Are There Any Living Descendants of Julius Caesar?

Many people have asked the question, “Are there any surviving descendants of Julius Caesar?” It is a question that I have encountered at least twice on Quora, so I figured I would post my answer to the question here. The answer is that, much like many other famous men, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar has no known living biological descendants. Although Julius Caesar did have offspring, all of his known offspring died without producing any known offspring of their own.

Julia Caesaris Filia (i.e. “Julia, daughter of Caesar”)

Julius Caesar’s only child that was born within the confines of legal wedlock was his daughter Julia Caesaris Filia (i.e. “Julia, daughter of Caesar”), who was born in around 76 BC. She was the daughter of Julius Caesar and his first wife Cornelia. She was married to Caesar’s close friend and ally, the Roman general Pompeius Magnus (i.e. “Pompey the Great”) in April 59 BC.

Julia Caesaris Filia eventually became pregnant with Pompey’s child, the grandchild of Caesar. She and the child both tragically died in childbirth in August 54 BC, however, leaving Caesar without any descendants. Her death is traditionally said to have marked the beginning of the unravelling of Caesar and Pompey’s friendship.

ABOVE: Fictional illustration from the Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, dating to 1553, depicting how the artist imagined Julia Caesaris Filia, the only legitimate child of Julius Caesar, might have looked.

Caesarion

Julius Caesar did eventually have one other known biological child, a son nicknamed “Caesarion,” who was born out of wedlock to Caesar and Kleopatra VII Philopator (i.e. “Cleopatra”), the queen of Egypt, on 23 June 47 BC. Caesarion was later murdered under the orders of Julius Caesar’s great-nephew and adoptive son, Octavian Caesar (later known as Augustus Caesar), on 23 August 30 BC.

According to the Greek biographer Ploutarchos of Chaironeia (lived c. 46 – c. 120 AD), Octavian ordered Caesarion’s murder on the advice of the Greek Stoic philosopher Areios Didymos of Alexandria, who warned him, “οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκαισαρίη.” This is Greek for, “It is not good to have too many Caesars.” In saying this, Areios Didymos was implying that Caesarion’s continued existence might undermine Octavian’s position as Julius Caesar’s sole legal heir.

At the time of his death, Caesarion was only seventeen years old and had produced no known biological offspring. Therefore, upon Caesarion’s death, the last of Julius Caesar’s known biological lines went totally extinct, leaving him with no known biological descendants.

ABOVE: Egyptian stylized head of Caesarion, the child of Julius Caesar and Kleopatra VII Philopator, who was murdered in 30 BC under the orders of Augustus Caesar

ABOVE: Fragment of an ancient Egyptian bas-relief depicting Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra

Other descendants?

It is possible that Julius Caesar may have had other illegitimate children whose names have been lost to history, since he was reportedly quite a ladies’ man, especially in his younger years, but, if he did have any, no reliable record of their existence has survived to the present day. Therefore, we can say that Julius Caesar definitely has no known biological descendants.

Descendants of Julius Caesar’s adoptive son Octavian

There probably are, however, surviving descendants of Augustus Caesar (the former Octavian), who was Julius Caesar’s great-nephew, adoptive son, and sole heir. Augustus only ever had one biological child that we know of: his daughter Julia the Elder, who was born on 30 October 39 BC to Augustus and his second wife Scribonia.

ABOVE: The Augustus of Prime Porta, a Roman marble statue of the emperor Augustus dating to the first century AD. Augustus was Julius Caesar’s adoptive son and heir.

Julia the Elder was married three times to various Roman noblemen and was notorious for her many extramarital affairs. She is known to have produced at least six children: Gaius Caesar, Julia the Younger, Lucius Caesar, Agrippina the Elder, Agrippa Postumus, and a son who died in infancy whose name is not recorded, but who has been dubbed by modern historians “Tiberillus.”

Of Julia the Elder’s known offspring, only Julia the Younger and Agrippina the Elder are known to have produced offspring, since all of her sons died before producing any known children. Through these two daughters, however, her line remained strong. The emperors Caligula and Nero were both among her many descendants. (Caligula was the son of Agrippina the Elder and Nero was the son of Caligula’s sister, Agrippina the Elder’s daughter Agrippina the Younger.)

There is a fairly good chance that there are people alive today who are descended from Julia the Elder and, through her, Augustus. Statistically speaking, if someone from two thousand years ago has any living descendants, then virtually everyone from the region is probably descended from them. That means that, if there are any surviving descendants of Julia the Elder, then probably almost everyone of Italian ancestry is one.

ABOVE: Roman marble head of Julia the Elder, the only child of Augustus Caesar, who was Julius Caesar’s adoptive son and heir.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, Julius Caesar had one legitimate daughter who died in childbirth along with her son while Caesar was still alive. Later Caesar had an illegitimate son who was murdered after Caesar’s death under the orders of Caesar’s adoptive son. Therefore, all Julius Caesar’s known biological lines are long extinct. There is, however, a decent chance that there are perhaps thousands or even millions of people who are descended from Julius Caesar’s adoptive son Augustus.