Caesar
1:
CAESAR. Originally “Caesar” was a cognomen used by some of the members of the Julian family, e.g., by the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. On his death, his heir and adopted son Octavian (later Augustus) added Caesar’s names to his own; for it was the custom, according to the historian Dio Cassius, “for a person, when he was adopted, to take most of his name from his adopter” (46.47.6). Subsequently, “Caesar” was transmitted, legally, to those whom Augustus adopted and to their direct descendants, namely, the emperor Tiberius (along with his son Drusus and his two sons), Germanicus (and his five sons, including the emperor Gaius), and the three sons of Marcus Agrippa. But Claudius and Nero (and later emperors as well) used it too, though they were not entitled to do so, or at least had no legal claim to it as a cognomen: neither they nor their fathers had been adopted by Augustus. Presumably, they regarded it as another imperial title. But by the 2d century at the latest it had acquired a new meaning: it was used to indicate the heir to the throne. “Caesar” is first attested in this sense in Hadrian’s reign, when he adopted Aelius Verus. Each subsequent heir presumptive was automatically called “Caesar.”
Bibliography
Hammond, M. 1959. The Antonine Monarchy. Rome.
Syme, R. 1958. Imperator Caesar: A Study in Nomenclature. Historia 7: 172–88.
Brian W. Jones
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:798). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Caesar — the title assumed by the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar. In the New Testament this title is given to various emperors as sovereigns of Judaea without their accompanying distinctive proper names (John 19:15; Acts 17:7). The Jews paid tribute to Caesar (Matt. 22:17), and all Roman citizens had the right of appeal to him (Acts 25:11). The Caesars referred to in the New Testament are Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberius (3:1; 20:22), Claudius (Acts 11:28), and Nero (Acts 25:8; Phil. 4:22).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
CAESAR (sēʹzer). A name taken by—or given to—all the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar. It was a sort of title, like Pharaoh, and as such is usually applied to the emperors in the NT, as the sovereigns of Judea (John 19:15; Acts 17:7). It was to him that the Jews paid tribute (Matt. 22:17; Luke 23:2), and to him that such Jews as were cives Romani had the right of appeal (Acts 25:11); in which case, if their cause was a criminal one, they were sent to Rome (25:12, 21). The Caesars mentioned in the NT are Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberius (3:1; 20:22), Claudius (Acts 11:28), and Nero (25:8). See each name.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
4:
CAESAR. The name of a branch of the aristocratic family of the Julii which established an ascendancy over the Roman republic in the triumph of Augustus (31 bc) and kept it till Nero’s death (ad 68). This hegemony (as it is nicely called in Lk. 3:1, Gk.; rsv ‘reign’ is too precise a term) was an unsystematic compound of legal and social powers, novel to Roman tradition in its monopoly of leadership rather than its form or theory. It was not technically a monarchy. Its success produced so thorough a reorientation of government, however, that, on the elimination of the Caesarian family, their position was institutionalized and their name assumed by its incumbents.
One of the bases of a Caesar’s power was his extended tenure of a provincial command embracing most of Rome’s frontier forces. Judaea always fell within this area, hence Paul’s appeal (Acts 25:10–11) against the procurator, which would not have been possible where the governor was a fully competent proconsul and thus Caesar’s equal. Hence also the Jewish custom of referring to Caesar as a king (Jn. 19:12, 15). The dynastic family was from their point of view monarchical. Even where the technical powers were not in Caesarian hands, however, the same terminology occurs (Acts 17:7; 1 Pet. 2:13, 17). The force of Hellenistic traditions of royal suzerainty over the republics, redirected through the universal oath of personal allegiance to the Caesarian house and their association in the imperial cult, nullified the strict Roman view of the Caesar’s position. His quasi-monarchical role in any case simplified Rome’s imperial task. But the cult of the Caesar came to pose an agonizing problem for Christians (Pliny, Ep. 10. 96–97 and perhaps Rev. 13).
The Caesars referred to in the NT are, in the Gospels, Augustus (Lk. 2:1), and elsewhere Tiberius, and in the Acts, Claudius (Acts 11:28; 17:7; 18:2), and elsewhere Nero.
Bibliography. Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars;. Tacitus, Annals; CAH, 10–11; F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 1977. e.a.j.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (153). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
5:
Caesar (Gk. Kaisar)
Originally the family name of Julius Caesar, it was assumed upon adoption into the family of Julius by the first three emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula. Claudius, a grandson of Augustus, was not adopted into the Julian clan and began a new tradition when he took the name Caesar as a cognomen and kept his own family name. Subsequent emperors followed suit, taking the name Caesar either on accession or when adopted or appointed heir apparent. The family name thus became a mark of status. In 285 Emperor Diocletian bestowed the title “Caesar” (junior emperor) on Maximian. When Diocletian later elevated Maximian to senior emperor (Augustus), they each appointed junior emperors (Caesars).
Caesar is the title by which the NT refers to the emperors: Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1), Tiberius Caesar (3:1), Claudius Caesar (Acts 17:7). Jesus affirmed paying taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:17–21 par.). At Jesus’ trial, Jewish leaders accused Pilate of not being “Caesar’s friend” (John 19:12), and the priests asserted they had “no king but Caesar” (v. 15). Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal his case to Caesar (Acts 25:10–12), and he refers to “Caesar’s household” (Phil. 4:22).
Bibliography. C. Scarre, Chronicle of the Roman Emperors (London, 1995).
Scott Nash
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (206). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
