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Lucius Caesar
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Lucius Caesar (17 BC – 20 August 2 AD) was a grandson of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. The son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, Augustus' only daughter, Lucius was adopted by his grandfather along with his older brother, Gaius Caesar. As the emperor's adopted sons and joint-heirs to the Roman Empire, Lucius and Gaius had promising political and military careers. However, Lucius died of a sudden illness on 20 August 2 AD, in Massilia, Gaul, while traveling to meet the Roman army in Hispania. His brother Gaius also died at a relatively young age on 21 February 4 AD. The untimely loss of both heirs compelled Augustus to redraw the line of succession by adopting Lucius' younger brother, Agrippa Postumus as well as his stepson, Tiberius on 26 June 4 AD.
Key Information
Background
[edit]Lucius' father Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was an early supporter of Augustus (then "Octavius") during the Final War of the Roman Republic that ensued as a result of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. He was a key general in Augustus' armies, commanding troops in pivotal battles against Mark Antony and Sextus Pompeius. From early in the emperor's reign, Agrippa was trusted to handle affairs in the eastern provinces and was even given the signet ring of Augustus, who was seemingly on his deathbed in 23 BC, a sign that he would become princeps were Augustus to die. It is probable that he was to rule until the emperor's nephew, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, came of age. However, Marcellus died of an illness that had spread throughout the city of Rome that year.[2][3][4]
With Marcellus gone, Augustus arranged for the marriage of Agrippa to his daughter Julia the Elder, who was previously the wife of Marcellus. Agrippa was given tribunicia potestas ("the tribunician power") in 18 BC, a power that only the emperor and his immediate heir could hope to attain. The tribunician power allowed him to control the Senate, and it was first given to Julius Caesar. Agrippa acted as tribune in the Senate to pass important legislation and, though he lacked some of the emperor's power and authority, he was approaching the position of co-regent.[4][5][6]
Early life and family
[edit]Lucius was born in Rome in 17 BC to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia. He was part of the imperial family of Augustus, known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and was related to all the Julio-Claudian emperors. On his mother's side, he was the second oldest grandson of emperor Augustus after his brother Gaius. He was the brother-in-law of Tiberius by his half-sister Vipsania Agrippina, and Claudius by his sister Agrippina the Elder's marriage to Germanicus. Lucius' nephew was the future emperor Caligula, who was Germanicus' son.[7]
Having no heir since the death of Marcellus, Augustus immediately adopted Lucius and his brother from their father by a symbolic sale following Lucius' birth, and named the two boys his heirs.[8] It is unknown what their father thought of the adoption.[9] Shortly after their adoption in the summer, Augustus held the fifth ever Ludi Saeculares ("Secular Games"). The adoption of the boys coupled with the games served to introduce a new era of peace – the Pax Augusta. Augustus, mostly by himself, taught Gaius and Lucius how to read and swim, as well as how to imitate his own handwriting. He insisted that they earn the applause of people, instead of allowing them to receive it freely. Their adoptive father initiated them into administrative life when they were still young, and sent them to the provinces as consuls-elect.[10]
That year (17 BC) Lucius' family left for the province of Syria, because his father was given command of the eastern provinces with proconsular authority (imperium maius).[11] In 13 BC, his father returned to Rome and was promptly sent to Pannonia to suppress a rebellion. Agrippa arrived there that winter (in 12 BC), but the Pannonians gave up their plans. Agrippa returned to Campania in Italy, where he fell ill and died soon after.[12] The death of Lucius' father made succession a pressing issue. The aurei and denarii issued in 13–12 BC made clear the Emperor's dynastic plans for Lucius and Gaius. Their father was no longer available to assume the reins of power if the Emperor were to die, and Augustus had to make it clear who his intended heirs were in case anything should happen.[13]
Career
[edit]
Augustus brought Lucius to the Forum Romanum in 2 BC to enroll him as a citizen. The event was made into a ceremony the same as Gaius' enrollment had been three years prior. Lucius assumed the toga virilis ("toga of manhood"), marking the beginning of his adulthood, and he too was made princeps iuventutis ("leader of the youth"). Like Gaius, he was elected consul designatus, with the intent that he assume the consulship at the age of nineteen. There was only one difference in his titles from those of Gaius: that he was made a member of the college of augurs whereas Gaius was made a pontifex ("pontiff"). Augustus distributed 60 denarii to each Roman citizen to mark the occasion.[14][15]
That same year, before his brother Gaius left for the east, Lucius and Gaius were given the authority to consecrate buildings, and they did, with their management of the games held to celebrate the dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor (1 August 2 BC). Their younger brother, Postumus, participated in the Trojan games with the rest of the equestrian youth. 260 lions were slaughtered in the Circus Maximus, there was gladiatorial combat, a naval battle between the "Persians" and the "Athenians", and 36 crocodiles were slaughtered in the Circus Flaminius.[16][17]
While Gaius was in Armenia, Lucius had been sent by Augustus to complete his military training in Hispania. While on the way to his post, he fell ill and died on 20 August AD 2 in Massalia, Gaul.[18] His death was followed by that of Gaius on 21 February AD 4. In the span of 18 months, the succession of Rome was shaken.[19] The death of both Gaius and Lucius, the Emperor's two most favored heirs, led Augustus to adopt his stepson, Tiberius, and his sole remaining grandson, Postumus Agrippa as his new heirs on 26 June AD 4.[20]
Post mortem
[edit]The two heirs received many honours by citizens and city officials of the Empire, including Colonia Obsequens Iulia Pisana (Pisa), where it was decreed that proper rites had to be observed by matrons to lament their deaths. Temples, public baths, and shops shut their doors as women wept inconsolably. Posthumously the Senate voted honours for the young Caesars, and arranged for the golden spears and shields the boys had received on achieving the age of military service to be hung in the Senate House.[21] The caskets containing their ashes were stored in the Mausoleum of Augustus alongside those of their father Agrippa and other members of the imperial family.[21]
Tacitus and Cassius Dio both suggested that there may have been foul play involved in the deaths of Gaius and Lucius, and that Lucius's step-grandmother Livia may have had a hand in their deaths, presumably to orchestrate the accession of her own son Tiberius as heir to Augustus. Tiberius was named the heir of Augustus in AD 4.[22][23]
Ancestry
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In popular culture
[edit]- Lucius and his brother Gaius both appear as characters in the 1976 TV series I, Claudius; the series reverses the order of their deaths, with Gaius dying first. Lucius was played by Russell Lewis as a child and Simon MacCorkindale as an adult.[25]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ PIR2 I 220
- ^ Bunson 2002, p. 10
- ^ Southern 2013, p. 203
- ^ a b Dunstan 2010, p. 274
- ^ Rowe 2002, pp. 52–54
- ^ Scullard 2013, p. 216
- ^ Wood 1999, p. 321
- ^ Historia Augusta (1921). "6. Avidius Cassius". Historia Augusta. doi:10.4159/dlcl.historia_augusta_avidius_cassius.1921.
- ^ Davies & Swain 2010, p. 284
- ^ Powell 2015, pp. 159–160
- ^ Powell 2015, p. 161
- ^ Historia Augusta (1921). "6. Avidius Cassius". Historia Augusta. doi:10.4159/dlcl.historia_augusta_avidius_cassius.1921.
- ^ Wood 1999, p. 65
- ^ Richardson 2012, p. 153
- ^ Gibson 2012, p. 21
- ^ Historia Augusta (1921). "6. Avidius Cassius". Historia Augusta. doi:10.4159/dlcl.historia_augusta_avidius_cassius.1921.
- ^ Lott 2004, pp. 124–125
- ^ Mommsen 1996, p. 107
- ^ Suetonius (2008). Edwards, Catharine (ed.). Lives of the Caesars. Oxford World's Classics. Translated by Edwards, Catharine. doi:10.1093/actrade/9780199537563.book.1. ISBN 9780199537563.
- ^ Pettinger 2012, p. 235
- ^ a b Powell 2015, p. 192
- ^ Historia Augusta (1921). "6. Avidius Cassius". Historia Augusta. doi:10.4159/dlcl.historia_augusta_avidius_cassius.1921.
- ^ Tacitus (2009). Agricola and Germany. Oxford World's Classics. Translated by Birley, Anthony R. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00129050. ISBN 978-0-19-953926-0.
- ^ Bartsch 2017, p. ix
- ^ "Earl Rhodes". IMDb. 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
Bibliography
[edit]Ancient sources
[edit]- Cassius Dio, Roman History Book 55, English translation
- Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Life of Augustus, Latin text with English translation
- Tacitus, Annals, I, English translation
Modern sources
[edit]- Bartsch, Shadi (2017), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-05220-8
- Bunson, Matthew (2002), Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, Facts on File, ISBN 0-8160-4562-3
- Davies, Mark Everson; Swain, Hilary (2010), Aspects of Roman History 82BC-AD14: A Source-based Approach, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-135-15160-7
- Dunstan, William E. (2010), Ancient Rome, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7425-6834-1
- Gibson, Alisdair (2012), The Julio-Claudian Succession: Reality and Perception of the "Augustan Model", Brill, ISBN 9789004231917
- Mommsen, Theodor (1996), A History of Rome Under the Emperors, UK: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-10113-1
- Pettinger, Andrew (2012), The Republic in Danger: Drusus Libo and the Succession of Tiberius, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-960174-5
- Powell, Lindsay (2015), Marcus Agrippa:Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus, Pen & Sword Military, ISBN 978-1-84884-617-3
- Lott, J. Bertt (2004), The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-82827-7
- Richardson, J.S. (2012), Augustan Rome 44 BC to AD 14: The Restoration of the Republic and the Establishment of the Empire, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1954-2
- Rowe, Greg (2002), Princes and Political Cultures: The New Tiberian Senatorial Decress, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0-472-11230-9
- Scullard, H. H. (2013), From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome 133 BC to AD 68, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-78386-9
- Southern, Patricia (2013), Augustus, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-58956-2
- Wood, Susan E. (1999), Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B.C. – A.D. 68, Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 9789004119505
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1873). "C. Caesar and L. Caesar". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. pp. 555–556.
External links
[edit]- statue of Lucius Caesar Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
Lucius Caesar
View on GrokipediaLucius Caesar (17 BC – AD 2) was a Roman prince of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the younger son of general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and emperor Augustus's daughter Julia the Elder, making him the emperor's grandson.[1][2]
Born in Rome, he was adopted by Augustus immediately after his birth as part of the emperor's efforts to secure a bloodline successor, jointly with his elder brother Gaius Caesar.[2][3]
Lucius received accelerated honors, including designation as princeps iuventutis (leader of the youth) in 2 BC, membership in major priesthoods, and election to the consulship for AD 1 while still underage, signaling his grooming for imperial rule.[1]
En route to govern Hispania in AD 2, he fell ill in Massilia (modern Marseille) and died shortly thereafter at age 18, an event that disrupted Augustus's dynastic plans and contributed to the eventual elevation of Tiberius as heir.[1][4]
His premature death, depicted symbolically on monuments like the Ara Pacis Augustae, underscored the fragility of Augustus's succession strategy reliant on young heirs.[5]
Family and Early Life
Birth and Parentage
Lucius Caesar was born in 17 BC as the younger son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a prominent Roman general and three-time consul, and Julia, the only natural child of Augustus.[3] His mother Julia had previously been married to Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Augustus's nephew, who died in 23 BC, prompting her union with Agrippa in 21 BC to secure the imperial succession line.[3] Lucius's elder brother, Gaius Caesar, had been born three years earlier in 20 BC, making the siblings central to Augustus's dynastic plans from infancy.[3][6] As grandson of Augustus through Julia—whose mother was Scribonia, from a senatorial family—Lucius entered the world amid efforts to blend imperial blood with Agrippa's proven military loyalty, elevating his patrician status despite Agrippa's equestrian origins.[3] Primary accounts from historians such as Suetonius and Cassius Dio confirm the parentage and timing, noting the birth's role in reinforcing Augustus's adoptive heir strategy shortly after Gaius's arrival.[7] No precise day is recorded in surviving sources, though the event occurred in Rome, aligning with the family's residence there during Agrippa's consulship preparations.[8] A younger brother, Agrippa Postumus, followed in 12 BC, completing the trio of sons intended to perpetuate the Julio-Claudian line.[3]Adoption by Augustus
In 17 BC, shortly after Lucius's birth, Augustus formally adopted him and his brother Gaius as his sons in a private ceremony conducted at the imperial residence.[7] The procedure, as recorded by Suetonius, involved Augustus symbolically purchasing the boys from their father, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to effect the legal transfer into his own familia under Roman adoption law.[7] This adoption elevated Lucius from Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa to Lucius Caesar, integrating him directly into the Julian-Caesarian lineage and positioning the brothers as Augustus's designated successors ahead of other potential claimants like Tiberius.[7] The timing coincided with preparations for the Ludi Saeculares, the secular games held that year to mark a new era under Augustus's rule, during which Gaius and the infant Lucius were publicly presented as future leaders wearing the toga praetexta and receiving senatorial acclamations. This act of adoption reinforced Augustus's dynastic strategy, ensuring continuity of power through blood ties to Julius Caesar while Agrippa, though still alive and influential as princeps sociorum, remained outside the adoptive Julian line.[7] No contemporary inscriptions or literary sources indicate coercion or irregularity in the process, which aligned with traditional Roman practices for securing heirs in elite families.Upbringing and Education
Lucius Caesar, following his adoption by Augustus in 17 BC, was raised within the imperial household on Rome's Palatine Hill, where he resided under the emperor's direct personal oversight alongside his elder brother Gaius.[9] As prospective heirs to the principate, the brothers were groomed from infancy for public life, benefiting from the privileges and expectations of the Julio-Claudian elite, including exposure to Roman aristocratic customs and the emperor's administrative routines.[5] Augustus assumed primary responsibility for the early education of Gaius and Lucius, personally instructing them in foundational skills such as reading and swimming while serving as their principal tutor.[10] He further emphasized physical conditioning by training them in boxing to foster agility and resilience, qualities deemed essential for future leaders. The emperor took meticulous care to instill precise penmanship, compelling the boys to replicate his own handwriting as part of their regimen.[7] This hands-on approach reflected Augustus's intent to mold them into exemplars of Roman virtue and governance, though ancient accounts provide scant detail on formal tutors or advanced rhetorical studies during their youth.[11] ![Lucius Caesar depicted on the Ara Pacis][float-right]The Ara Pacis Augustae, commissioned in 13 BC and dedicated in 9 BC, features reliefs portraying Lucius and Gaius as young heirs participating in imperial processions, symbolizing their integration into the state's ceremonial and dynastic fabric from an early age.[5]