CAESAR

caesar, sir julius (1557-1558-1636), english judge, descended by the female line from the dukes de' cesarini in italy, was born near tottenham in middlesex. he was educated at magdalen hall, oxford, and afterwards studied at the university of paris, where in the year 1581 he was made a doctor of the civil law. two years later he was admitted to the same degree at oxford, and also became doctor of the canon law. he held many high offices during the reigns of elizabeth and james i., including a judgeship of the admiralty court (1584), a mastership in chancery (1588), a mastership of the court of requests (1595), chancellor and under treasurer of the exchequer (1606). he was knighted by king james in 1603, and in 1614 was appointed master of the rolls, an office which he held till his death on the 18th of april 1636, he was so remarkable for his bounty and charity to all persons of worth that it was said of him that he seemed to be the almoner-general of the nation. his manuscripts, many of which are now in the british museum, were sold by auction in 1757 for upwards of £500. see e. lodge, _life of sir julius caesar_ (1810); wood, _fasti oxonienses_, ed. bliss; foss, _lives of the judges_. caesarea mazaca (mod. _kaisarieh_), chief town of a sanjak in the angora vilayet of asia minor. mazaca, the residence of the kings of cappadocia, later called _eusebea_ (perhaps after ariarathes eusebes), and named _caesarea_ probably by claudius, stood on a low spur on the north side of erjies dagh (_m. argaeus_). the site, now called _eski-shehr_, shows only a few traces of the old town. it was taken by tigranes and destroyed by the persian king shapur (sapor) i. after his defeat of valerian in a.d. 260. at this time it is stated to have contained 400,000 inhabitants. in the 4th century basil, when bishop, established an ecclesiastical centre on the plain, about 1 m. to the north-east, and this gradually supplanted the old town. a portion of basil's new city was surrounded with strong walls and turned into a fortress by justinian; and within the walls, rebuilt in the 13th and 16th centuries, lies the greater part of kaisarieh, altitude 3500 ft. the town was captured by the seljuk sultan, alp arslan, 1064, and by the mongols, 1243, before passing to the osmanli turks. its geographical situation has made it a place of commercial importance throughout history. it lay on the ancient trade route from sinope to the euphrates, on the persian "royal road" from sardis to susa, and on the great roman highway from ephesus to the east. it is still the most important trade centre in eastern asia minor. the town is noted for its fruit, especially its vines; and it exports tissues, carpets, hides, yellow berries and dried fruit. kaisarieh is the headquarters of the american mission in cappadocia, which has several churches and schools for boys and girls and does splendid medical work. it is the seat of a greek bishop, an armenian archbishop and a roman catholic bishop, and there is a jesuit school. on the 30th of november 1895 there was a massacre of armenians, in which several gregorian priests and protestant pastors lost their lives. pop., according to cuinet, 71,000 (of whom 26,000 are christians). sir c. wilson gave it as 50,000 (23,000 christians). (c. w. w.; j. g. c. a.)