Lucius Julius Sex. f. L. n. Caesar was a member of the
patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
house of the
Julii Caesares
The Julii Caesares were the most illustrious family of the patrician ''gens Julia''. The family first appears in history during the Second Punic War, when Sextus Julius Caesar was praetor in Sicily. His son, Sextus Julius Caesar, obtained t ...
at
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, and held the office of
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
in 183 BC.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, pp. 536, 537][Broughton, vol. I. pp. 378, 380.]
Family
Lucius was the son of
Sextus Julius Caesar, who had distinguished himself as praetor in 208 BC, during the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. He had at least one brother,
Sextus
Sextus is an ancient Roman '' praenomen'' or "first name". Its standard abbreviation is Sex., and the feminine form would be Sexta. It is one of the numeral ''praenomina'', like Quintus ("fifth") and Decimus ("tenth"), and means "sixth". Althoug ...
, who obtained the consulship in 157, and probably a second, Gaius, a
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
who wrote a history of Rome in Greek about 143 BC.
Although it was common for the eldest son in a family to be named after his father, Lucius, apparently named after his grandfather, was probably the eldest brother. Following the ''
cursus honorum
The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...
'', he was probably approaching forty years of age when he was elected praetor, and was probably born no later than 220 BC, while his brother, Sextus, first appears in history holding the rather junior post of
military tribune
A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to ...
in 181, and did not become consul for another twenty-four years after that. Further, Lucius had a son, also named Lucius, who was praetor in 166, and thus was probably born before 200; Sextus' son only obtained the praetorship in 123 BC.
Career
Elected praetor for 183 BC, Lucius was assigned the province of
Cisalpine Gaul. The
senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
gave him the task of preventing the
Transalpine Gauls from building a city on the site of
Aquileia
Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river N ...
, where they had begun to settle, but to do so without resorting to open hostilities. A
Roman colony
A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term ''colony''.
Characteri ...
was planned for the location, and
triumvirs
A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...
were appointed for that purpose in the same year; thus Lucius played a crucial role in the founding of what would become one of the largest cities of classical antiquity.
[Livy, xxxix. 45, 55.]
See also
*
Julia (gens)
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...
References
Bibliography
* Titus Livius (
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
), ''Ab Urbe Condita'' (History of Rome), book xxxix.
*
Wilhelm Drumann
Wilhelm Karl August Drumann (11 June 1786, in Danstedt – 29 July 1861, in Königsberg) was a German classical historian.
From 1805 he studied theology and philosophy at the University of Halle, receiving his doctorate at Helmstedt in 1810. Fol ...
, ''Geschichte Roms in seinem Übergang von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, oder: Pompeius, Caesar, Cicero und ihre Zeitgenossen'', Königsberg (1834–1844).
"Caesar" and "L. Julius Caesar" (no. 3) in the ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
*
T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Caesar, Lucius
3rd-century BC births
2nd-century BC Roman praetors
Lucius
Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from '' Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames ('' praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from ...
Year of birth uncertain