Julia (gens) - Branches and Cognomina

Branches and Cognomina

The family-names of the Julii in the time of the Republic are Caesar, Iulus, Mento, and Libo, of which the first three are undoubtedly patrician; but the only families which were particularly celebrated were those of Iulus and Caesar, the former at the beginning and the latter in the last century of the Republic. On coins the only names which we find are Caesar and Bursio, the latter of which does not occur in ancient writers.

It is uncertain which member of the Julia gens first obtained the surname of Caesar, but the first who occurs in history is Sextus Julius Caesar, praetor in BC 208. The origin of the name is equally uncertain. Spartianus, in his life of Aelius Verus, mentions four different opinions respecting its origin:

1. That the word signified an elephant in the language of the Moors, and was given as a surname to one of the Julii because he had killed an elephant.
2. That it was given to one of the Julii because he had been cut (caesus) out of his mother's womb after her death; or
3. Because he had been born with a great quantity of hair (caesaries) on his head; or
4. Because he had azure-colored (caesii) eyes of an almost supernatural kind.

Of these opinions the third, which is also given by Festus, seems to come nearest the truth. Caesar and caesaries are both probably connected with the Sanskrit kêsa, "hair", and it is quite in accordance with the Roman custom for a surname to be given to an individual from some peculiarity in his personal appearance. The second opinion, which seems to have been the most popular one with the ancient writers, arose without doubt from a false etymology.

With respect to the first, which was the one adopted, says Spartianus, by the most learned men, it is impossible to disprove it absolutely, as we know next to nothing of the ancient Moorish language; but it has no inherent probability in it; and the statement of Servius is undoubtedly false, that the grandfather of the dictator obtained the surname on account of killing an elephant with his own hand in Africa, as there were several of the Julii with this name before his time. An inquiry into the etymology of this name is of some interest, as no other name has ever obtained such celebrity — as Spartianus states, "clarum et duraturum cum aeternitate mundi nomen."

The Julii Caesares became physically extinct in the male line, either with Caesar's death on the Ides of March or, if Caesarion was truly his son, with the latter's death. Legally however the name passed on to a member of the Gens Octavia through Augustus, the adopted son and heir of the dictator, and then to a member of the Gens Claudia through Augustus' adopted son, Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as members either by adoption or by female-line descent from Caesar; but though the family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained it as part of their titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own name, as for instance, Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Verus, he allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar; and from this time, though the title of Augustus continued to be confined to the reigning prince, that of Caesar was also granted to the second person in the state and the heir presumptive to the throne.

In imperial times we find an immense number of persons named Julius; but it must not be supposed that they were connected by descent in any way with the Julia gens; for, in consequence of the imperial family belonging to this gens, it became the name of their numerous freedmen, and it may have been assumed by many other persons out of vanity and ostentation.