Caesar
A title of the Roman emperors, and originally a family name of the gens Iulia. It was
assumed by Octavianus as the adopted son of the great dictator, C. Iulius Caesar, and was by
him handed down to his adopted son Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius,
and Nero, as members either by adoption or female descent of Caesar's family; but though the
family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained the name as part of their
titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own names, as, for instance,
Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Verus, he
allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar (Spart.
Ael. Ver. 1); and from
this time, though the title of
Augustus continued to be confined to the
reigning emperor, that of
Caesar was also granted the second person in the
State and the heir-presumptive to the throne. See
Augustus.
The name
Caesar was variously derived by the ancients, some assigning it
directly to
caedo, to denote that the first bearer of the name was cut
from his mother's uterus by the “Caesarian” operation (
Plin. H. N. vii. 9, 7); and others explaining it
from
caesaries, because the first Caesar was born with a full head of
hair ( Fest. p. 44 Müll.). Doederlein (
Synon. iii. 17) assigns it to
caesius, as applied to the colour of the skin, or perhaps of the eyes.
