Caesares

Caesares is the Latin plural of Caesar. In classical Roman usage, Caesar began as a family name of the Julian clan and became a title after Julius Caesar’s prominence. Following the rise of the principate, Caesar came to function as an official title borne by the emperor and, for a time, by designated heirs. In surviving inscriptions and imperial titulature, rulers may be referred to as Imperator Caesar (often with a given name or epithet), thus Caesares can denote the successive holders of the office who bore the title Caesar. In historiography, the term is used to group together the emperors and notable figures who used Caesar as part of their name or title.

The Caesares as a titulary marker helped cement imperial succession and the public perception of authority in the late Republic and early Empire. The usage of Caesar as a dynastic name contributed to a broader cultural legacy; in modern languages, the title inspired forms such as Kaiser (German) and Tsar (Russian and Slavic). The term’s primary reference remains within Roman history, where Julius Caesar’s ascent and the adoption of his name by successors established a long-lasting tradition of Caesar as a symbol of imperial power.

Caesares is rarely used outside scholarly contexts, but it appears in Latin texts and modern historiography to indicate multiple Caesars or rulers bearing the title.