For other people with the same name, see Gaius Julius Caesar (disambiguation).
Gaius Julius Caesar
Fantasy portrait of Caesar in the Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Born c. 140 BC
Died 85 BC (aged 54-55)
Nationality Roman
Office
Spouse Aurelia
Children Julia Major, Julia Minor and Julius Caesar
Relatives Gaius Marius (Brother-in-law)

Gaius Julius Caesar (/ˈsiːzər/; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]; c. 140 BC – 85 BC) was a Roman senator, a supporter of his brother-in-law, Gaius Marius, and the father of Roman dictator Julius Caesar.

Biography

Caesar was married to Aurelia, a member of the Aurelii and Rutilii families. They had two daughters, known as Julia Major and Julia Minor, and Julius Caesar the dictator was born to them in 100 BC.[1] He was the brother of Sextus Julius Caesar (consul in 91 BC).[2]

Caesar's progress through the cursus honorum is well known, although the specific dates associated with his offices are controversial. According to two elogia erected in Rome long after his death, Caesar was a commissioner in the colony at Cercina, military tribune, quaestor, praetor, and propraetor of Asia.[3] The dates of these offices are unclear. The colony is probably one of Marius' of 103 BC.[4] Broughton dated the praetorship to 92 BC, with the quaestorship falling towards the beginning of the 90s BC.[5] Sumner dated his term as propraetor of Asia from sometime in 92 to at least January or February 90 BC.[6] Brennan, on the other hand, has dated the governorship to the beginning of the decade.[4]

Caesar died suddenly in 85 BC, in Rome, while putting on his shoes one morning. Another Caesar, possibly his father, had died similarly in Pisa.[7] His father had seen to his education by one of the best orators of Rome, Marcus Antonius Gnipho.[8] In his will, he left Caesar the bulk of his estate, but after Marius's faction had been defeated in the civil war of the 80s BC, this inheritance was confiscated by the dictator Sulla.[9]

Family

Main article: Julio-Claudian family tree
Julio-Claudian family tree[10][11][12][13][14][15]
Sextus Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar Sextus Julius Caesar Postumus
Gaius Julius Caesar Marcia
Gaius Marius Julia Gaius Julius Caesar Aurelia Sextus Julius Caesar Lucius Julius Caesar
3 Calpurnia Julia Major Julia Minor Marcus Atius Balbus Sextus Julius Caesar Lucius Julius Caesar
2 Pompeia Gaius Julius Caesar Gaius Octavius Atia Sextus Julius Caesar
1 Cornelia (wife of Caesar) Marcus Antonius Creticus Julia
2 Pompey Julia 1 Gaius Claudius Marcellus Octavia Minor 2 Mark Antony
2 Scribonia Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus (Gaius Octavius) 3 Livia Drusilla Augusta[13][14] 1 Tiberius Claudius Nero
1 Claudius Marcellus
2 Julia the Elder 3 Tiberius Claudius Nero 1 Vipsania Agrippina Drusus the Elder[13][14] Antonia Minor
2 Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Drusus the Younger Livilla 1 Plautia Urgulanilla
Julia the Younger Gaius Caesar Tiberius Gemellus Julia Livia Claudius Drusus
Agrippa Postumus Lucius Caesar Agrippina the Elder Germanicus 2 Claudius 2 Aelia Paetina
Lucius Cassius Longinus Julia Drusilla Drusus Caesar Julia Livilla 4 Agrippina the Younger 1 Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus Claudia Antonia
Milonia Caesonia Gaius Caesar (Caligula) Nero Julius Caesar 3 Valeria Messalina
1 Claudia Octavia Britannicus
Julia Drusilla 1 Otho 2 Poppaea Sabina 2 Nero
3 Statilia Messalina
Claudia Augusta
Legend
descent
adoption
marriage
 1, 2 
spouse order

Footnotes

  1. ^ Plutarch, Caesar 1, 9; Suetonius, Julius 1 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today, 74
  2. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 20.
  3. ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 6.1311
  4. ^ a b Brennan 2001, p. 555.
  5. ^ Broughton 1952, p. 17.
  6. ^ Sumner 1978, p. 149.
  7. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 54.7
  8. ^ Suetonius, Lives of Eminent Grammarians 7
  9. ^ Suetonius, Julius 1 Archived 2012-05-30 at archive.today
  10. ^ Smith 1870, Vol. 1 p. 536 ff.
  11. ^ Napoleon III 1865, Vol. 1 p. 253
  12. ^ Wurts 1945, Vol. 4 p. 627
  13. ^ a b c Meijer 1990, pp. 511/532/576-577
  14. ^ a b c Kamm 2006, pp. 156-157
  15. ^ Griffin 2009, p. 13 ff.

References

External links