Gaius Caesar

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Portrait head of Gaius Caesar in the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe

Gaius (Iulius) Caesar (* 20 BC ; † February 21, 4 AD in Limyra , Lycia ) was an adopted son of the Roman emperor Augustus and his designated successor until his death.

Life

Gaius Caesar was the eldest son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Iulia , daughter of Augustus. He still had four siblings: the brothers Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus and the sisters Iulia and Agrippina the elder .

Since the year 1 BC He was married to Livilla , the daughter of the older Drusus and the younger Antonia .

Chosen by Augustus as possible successors, he and his younger brother Lucius were 17 BC. Adopted by this. Gaius Caesar took on numerous offices and titles, including that of princeps iuventutis ("leader of the chivalrous youth"). 4 v. He was designated consul and pontiff for the year 1 AD .

2 v. Gaius Caesar was endowed with an imperium maius and sent to the east of the Roman Empire, where, after a long journey mainly through the Greek area and a meeting with Tiberius , a stepson of Augustus, on January 1, 1 AD . took up his consulate.

He was wounded during the siege of Artagira in Armenia and died on the way home in Limyra in Lycia , where a cenotaph was erected in his honor . Since his brother Lucius had already died in AD 2, Augustus determined his stepson Tiberius , the eldest son of his wife Livia , and Agrippa Postumus as new heirs and presumptive successors by adoption.

literature

  • Jürgen Borchhardt: A cenotaph for Gaius Caesar. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute 89, 1974, pp. 217–241.
  • J. Bert Lott: Death and Dynasty in Early Imperial Rome Key Sources, with Text, Translation, and Commentary. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0-5216-7778-3 , pp. 6-12. 339-340 (English).
  • Peter Herz, In: Joachim Ganzert: The cenotaph for Gaius Caesar in Limyra. Architecture and building ornamentation (= Istanbul Research. Volume 35). Tübingen 1984, ISBN 3-803017-56-4 , p. 178.
  • Henner von Hesberg , Silvio Panciera: The mausoleum of Augustus. The building and its inscriptions. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7696-0103-3 , pp. 98-108 (Italian).
  • John Pollini : The Portraiture of Gaius and Lucius Caesar. Fordham University Press, New York 1987, ISBN 978-0-8232-1127-2 (English).
  • Paul Zanker : Augustus and the power of images. 2nd Edition. Beck, Munich 1990, pp. 218-226.

Gaius Caesar is also treated in all Augustus biographies.

Web links

Commons : Gaius Caesar  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Caesar, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Caesar, Gaius Iulius; Iulius Caesar, Gaius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Adopted son of Augustus
DATE OF BIRTH 20 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 4
Place of death Limyra , Lycia