November 1, 2025

Foro Romano - continued

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.

At the site where his body was cremated and where Mark Antony delivered his famous funeral oration, Caesar’s grand-nephew and adopted son, Augustus (the first emperor of the Roman Empire), built the Temple of Caesar.

Ionic columns from the structure still remain today.

Caesar’s full name was Gaius Julius Caesar, meaning Gaius of the Caesar family, which belonged to the Julian clan (gens Julia).

Incidentally, the clan name Julius implies descent from Jupiter, the chief god of Roman mythology and equivalent to Zeus, the all-powerful god in Greek mythology.

Caesar is the most famous general and politician in Roman history.

He is widely known for his characteristic sayings such as:

“The die is cast.”

“I came, I saw, I conquered.”

“Et tu, Brute?” (“Brutus, you too?”)

He was the most ambitious man in ancient Rome and ultimately became dictator for life, but was eventually killed by Brutus and his fellow conspirators.

After his death, the name Caesar became an imperial title, used be successive Roman emperors from Augustus (the first emperor) to Hadrian.

It is also the origin of the German word Kaiser (emperor) and the Russian czar (or tsar).

The term Cesarean section (in German, Kaiserschnitt) refers to the surgical procedure of delivering a baby by cutting open the uterus.

This name comes from the legend that Caesar himself was born through such an operation.

Among Japanese physicians, the procedure is commonly abbreviated as Teisetsu or simply called Kaiser.

The Japanese term teiō sekkai, literally "emperor incision" is a translation of the German Kaiserschnitt.

However, in ancient times, it would have been impossible for both mother and child to survive such a surgery.

Thus, it is highly unlikely that Caesar was actually born by Cesarean section.

In front of the Temple of Caesar stands a soot-darkened stone tablet.

In ancient times, such white stone boards were set up throughout the Roman Forum.

They served as official noticeboards for citizens and were called album.

The Latin word albus means "white".

The word album, now used for photo books, originally referred to a collection of white pages.

There are many white things beginning with alb or alp.

For example:

In church ceremonies, the white robes worn by priests and believers are called alb.

The Alps mountains, the albatross (a large white seabird) – all share this root meaning “white.”

In the field of medicine as well, there are many examples:

Albumin (a type of protein)

Linea alba (the white line in the abdomen)

Albino (a person or animal lacking pigmentation)

Albism (albinism)

Corpus albicans (the scar tissue formed from the corpus luteum in the ovary)

Candida albicans (a species of yeast with a whitish appearance)

 -all derived from the same Latin root for “white.”

to be continued