That’s when Constantinople, the tiniest remnant of what was once the mighty Roman empire, fell to the Ottomans. It was taken on by Octavius, who became “Caesar Augustus” and by emperors all the way through the 14th century AD. It became less of a name and more of a title. Although the name “Caesar” started out as the general’s proper name-or “cognomen,” as it was known then-it quickly took on a broader meaning. We’ve already talked about Caesar’s name, but here’s one more fact. It was used well into the 1500s, when it was usurped by the Gregorian calendar we use today. His new system, which divided the year into the 12 months we know today, was called-you guessed it-the Julian calendar. The fifth month, Quintilis, became Julius, what we now call “July.” The sixth month, Sextilis, became Augustus, or today’s “August.”Ĭaesar also reformed the old and inaccurate Roman calendar, which was three months ahead of the solar calendar.
In recognition of the great deeds performed by Caesar and Augustus, two months in the ancient Roman calendar were renamed. He took on the name “Augustus,” signaling his attainment of supreme power across the Roman world. Octavius eventually became the first Roman emperor. “Gaius” comes from the Latin verb “gaudere,” meaning “to rejoice.” It's the origin of the English words "enjoy" and possibly "jolly." Caesar’s great-nephew, and his successor, was also named Gaius Gaius Octavius. “Gens,” by the way, comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to be born.”Ĭaesar’s actual first name-his “praenomen,” in Latin-was Gaius. Rather, it referred to his clan: clan Julius.Ī clan-known as a “gens” in Roman times-was a group of families bound together by their belief in a common origin and their use of common religious rites. In other words, it wasn’t a name his parents picked out because they like it. Caesar’s action was decisive it was an unmistakable act of war.Įver since, the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” has meant any step someone takes that commits them irrevocably to a new course of action.Īnother interesting fact is that the “Julius” in “Julius Caesar” wasn’t the general’s first name. In crossing the Rubicon, Caesar broke the law because generals were not allowed to move their armies out of the province to which they were assigned. But the first official stroke in the war was taken by Caesar when he marched his troops out of their province in Gaul (the region we call France today), across a small river, and into Italy. The Roman civil war had been brought about by political infighting too complicated to explain here. That Latin word is the origin of our English words "title," "tilde" (the little squiggle you see over the letter N in Spanish), and "tittle" (the name of the dot over the lowercase letters I and J).Ĭaesar 'crossed the Rubicon' literally, not figuratively “Veni, vidi, vici” was inscribed on a large placard called a “titulus,” that was carried at the head of the parade.
When Caesar returned triumphantly to Rome, he held a victory parade. Caesar and his armies defeated Pharnaces within five days of their arrival at Zela-and after only four hours of fighting. This wasn’t just a boast his victory was super fast. After defeating King Pharnaces of Pontus at the city of Zela in 47 B.C., he sent a letter back to his friend Amintius in Rome. 'Veni, vidi, vici' means 'I came, I saw, I conquered'Ĭaesar made his “veni, vidi, vici” proclamation after winning in the three-sided civil war that rocked the Roman empire in the first century BC.
Here are a few things you might not know about this phrase and about Caesar.