![]() In others, Ascanius was the son of Creüsa, while Iulus was the son of Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, the king of Latium with whom Aeneas made peace after landing in Italy. In some accounts, Iulus was the son of Aeneas and Creüsa, who came to Latium from the ruins of Troy, together with his father and others seeking a land in which to settle. The gens claimed descent from Iulus, who was in some manner connected with Aeneas, although the traditions differed with respect to the details. Iulus, also written as Iullus and Julus, was the surname of the eldest branch of the Julii to appear in Roman history. Lucius Julius lulus, the first actual recorded member of the gens Other Julii are descended from the numerous freedmen, and it may have been assumed by some out of vanity and ostentation. Examples of this include Julius Florus, and Gaius Julius Marathas. Due to the popularity of the Julii during the reign of the Julii kings, a number of romans Julius as their gentilicum, though have no other connection to the Julii. On coins the only names which we find are Caesar, lulus, and Bursio. The family-names of the Julii are Caesar, Iulus, Mento, Libo, and Brusio, of which the first three are undoubtedly patrician but the only families which were particularly celebrated were those of Iulus and Caesar. As the royal family set the example by using titles and cognomina as praenomina, and regularly changing their praenomina to reflect the political winds of the kingdom. Classical Latin did not distinguish between the letters "I" and "J", which were both written with "I", and for this reason the name is sometimes written Julus, just as Julius is also written Iulius.ĭuring the reign of the Julii as kings, the gens did not limit themselves to the praenomina of that family. The name was later revived as a praenomen. The gens was always said to have descended from and been named after a mythical personage named Iulus or Iullus, even before he was asserted to be the son of Aeneas and it is entirely possible that Iulus was an ancient praenomen, which had fallen out of use by the early Republic, and was preserved as a cognomen by the eldest branch of the Julii. In the later Republic and imperial times, Vopiscus and Proculus were generally used as personal cognomina. The earliest of the Julii appearing in legend bore the praenomen Proculus, and it is possible that this name was used by some of the early Julii, although no later examples are known. There are also instances of Vopiscus and Spurius in earlier generations, and Gnaeus in later generations. The Julii mainly used the praenomina Lucius, Gaius, and Sextus. Though modern critics have inferred that no historical argument can be drawn from the mere name occurring in this legend. It was Proculus Julius who was said to have informed the sorrowing Roman people, after the strange departure of Romulus from the world, that their king had descended from heaven and appeared to him, bidding him tell the people to honor him in future as a god, under the name of Quirinus. Though it would seem that the Julii first came to Roma in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the name occurs in Roman legend as early as the time of Romulus. ![]() The king, Sextus Julius Caesar frequently alluded to the divine origin of the gens, as, for instance, in the funeral oration which he pronounced when quaestor over his aunt Julia, and subsequent writers and poets were ready enough to fall in with a belief which flattered the pride and exalted the origin of the royal family. Other traditions held that lulus was the son of Aeneas by his Trojan wife, Creusa, while Ascanius was the son of Aeneas and Lavinia, daughter of Latinus. In order to prove the identity of Ascanius and lulus, recourse was had to etymology. Aeneas was, in turn, the son of Venus and Anchises. In the 6th century, the gens began to claim a divine origin, it was contended that lulus, the mythical ancestor of the race, was the same as Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, and founder of Alba Longa. Some of the Julii may have settled at Bovillae after the fall of Alba Longa. Their connection with Bovillae is also implied by the sacrarium, or chapel, which the king Sextus Julius Caesar dedicated to the gens in the town, and in which he placed the statue of himself. The Julii also existed at an early period at Bovillae, evidenced by a very ancient inscription on an altar in the theatre of that town, which speaks of their offering sacrifices according to the Alban rites. The Julii were of Alban origin, mentioned as one of the leading Alban houses, which Tullus Hostilius removed to Rome upon the destruction of Alba Longa.
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