Gaius Julius Caesar (name)
Gaius Julius Caesar (
Julius Caesar's name
The name Caesar probably originated in Italy from a dialect of
The name of the dictator Julius Caesar—Latin script: CAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR—was often extended by the official filiation Gai filius ("son of Gaius"), rendered as Gaius Iulius Gai filius Caesar. A longer version can also be found, however rarely: Gaius Iulius Gai(i) filius Gai(i) nepos Caesar ("Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Gaius, grandson of Gaius").
The praenomen Gaius
The only known original Roman etymology of Gaius is expressed as a gaudio parentum,
The nomen Iulius
Weinstock (1971) made a case for Iullus being a diminutive, i.e. juvenescent
Members of the Julian family later connected the name Iulus with ἰοβόλος ("the good archer") and ἴουλος ("the youth whose first beard is growing").[17] This has however no etymological value and is only a retrofitting interpretation concerned with the earlier institution of the Vediovis-cult in Rome together with a statue of Iulus-Vediovis as a (possibly bearded) archer.[18] Others derived Iulius from King Ilus, who was the founder of Ilion (Troy).[19] Weinstock called these the "usual playful etymologies of no consequence".[20]
The cognomen Caesar
In earlier times Caesar could originally have been a praenomen.
Several other interpretations were propagated in antiquity, all of which remain highly doubtful:
- a caesiis oculis[27] ("because of the blue eyes"): Caesar's eyes were black,[28] but since the despotic dictator Sulla had blue eyes, this interpretation might have been created as part of the anti-Caesarian propaganda in order to present Caesar as a tyrant.[29]
- a caesariesbalding, this interpretation might have been part of the anti-Caesarian mockery.
- a caeso matris utero[31] ("born by Caesarean section"): In theory this might go back to an unknown Julian ancestor who was born in this way. On the other hand, it could also have been part of the anti-Caesarian propaganda, because in the eyes of the Republicans Caesar had defiled the Roman "motherland", which was also reported for one of Caesar's dreams, in which he committed incest with his mother, i.e. the earth.[32]
Another interpretation of Caesar deriving from the verb caedere ("to cut") could theoretically have originated in the argument of the Julians for receiving a sodality of the Lupercalia, the luperci Iulii (or Iuliani). The praenomen Kaeso (or Caeso) was best known from the Quinctii and the Fabii, possibly derived from their ritual duty of striking with the goat-skin (februis caedere) at the luperci Quinctiales and the luperci Fabiani respectively, the Julians would then have argued that the name Caesar was identical to the Quinctian and Fabian Kaeso.[33] The identification of the cognomina Kaeso and Caesar was indeed supposed by Pliny, but is—according to Alföldi (1975)—unwarranted.[34]
Notes
- romanized: Gáios Ioúlios Kaísar
References
This article incorporates material from the
- ^ L.R. Palmer, The Latin language (Bristol 1954), p. 69.
- ^ The occurrence of the double i, as e.g. in Iulii or Gaii, was customary for Latin writings after the end of the Republic. The single i (Iuli, Gai etc.) is Republican Latin.
- ^ Caius is the old-Latin variant of Gaius (see also below).
- Divus("god"), which derived from Caesar's god name Divus Iulius (at the latest since early 44 BC), and is therefore (as part of his name) per se untranslatable.
- ^ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Divus Iulius 76 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today; the neuter variant Parens Patriae is also known from a statue of Caesar in Rome.
- ^ RE XVI 1661
- ^ Auct. de praen. 5: Gai iudicantur dicti a gaudio parentum; quoted in Paulus Diaconus, abridged summary of Sextus Pompeius Festus, De Verborum Significatu
- ^ Cp. e.g. RE XVI 1668, pp. 14ff; Frederic D. Allen, "Gajus or Gaius?", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 2, 1891, pp. 71–87
- ^ Proposed e.g. by George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 8, 1897, pp. 103–184
- ^ Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid 1.272 & 6.756
- ^ Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil 1.267
- ^ Sextus Pompeius Festus, De verborum significatu 340 M. (460 L.); RE 10.106 & 953
- ^ Later used by Pliny for the wooly part of a plant; early form: Iullus
- ^ E.g. claudus ("lame", "crippled") for Claudius, Petro ("bumpkin", "fool") for Petronius etc.
- Capitol). Aeneas had been divinized as Iuppiter indiges, which supported the identification of Aeneas' son Iulus as the "young Iuppiter" Vediovis, especially since Iulus had inaugurated Aeneas' cult and had built him a temple in Alba Longa.
- ^ Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 1.267.
- ^ Cf. the identification of Vediovis with Iuppiter and Apollo (see above; Rev. Num. 1971; Chiron 2, 1972; Sydenham 76 et al.).
- ^ Verg. Aen. 1.267, in: Servius (and Dan.) Commentary on the Aeneid 1.267.
- ^ "Divus Julius", Oxford 1971, p. 9.
- ^ Auct. de praen. 3. Quoted in Stefan Weinstock: Divus Julius (Oxford 1971/2004).
- Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 1.286 i.a.; cp. Pauly-Wissowa RE X 464 sq.
- Thames.
- ^ Suetonius, Divus Iulius 37.2 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today. In addition Cassius Dio (43.22.1) mentions elephants as part of Caesar's entourage after a banquet in Rome on the fourth day of the same triumph.
- ^ Artemidorus established that the elephant, undoubtedly a symbol of honor (and arrogance), denoted a δεσποτης ("lord"), a βασιλευς ("imperator [of Rome]"; "king [in Greece]) or a και ανηρ μεγιστος ("man in high authority") on the Italian mainland. Therefore the coin would have to be seen as a presage for Caesar's future dominion. (From Stevenson et al.: A Dictionary of Roman Coins: Republican and Imperial. London 1889.)
- Pompeius was levying troops, and the Metelli had also tried to stop Caesar from confiscating the state treasury in the Temple of Saturn, where Caesar eventually had his coins struck. Therefore Caesar's propaganda communicated not only the taking of the treasure but also the taking of his enemies' symbol and placed his own victory over Gaul above the Metellan victories.
- ^ Historia Augusta, Aelius 2.3
- ^ Suetonius, Divus Iulius 45 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today
- ^ Ludwig von Doederlein also proposed an origin from caesius, but rather interpreted it as "grey" and applied it to the color of the skin or perhaps of the eyes (Synon. III 17, mentioned in "Caesar", in Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898).
- ^ According to Sextus Pompeius Festus.
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.7
- ^ Suetonius, Divus Iulius 7 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today; Cassius Dio 37.52.2
- ^ A later Republican inscription mentions a member of the Julian family named K(AESO) IVLIVS (CIL 12.2806).
- ^ Andreas Alföldi: "Review of St. Weinstock, Divus Julius". In: Gnomon 47 (1975). 154–179.