CAESAR. Caesar was a cognomen of the Julian family, whose most eminent member was Caius Julius Caesar, the great soldier, statesman, orator, and author (102-44 b.c.). Caesar was the last of a series of commanders who, for a full cent. of constitutional crises and civil strife, had used the power of the army to impose political solutions for Rome’s recurrent breakdowns of law and order, a pernicious practice which was ultimately to destroy the Rom. state.

Although he was assassinated in 44 b.c., Caesar’s heritage was passed to Octavianus, his adoptive heir, who by legal process became Caius Octavianus Caesar, later termed Augustus. Caesar thus became the dynastic name of all the emperors down to Hadrian (a.d. 117-138), and subsequently of the heir-presumptive. Tsar and Kaiser are derivations of the same title. (See Matt 22:17, 21; Mark 12:14, 16; Luke 2:1; 3:1; 20:22; 23:2; John 19:12; Acts 11:28; 17:7; Phil 4:22.)