Hi Jonathan!
There was a
thread about this historical important subject on thie
Forum but I'm not able to find it. So here is the article from John Melville
Jones, A Dictionary of Ancient
Roman Coins, again:
Caesar. This was originally a
cognomen used by some of the Julians
gens. Fanciful explanations of the meaning of the word around, from words meaning to cut (i.e. the so-called Caesarian operation), grey (i.e. grey-eyed) or with a full
head of dark hair, or from the alleged Mauretanian word for an
elephant. It became most famous as the name by which the
dictator C. Iulius
Caesar was known. It was then used by the adopted son
Octavian (usually referred to by the title
Augustus which he invented for himself) and, in the years following Julius Caesar's assassination until 27 BC when the new imperial title began to be employed,
Octavian regularly desribed himself simply as C.
CAESAR or as
CAESAR DIVI F(ilius), thus emphasising
his connection with the deified Julius. Later issues place the name of
Caesar before the title of
Augustus. This became the
standard practice of later emperors.
The first emperor who
had no right by birth or adoption to use the name of
Caesar was
Claudius but it regularly appears on
his coinage as a title, and this practice was followed by later emperors. Even after the death of
Nero and the extinction of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty,
Galba,
Otho,
Vitellius and
Vespasian all accepted it (although we are told that
Vitellius hesitated and only took it shortly before
his downfall, with the result that it is not found on
his coins). By now the title of
Caesar was becoming so closely linked with that of
Imperator that the two form as it were one unit, symbolising the acclamation of a new emperor at the time of
his accession.
The only other person named as
Caesar on the coins of
Augustus was
Germanicus, the nephew of the future emperor
Tiberius. Since
Augustus adopted
Tiberius,
Germanicus therefore also became a member of the Julian
gens, so it was
still a personal name at this time. But
Germanicus was also a possible successor. This may be regarded as a first step in the development of the later convention that the title of
Caesar was bestowed upon the heir apparent. The way in which it was used under
Vespasian marks a further step in this direction.
Vespasian calls himself
Imperator,
Caesar and
Augustus.
His elder son,
Titus,
had been appointed as co-emperor with
his father and was called
Caesar and
Imperator. The younger son,
Domitian, was called
Caesar only. When
Domitian himself became emperor he gave the title of
Caesar to
his son, who died young, and whose name we do not know.
It is not certain when the practice of giving a successor who was not a son the title of
Caesar began. An
aureus of
Trajan raising
Hadrian to
his rank is reported but not confirmed and must therefore remain suspect, since coins which are unique and also happen to settle a historical controversy (Hadrian's adoption was challenged after Trajan's death) may be
modern forgeries. There can be no doubt, however, about Hadrian's adoption of
Aelius Verus and
Antoninus Pius, who were given the title of
Caesar.
From the end of the 3rd century AD an inflated form of the title, 'most noble Caesar', or Nobilissimus
Caesar is attested in inscriptions (beginning with
Geta), although it does not appear on coins until the time of
Philip II (abbreviated to N.C. or
NOB CAES). During the next few decades some other emperors
had sons whom they nominated as their successors in this way, the last being
Carinus, who was made
Caesar in AD 283/3. With
Diocletian a new system was set in place when the empire was devided for administrative purposes into two halves, with a
senior and junior emperor in each. The title of
Caesar was automatically given to the junior emperor and at the beginning it was imagined that, after twenty years, each
Augustus would step down and be succeeded by
his Caesar. This system worked for the first twenty years but collapsed after the death of Constantius Chlorus in AD 306. It was partially
restored but from that time onwards the system of two Augustuses and two Caesars was not maintained, and sometimes there were fewer, and at times more than two of each. The title of Nobilissimus
Caesar was, however, retained. It last appears on coins of the successors of
Leo I,
Leo II and
Zeno, on which the
legend NOV(ilissimi) CAES(ares) reproduces the Greek
pronunciation of the letter B.
Best regards
