Synopsis

Gaius Julius Caesar known by his cognomen Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician and military general who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He is also known as an author of Latin prose. Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus. The family originated from Alba Longa, twenty miles south of Rome. The cognomen "Caesar" originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean . The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations: that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair  that he had bright grey eyes  or that he killed an elephant in battle. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name.

Similar Bookshelves