The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization | Caesar, Julius
Caesar, Julius (Gaius Iulius Caesar), born 100 BC (Suetonius Divus Iulius 88. 1), of a patrician family without social equals, as descendants of Venus and Aeneas, but with little recent political success. His father's sister Iulia married Gaius Marius, and her cousins Lucius Iulius Caesar and Gaius Iulius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus profited by his unforeseen success, but Caesar's father never became consul. Lucius Cornelius Cinna, while in power, gave Caesar his daughter Cornelia in marriage and made him flamen Dialis as successor to Lucius Cornelius Merula—a post of supreme honour but normally precluding a consulship (no doubt thought unattainable). Sulla, after his victory, annulled his enemies' measures, including this appointment, but as a fellow patrician spared Caesar's life, even though he refused to divorce Cornelia and...
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