Family of Caesar

Cornelia Julius Caesar Julia Atius Balbus

Gaius
Pompey Julia Atia
Octavius
the Great
Adopted
Scribonia
Augustus Livia Tiberius Octavia Marc Antony
Claudius
Adopted Nero

Julia Tiberius Drusus

Claudius Antonia
Nero
Marcus Caecilia
Agrippa Attica
Vipsania

Drusus Caesar

Gaius Lucius Germanicus Claudius

Agrippina
Caesar* Caesar* Caesar*

Domitius Agrippina Gaius Drusus Julia Nero

Ahenobarbus Caesar Caesar Caesar
(Caligula)
Nero

* adopted by, but

Marriage Child Mentioned in the predeceased
New Testament Augustus

© 2002 Welch, Hall, FARMS Chart -

 Roman Administration
Chart 4-1

Family of Caesar

Explanation
In 48 B.C., Gaius Iulius Caesar, whom we call Julius Caesar, became sole ruler of the
Roman world. For the next century Rome and its empire were ruled by Caesar’s descen-
dants and heirs. The family had long been known as one of the most prestigious Roman
aristocratic clans, claiming descent from Iulus, son of Aeneas, Trojan prince and legendary
founder of the Roman race.
The Caesars belonged to the gens Iulia, or Julian clan. Their clan or first family name
was, therefore, Iulius or Julius, and the branch of the clan they belonged to was the Caesar
family whose cognomen was their second family name. The name Caesar later became a
title for any supreme ruler of Rome, but originally it referred to only one very distinguished
family.
Julius Caesar’s grandnephew and adopted son, Augustus, was the first Roman emperor.
Other family members were emperors during the era of the New Testament and early
Christianity, including Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The stemma that follows
depicts the family tree of the Caesars.

References
John F. Hall, “The Saeculum Novum of Augustus,” in Aufstieg und Niedergang der
Römischen Welt (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1986), 16 no. 2, 2564–89.
Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939).

Charting the New Testament, © 2002 Welch, Hall, FARMS