Sextus Julius Caesar was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
statesman, who held the
consulship
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
in 91 BC. He died during the
Social War. He was the uncle of
Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, the
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...
.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, p. 539.]
Family
Sextus was the son of Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcia. Little is known of his father, except that he might have been the
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 ...
Caesar who died suddenly at Rome.
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 ...
suspected that his grandfather was the senator Gaius Julius who wrote a history of Rome in Greek around 143 BC.
Sextus had a brother,
Gaius
Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen).
People
*Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist
*Gaius Acilius
*Gaius Antonius
*Gaius Antonius Hybrida
*Gaius Asinius Gallus
*Gaius Asinius Pol ...
, who was praetor in an uncertain year (Broughton suggests BC 92).
Gaius was probably the elder brother, as he was named after his father. 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 '' ...
'', Sextus would have been at least forty years old when he obtained the consulship, placing his birth no later than 133 BC.
Of Sextus' descendants, we know that he had an
eponymous
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
son, who was ''
Flamen Quirinalis
In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Quirinalis was the flamen or high priest of the god Quirinus. He was one of the three ''flamines maiores'', third in order of importance after the Flamen Dialis and the Flamen Martialis. Like the other two hig ...
'' in BC 57; the Sextus Julius Caesar who served in the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, and was killed by his own soldiers during a revolt in Syria in 46 BC, was probably his grandson.
Career
Under the ''cursus honorum'', Sextus would have held the praetorship before standing for consul. His year of office is uncertain, but it could have been no later than BC 92 (Broughton suggests about 94). He was elected consul for 91, the year before the outbreak of the Social War. As
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
the following year, Sextus won an important military victory, probably over the
Paeligni
The Paeligni or Peligni were an Italic tribe who lived in the Valle Peligna, in what is now Abruzzo, central Italy.
History
The Paeligni are first mentioned as a member of a confederacy that included the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini, with which t ...
. He died of disease in 89, while laying siege to the city of
Asculum Asculum, also known as Ausculum, was the ancient name of two Italian cities.
The first is Ascoli Piceno, the ''Ausculum'' in ancient Picenum (modern Marche). It is situated in the valley of the Truentus (mod. Tronto) river on the via Salaria. It ...
.
[Broughton, vol. II, p. 27.]
Footnotes
See also
*
Julia gens
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician (ancient Rome), patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Roman Republic, Republic ...
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
''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...
'' (History of Rome).
* Gaius Plinius Secundus (
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
), ''
Naturalis Historia
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...
'' (Natural History).
* Appianus Alexandrinus (
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...
), ''Bellum Civile'' (The Civil War), book i.
*
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).
* ''
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, Sextus (consul 663 AUC)
1st-century BC Roman consuls
Sextus (consul 663 AUC)
Roman aediles
Roman Republican praetors