恺撒大帝的名字的希腊文写法为Καίσαρ,读作['kaisar].现代英语的读音弱化成了"西撒".中文的翻译很忠实原文.
Using the Latin alphabet as it existed in the day of Caesar (i.e.,without lower case letters,"J",or "U"),Caesar's name is properly rendered "GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR" (the form "CAIVS" is also attested using the old Roman pronunciation of letter C as G; it is an antique form of the more common "GAIVS").It is often seen abbreviated to "C.IVLIVS CAESAR".(The letterform "Æ" is a ligature,which is often encountered in Latin inscriptions where it was used to save space,and is nothing more than the letters "ae".) In Classical Latin,it was pronounced IPA ['gaːius 'juːlius 'kaisar].In the days of the late Roman Republic,many historical writings were done in Greek,a language most educated Romans studied.Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training,as was Caesar's principal assassin,Brutus.In Greek,during Caesar's time,his family name was written Καίσαρ,reflecting its contemporary pronunciation.Thus his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German Kaiser.Clearly,this German name was not derived from the Middle Ages Ecclesiastical Latin,in which the familiar part "Caesar" is [ˈtʃeːsar],from which the modern English pronunciation (a much-softened "SEE-zer") is derived.