Caesar (title)


Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar. The change from being a surname to a title used by the Roman emperors can be traced to AD 68, following the fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. When used on its own, the title denoted heirs apparent, who would later adopt the title Augustus on accession. The title remained an essential part of the style of the emperors, and became the word for "emperor" in some languages, such as German and Slavic.

Origins

The first known individual to bear the cognomen of "Caesar" was Sextus [Julius Caesar (praetor 208 BC)|Sextus Julius Caesar], who is likewise believed to be the common ancestor of all subsequent Julii Caesares. Sextus's great-grandson was the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, who seized control of the Roman Republic following his war against the Senate. He appointed himself as dictator perpetuo, a title he held for only about a month before he was assassinated in 44 BC. Julius Caesar's death did not lead to the restoration of the Republic, and instead led to the rise of the Second Triumvirate, which was made up of three generals, including Julius's adopted son Gaius Octavius.
Following Roman naming conventions, Octavius adopted the name of his adoptive father, thus also becoming "Gaius Julius Caesar", though he was often called "Octavianus" to avoid confusion. He styled himself simply as "Gaius Caesar" to emphasize his relationship with Julius Caesar. Eventually, distrust and jealousy between the triumvirs led to a lengthy civil war which ultimately ended with Octavius gaining control of the entire Roman world in 30 BC. In 27 BC, Octavius was given the honorific Augustus by the Senate, adopting the name of "Imperator Caesar Augustus". He had previously dropped all his names except for "Caesar", which he treated as a Nomen gentilicium, and had adopted the victory title imperator as a new praenomen.
As a matter of course, Augustus's own adopted son and successor, Tiberius, followed his father's example and bore the name "Caesar" following his adoption on 26 June 4 AD, restyling himself as "Tiberius Julius Caesar". Upon his own ascension to the throne, he styled himself as "Tiberius Caesar Augustus". The precedent was thus then set: the Emperor, styled as "Augustus", designated his successor by adopting him and giving him the name "Caesar".
The fourth emperor, Claudius, was the first to assume the name without having been adopted by the previous emperor. However, he was at least a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, being the maternal great-nephew of Augustus on his mother's side, the nephew of Tiberius, and the uncle of Caligula. Claudius, in turn, adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name "Caesar" in addition to his own nomen, "Claudius". His stepson thus became "Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus".

Dynastic title

The first emperor to assume both the position and name without any real claim was Galba, who took the throne under the name "Servius Galba Caesar Augustus" following the death of Nero in AD 68. Galba helped solidify "Caesar" as the title of the designated heir by giving it to his own adopted heir, Piso Licinianus. His reign did not last long, however, and he was soon killed by Otho, who became "Marcus Otho Caesar Augustus". Otho was then defeated by Vitellius, who became "Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus", adopting the victory title "Germanicus" instead. Nevertheless, "Caesar" had become such an integral part of the imperial dignity that its place was immediately restored by Vespasian, who ended the civil war and established the Flavian dynasty in AD 69, ruling as "Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus".
The placement of the name "Caesar" varied among the early emperors. It usually came right before the cognomen ; a few placed it right after it. The imperial formula was finally standardised during the reign of Antoninus Pius. Antoninus, born "Titus Aurelius Antoninus", became "Titus Aelius Caesar Antoninus" after his adoption but ruled as "Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius". The imperial formula thus became "Imperator Caesar Augustus" for emperors. Heir-apparents added "Caesar" to their names, placing it after their cognomen. Caesars occasionally were given the honorific princeps iuventutis and, starting with the 3rd century, nobilissimus. I

Later developments

Crisis of the Third Century

The popularity of using the title caesar to designate heirs-apparent increased throughout the third century. Many of the soldier-emperors during the Crisis of the Third Century attempted to strengthen their legitimacy by naming their sons as heirs with the title of caesar, namely Maximinus Thrax, Philip the Arab, Decius, Trebonianus Gallus, Gallienus and Carus. With the exception of Verus Maximus and Valerian II all of them were later either promoted to the rank of augustus within their father's lifetime or succeeded as augusti after their father's death. The same title would also be used in the Gallic Empire, which operated autonomously from the rest of the Roman Empire from 260 to 274, with the final Gallic emperor Tetricus I appointing his heir Tetricus II as caesar and his consular colleague.
Despite the best efforts of these emperors, however, the granting of this title does not seem to have made succession in this chaotic period any more stable. Almost all caesares would be killed before, or alongside, their fathers, or, at best, outlive them for a matter of months, as in the case of Hostilian. The sole caesar to successfully obtain the rank of augustus and rule for some time in his own right was Gordian III, and even he was heavily controlled by his court.

Tetrarchy and Diarchy

In 293, Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior emperors and two junior colleagues. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as augustus. The two junior colleagues were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as nobilissimus caesar. Likewise, the junior colleagues retained the title caesar upon becoming full emperors. The caesares of this period are sometimes referred as "emperors", with the Tetrarchy being a "rule of four emperors", despite being clearly subordinate of the augusti and thus not actually sovereigns.
The Tetrarchy collapsed as soon as Diocletian stepped down in 305, resulting in a lengthy civil war. Constantine reunited the Empire in 324, after defeating the Eastern emperor Licinius. The tetrarchic division of power was abandoned, although the divisions of the praetorian prefectures were maintained. The title caesar continued to be used, but now merely as a ceremorial honorific for young heirs. Constantine had four caesares at the time of his death: his sons Constantius II, Constantine II, Constans and his nephew Dalmatius, with his eldest son Crispus having been executed in mysterious circumstances earlier in his reign. He would be succeeded only by his three sons, with Dalmatius dying in the summer of 337 in similarly murky circumstances. Constantius II himself would nominate as caesares his cousins Constantius Gallus and Julian in succession in the 350s, although he first executed Gallus and then found himself at war with Julian before his own death. After Julian's revolt of 360, the title fell out of imperial fashion for some time, with emperors preferring simply to elevate their sons directly to augustus, starting with Gratian in 367.
The title would be revived in 408 when Constantine III gave it to his son Constans II, and then in 424 when Theodosius II gave it to his nephew Valentinian III before successfully installing him upon the western throne as augustus in 425. Thereafter it would receive limited use in the Eastern Empire; for example, it was given to Leo II in 472 several months before his grandfather's death. In the Western Empire, Palladius, the son of emperor Petronius Maximus, became the last person bearing the title caesar in 455.

Byzantine Empire

Caesar or Kaisar remained a senior court title in the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. Originally, as in the classical Roman Empire, it was used for the heir apparent, and was first among the "awarded" dignities. From the reign of Theodosius I, however, most emperors chose to solidify the succession of their intended heirs by raising them to co-emperors, i.e. augustus. Hence the title was more frequently awarded to second- and third-born sons, or to close and influential relatives of the Emperor: for example, Alexios Mosele who was the son-in-law of Theophilos, Bardas who was the uncle and chief minister of Michael III, and Nikephoros II who awarded the title to his father, Bardas Phokas. An exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian] khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, George II of Georgia in 1081. In this period, the epithet eutychestatos 'most fortunate' was commonly attached to the title.
The office enjoyed extensive privileges, great prestige and power. When Alexios I Komnenos created the title of sebastokrator, kaisar became third in importance, and fourth after Manuel I Komnenos created the title of despot, which it remained until the end of the Empire. The feminine form was kaisarissa. It remained an office of great importance, usually awarded to imperial relations, as well as a few high-ranking and distinguished officials, and only rarely awarded to foreigners.
According to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the imperial hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos and later of despotēs by Manuel I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire. In the Palaiologan period, it was held by prominent nobles such as Alexios Strategopoulos, but from the 14th century, it was mostly awarded to rulers of the Balkans such as the princes of Vlachia, Serbia and Thessaly.
In the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos further records that the caesar was equal in precedence to the panhypersebastos, another creation of Alexios I, but that Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos had raised his nephew Michael Tarchaneiotes to the rank of protovestiarios and decreed that to come after the caesar; while under Andronikos II Palaiologos the megas domestikos was raised to the same eminence, when it was awarded to the future emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. According to pseudo-Kodinos, the caesars insignia under the Palaiologoi was a skiadion hat in red and gold, decorated with gold-wire embroideries, with a veil bearing the wearer's name and pendants identical to those of the despotēs and the sebastokratōr. He wore a red tunic similar to the emperor's, and his shoes and stockings were blue, as were the accouterments of his horse; these were all identical to those of the sebastokratōr, but without the embroidered eagles of the latter. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the particular forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle, the tamparion, for the caesar were not known.

Ottoman Empire

"Caesar" is the title officially used by the Sasanid Persians to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as "Caesar". Thus, following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the victorious Ottoman sultan Mehmed II became the first of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire to assume the title.
After the Fall of Constantinople, having conquered the Byzantine Empire, Mehmed took the title Kayser-i Rûm, claiming succession to the Roman imperium. His claim was that, by possession of the city, he was emperor, a new dynast by conquest, as had been done previously by the likes of Heraclius and Leo III. Contemporary scholar George of Trebizond wrote "the seat of the Roman Empire is Constantinople... and he who is and remains Emperor of the Romans is also the Emperor of the whole world".
Gennadius II, a staunch antagonist of the West because of the Sack of Constantinople committed by the Western Catholics and theological controversies between the two Churches, had been enthroned the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople-New Rome with all the ceremonial elements and ethnarch status by the Sultan himself in 1454. In turn, Gennadius II formally recognized Mehmed as successor to the throne. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family; his predecessor, Sultan Orhan had married a Byzantine princess, and Mehmed may have claimed descent from John Tzelepes Komnenos. Ottoman sultans were not the only rulers to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Frederick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by Pope Leo III in 800, although he was never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire.
In diplomatic writings between the Ottomans and Austrians, the Ottoman bureaucracy was angered by their use of the Caesar title when the Ottomans saw themself as the true successors of Rome. When war broke out and peace negotiations were done, the Austrians agreed to give up the use of the Caesar title according to Treaty of Constantinople (1533). The Russians, who defined Moscow as the Third Rome, were similarly sanctioned by the Ottomans, who ordered the Crimean Khanate to raid Russia on numerous occasions. The Ottomans stopped claiming political superiority over the Holy Roman Empire with the Treaty of Zsitvatorok in 1606, and over the Russian Empire with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, by diplomatically recognising the monarchs of these two countries as equals to the Ottoman Sultan for the first time.

List of holders

Note: Caesars who later became Augusti and thus emperors are highlighted in bold.
CoinNameAccededRelinquishedReasonReigning EmperorRelationR.
Piso Licinianus10 January 6915 January 69murderedGalbaAdopted son
Titus21 December 6924 June 79succeeded as augustusVespasianSon
Domitian21 December 6914 September 81succeeded as augustusVespasian/TitusSon/Brother
Flaviusafter AD 74before AD 83 died as a childDomitianSon
TrajanLate October 9728 January 98succeeded as augustusNervaAdopted son
Lucius AeliusJune/August 1361 January 138died of illnessHadrianAdopted son
Antoninus Pius25 February 13810 July 138succeeded as augustusHadrianAdopted son
Marcus AureliusLate 1397 March 161succeeded as augustusAntoninus PiusSon-in-law
Annius Verus Caesar|Annius Verus]12 October 16610 September 169died of a tumorMarcus Aurelius/Lucius VerusSon/Nephew
Commodus12 October 166Summer 177proclaimed augustusMarcus Aurelius/Lucius VerusSon/Nephew
Pertinax MinorJanuary 193March 193title revokedPertinaxSon
Clodius Albinustitle revokedSeptimius Severus–
Caracalla4 April 19628 January 198proclaimed augustusSeptimius SeverusSon
Geta28 January 198 October 209proclaimed augustusSeptimius SeverusSon/Brother
DiadumenianApril 217May 218proclaimed augustusMacrinusSon
Severus AlexanderJune 22114 March 222succeeded as augustusElagabalusAdopted son and cousin
Sallustius 227 227executedSeverus AlexanderFather-in-law
Verus MaximusJanuary/May 236May/June 238murderedMaximinus ThraxSon
Gordian IIIApril/May 238August 238succeeded as augustusBalbinus/Pupienus–
Philip IIAugust 244July/August 247proclaimed augustusPhilip the ArabSon
Herennius EtruscusSeptember 250May 251proclaimed augustusDeciusSon
HostilianSeptember 250June 251succeeded as augustusDeciusSon
Volusianus July 251 August 251proclaimed augustusTrebonianus GallusSon
Valerian II September 256Summer 258murdered?Valerian/GallienusGrandson/Son
Saloninus June 258 July 260proclaimed augustusValerian/GallienusGrandson/Son
CarinusNovember 282Spring 283proclaimed augustusCarusSon
NumerianNovember 282July 283succeeded as augustusCarus/CarinusSon/Brother
Maximian 21 July 2851 April 286succeeded as augustusDiocletian –
Constantius I1 March 2931 May 305succeeded as augustusMaximian Son-in-law
Galerius21 March 2931 May 305succeeded as augustusDiocletian Son-in-law
Severus II1 May 305August 306succeeded as augustusMaximian –
Maximinus II1 May 305May 310succeeded as augustusGalerius Nephew
Constantine IAugust 306May 310recognized as augustusGalerius/Licinius Brothers-in-law
Licinius II1 March 31719 September 324deposedLicinius Son
Crispus1 March 317 March 326executedConstantine ISon
Constantine II1 March 3179 September 337succeeded as augustusConstantine ISon
Constantius II8 November 3249 September 337succeeded as augustusConstantine ISon
Constans I25 December 3339 September 337succeeded as augustusConstantine ISon
Dalmatius18 September 335June/Aug. 337murderedConstantine INephew
DecentiusJuly/August 35018 August 353committed suicideMagnentius Brother
Constantius Gallus15 March 351Late 354executedConstantius IIHalf-cousin
Julian II6 November 3553 November 361succeeded as augustusConstantius IICousin
Constans II408409 / 410proclaimed augustusConstantine III/Honorius Son/-
Valentinian III23 October 42423 October 425proclaimed augustusTheodosius II Half-cousin
Palladius17 March 45531 May 455executed by AvitusMaximus Son
Patricius 470 471deposed or executedLeo I Son-in-law
Leo II October 47217 November 473proclaimed augustusLeo I Son
Marcus475475proclaimed augustusBasiliscus Son
Basiliscus476477executedZeno –
Justinian I5251 April 527proclaimed augustusJustin IAdopted son
Tiberius II7 December 57426 September 578proclaimed augustusJustin IIAdopted son
Germanus5 August 582by 11 August 582rejected the titleTiberius IISon-in-law
Maurice5 August 58213 August 582proclaimed augustusTiberius IISon-in-law
Theodosius 58726 March 590proclaimed augustusMauriceSon
Heraclonas1 January 6324 July 638proclaimed augustusHeracliusSon
David Tiberius4 July 638November 641proclaimed augustusHeracliusSon
Martinus4 July 638 November 641deposedHeracliusSon
Constans IIc. February 641c. July 641title revoked,
later proclaimed augustus		Heraclius ConstantineSon
Nikephoros and
Christopher		1 April 76925 December 780title revokedConstantine VSons
Alexios Mosele831842retiredTheophilosSon-in-law
Bardas22 April 86222 April 866murderedMichael IIIUncle
Romanos I Lekapenos24 September 92017 December 920proclaimed augustusConstantine VIIFather-in-law
Bardas Phokas the Elder963c. 968diedNikephoros II PhokasFather
Romanos III Argyros9 November 102811 November 1028succeeded as augustusConstantine VIIISon-in-law
Michael V Kalaphates103513 December 1041succeeded as augustusMichael IV the PaphlagonianNephew and adopted son
Isaac I Komnenosc. 21 August 105730 August 1057crowned emperorMichael VI BringasAdopted son
John Doukasc. 10601074proclaimed emperor Constantine X Doukas
Michael VII Doukas		Brother
Uncle

Byzantine nobles

After Alexios I Komnenos created the new title of sebastokrator for his brother Isaac Komnenos, caesar fell to second in the court hierarchy of titles and ceased to be used to designate potential heirs of the emperor. Alexios' grandson Manuel I Komnenos further devalued the title after bestowing the title of despotes upon his son-in-law and heir Béla-Alexios, demoting caesar to third place where it would remain until the Fall of Constantinople nearly three hundred years later.
A number of foreign rulers were given the title of caesar as recognition of the emperor's authority whilst continuing to remain independent rulers.
;Serbian rulers
;Ottoman rulers