Caesar as Title and Name: The Dual Function of καῖσαρ in Mark 12.14–17

Much has been written about Mark’s pericope on the payment of taxes to Caesar (Mk 12.14–17), but there has been no analysis of whether the word καῖσαρ functions as a title or a proper name. Nor is there a clear consensus as to when the cognomen Caesar became a title referring to the emperor and when the word καῖσαρ became a loanword integrated in Greek. This article analyses the evolution of the meaning of Caesar /καῖσαρ as well as its functions in Mk 12.14–17. The proposal made here is that the word καῖσαρ functions in Mk 12.14–17 simultaneously as a proper name and a title. This deliberate ambiguity allows the scene to function meaningfully both for Jesus’s context and the author’s own.