Sextus Julius Caesar, praetor in Sicily in 208 BCE.ĭemetrias - Derived from the name of the Greek goddess of agriculture, Demeter (meaning "earth mother"), this foreign cognomen entered the Julian gens as the name of a freedman of Caesar (Gaius Julius Demetrias) who rose to a magisterial position (possibly that of prefect) in Cyprus, 39 BCE. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (Book 7), is responsible for the enduring belief that the family derived their name from another Latin word implying that the first of the Caesones had been cut from his mother's womb (a story which is the source of the medical term "Caesarian section").
#GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR STRABO VOPISCUS FULL#
The most likely is derived from the Latin word caesaries, meaning "hairy possessing a head of hair" and possibly referring to the original Caesar having been born with a full head of hair. This titular surname was conferred upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus by the Senate in 27 BCE, marking the close of Rome's period of the Republic and Rome's entry into its period of the Principate.īursio - Derived from the Greek word bursa, meaning "a hide." This cognomen of the Julii is known only from coins, and the individual Lucius Julius Bursio who bore this name was either a Questor or a Monetal, circa 84-83 BCE.Ĭaesar - A hereditary surname of the patrician Julii with several different, presumed meanings. For the purpose of this list, I have included cognomina, adoptive cognomina, and agnomina under the collective term of "surnames."Īugustus - Meaning "majestic, venerable, worthy of honor," and originally a religious term.
I have attempted here to list and define the various surnames used by the Julii of the Republic, particularly those who served in magisterial positions during the time of the Republic as noted in Broughton's Magistrates of the Roman Republic.
We know that the Julii were of Alban origin - the town of Alba Longa, at the foot of Mount Alba, had not only been founded by Ascanius/Iulus, but Livy also tells us (1.30) that the Julii (along with the Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii, and Cloelii) were among the leading Alban families enrolled among the patricians by King Tullus Hostilius, following Rome's demolition of Alba. Julius Caesar (five times consul, 59, 48, 46, 45, and 44 BCE) was by no means reticent to use often and to his advantage for impressing both civilians and troops.
Livy (1.3) tells us how the Julii descended from and took their nomen gentilicium from Iulus, an alternate name of Ascanius, who was the son of the Trojan chief Aeneas.Īs legend told that Aeneas was the son of Anchises and the goddess Venus, the Julii thereafter claimed divine descent from Venus - an extraordinary claim which C. While the Julii did not spawn quite as many magistrates during the era of Rome's Republic as did at least a dozen other notable gentes, the Julii nevertheless were one of the earliest and most distinguished families of ancient Rome.
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