Caligula Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (August 31, 12 – January 24, 41), most commonly known as Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41. Caligula represents a turning point in the early history of the Principate. Known for his extreme extravagance, eccentricity, depravity and cruelty, he is remembered as a despot. He was assassinated in 41 by several of his own guards. Unfortunately, Caligula's reign is the most poorly documented of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The literary sources for these four years are meager, frequently anecdotal, and universally hostile. As a result, not only are many of the events of the reign unclear, but Caligula himself appears more as a caricature than a real person; a crazed megalomaniac given to capricious cruelty and hare-brained schemes. One popular tale is that Caligula appointed consul his favorite horse, Incitatus; the story, however, owes its unrelenting currency to its charm: it is based on a single misunderstood near-contemporary reference, in which Suetonius merely repeats an unattributed rumor that Caligula was thinking about doing it (Suet. Cal. 55.3). Caligula is often accused of having incestuous relationships with his sisters, most notably his younger sister Drusilla, but there is no credible evidence to support such claims either. Early Life Caligula was born as Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus on August 31, 12, at the resort of Antium (modern Anzio), the third of six surviving (of nine) children born to Augustus’s adopted grandson, Germanicus, and Augustus’s granddaughter, Agrippina the Elder. Germanicus was son to Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was an older brother to Claudius. Agrippina was daughter to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia Caesaris. They had four other sons (Tiberius and Gaius Julius, who died young; Nero, Drusus), and three daughters (Julia Livilla, Drusilla and Agrippina the younger). See Julio-Claudian Family Tree. Gaius' life started out promisingly, as he was the son of extremely famous parents. Germanicus was a grandson to Tiberius Nero of the gens Claudia and Livia as well as an adoptive grandson of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus of the gens Julia. He was thus a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and was revered as the most beloved general of the Roman Empire. Agrippina was herself a granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and Scribonia. She was considered a model of the perfect Roman woman. Caliga as a baby of just two or three, he accompanied his parents on military campaigns in the north of Germania and became the mascot of his father's army. The soldiers were amused whenever Agrippina would put a miniature soldier costume on young Gaius, and he was soon given his nickname "Caligula" (or Caligulae), meaning "Little (Soldier's) boots" in Latin, after the small boots he wore as part of his costume. ("Caligula" is formed from the Latin word caliga, meaning soldier's boot, and the diminutive infix -ul.) He would end up hating this name, but he also hated the name "Gaius". Caligula’s childhood was not a happy one, spent amid an atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion, and murder. Instability within the Julio-Claudian dynasty, generated by uncertainty over the succession, led to a series of personal tragedies. When his father died under suspicious circumstances on October 10, 19, relations between his mother and his grand-uncle, the reigning emperor Tiberius, deteriorated irretrievably, and the adolescent Caligula was sent to live first with his great-grandmother Livia in 27 and then, following Livia's death two years later, with his grandmother Antonia. Neither Livia nor Antonia had much time to watch Caligula, so the only comfort he had was with his three sisters. Stories of Caligula engaging in incest with his sisters (Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Julia Livilla) began around this time. Suetonius in particular writes much about these acts. Caligula's life was in constant danger. Tiberius's Praetorian Prefect, Sejanus, was extremely powerful, doing everything he could to gain power over Tiberius. This wasn't too difficult, as Sejanus had control of Rome while Tiberius retired to the island of Capri. Treason trials were commonly practiced, as Tiberius in his old age was growing increasingly paranoid and began to rely increasingly upon his friend Sejanus, who once saved his life. These trials were the main lever Sejanus used to strengthen his position and dispose of any opposition. From a very early age Caligula learned to tread very carefully. According to both Tacitus and Suetonius, he surpassed his brothers in intelligence, and was an excellent natural actor, realizing the danger when other members of his family could not. Caligula survived when most of the other potential candidates to the throne were destroyed. His mother Agrippina was banished to the tiny island of Pandataria, where she starved herself to death. His two oldest brothers, Nero and Drusus, also died. Nero was banished to the island of Ponza, while Drusus' body was found locked in a dungeon with stuffing from his mattress in his mouth to keep off the hunger pains. Shortly before the fall of Tiberius’s Praetorian Prefect, Sejanus, in 31, Caligula was summoned to join Tiberius at his villa on Capri, where he remained until his accession in 37. By this time, Caligula was already in favor with Tiberius. He was summoned to Capri to stay with Tiberius on one of the many villas on the island. Suetonius writes of extreme perversions happening on Capri, as Tiberius was without the people who managed to keep him in line (Augustus, Livia, his brother Drusus and best friend Nerva.) so he felt free to indulge in any perversion he desired. Whether this is true or not is hard to say. Unpopular Emperors such as Tiberius and Caligula may not have had the whole truth written about them, and gossip is common throughout ancient texts. Suetonius writes of Caligula's servile nature towards Tiberius, and his indifferent nature towards his dead mother and brothers. By his own account, Caligula mentioned years later that this servility was a sham in order to stay alive, and on more than one occasion he very nearly killed Tiberius when his anger overwhelmed him. An observer said of Caligula "Never was there a better servant or a worse master!" Caligula proved to have a flair for administration and won further favor with the ailing Tiberius by carrying out many of his duties for him. At night, Caligula would inflict torture on slaves and watch bloody gladiatorial games with glee. In 33 Tiberius gave Caligula the position of honorary quaestorship, the only form of public service Caligula would hold until his reign. Early Reign CaligulaWhen Tiberius died on March 16, 37, Caligula was in a perfect position to assume power, despite the obstacle of Tiberius’s will, which named him and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs. (Gemellus's life was shortened considerably by this bequest, since Caligula ordered him killed within a matter of months.) Suetonius writes that the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard Naevius Sutorius Macro smothered Tiberius with a pillow to hasten Caligula's accession. Backed by Macro, Caligula asserted his dominance. He had Tiberius’s will declared null and void on grounds of insanity, accepted the powers of the Principate as conferred by the Senate, and entered Rome on March 28 amid scenes of wild rejoicing. His first acts were generous in spirit: he gave cash bonuses to the Praetorian Guards, destroyed Tiberius's treason papers, declared that treason trials were a thing of the past, recalled exiles, and helped those who had been harmed by the Imperial tax system. He was loved by many simply by being the beloved son of the popular Germanicus. Moreover, he was, unlike Tiberius, a direct blood descendant of Augustus, and therefore related to Julius Caesar. He was also a great-grandson of Mark Antony. On becoming Emperor, Caligula performed a spectacular stunt. He ordered a temporary floating bridge to be built using ships as pontoons, stretching for over two miles from the resort of Baiae to the neighboring port of Puteoli. He then proceeded to ride Incitatus across, wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This act was in defiance of an astrologer's prediction that he had "no more chance of becoming Emperor than of riding a horse across the Gulf of Baiae". However, following this auspicious start to his reign, Caligula fell seriously ill in October of 37, and, as Scullard remarks, "emerged as a monster of lust and diabolical cruelty". There is some debate as to the chronology here. Many authors, including Michael Grant (The Twelve Caesars, 1975) and Donna W. Hurley (An Historical and Historiographical Commentary on Suetonius' "Life of C. Caligula", 1993), state that the real break between Caligula and the Senate, and thereafter his extravagant behaviour, did not occur until 39. Though the exact cause of the argument between the young Caesar and the Senate is unclear, what sources remain seem to indicate that the Emperor had demanded a triumph and had been refused by the Senate. What is clear is that in 39 Caligula removed and replaced the Consuls without consulting the Senate, and publicly humilated several Senators by forcing them to run alongside his chariot in their full robes. It is from this point on that there is a marked change in the biography of his life; the young man previously hailed as "our star" and "our baby" by the Roman people became a despotic tyrant. Caligula and the Empire Gaius's reign is too short, and the surviving ancient accounts too sensationalized, for any serious policies of his to be discerned. During his reign, Mauretania was annexed and reorganized into two provinces, Herod Agrippa was appointed to a kingdom in Judaea, and severe riots took place in Alexandria between Jews and Greeks. These events are largely overlooked in the sources, which instead tend to focus on sensational stories of the Emperor's madness. Two other episodes, however, garner greater attention: Caligula's military activities on the northern frontier, and his vehement demand for divine honors. His military activities are portrayed as ludicrous, with Gauls dressed up as Germans at his triumph and Roman troops ordered to collect sea-shells as "spoils of the sea." Modern scholars have attempted to make sense of these events in various ways. The most reasonable suggestion is that Caligula went north to earn military glory and discovered there a nascent conspiracy under the commander of the Germania Superior legions, Gnaeus Lentulus Gaetulicus. Once again however, due to the lack of sources, what precisely occurred and why is a matter of debate even amoung the primary sources for Caligula's reign. Caligula's religious policy was a firm departure from the policy of his predecessors. Under Augustus, the Cult of the Deified Emperor had been established and promoted, especially in the western empire, and was generally the first organization established in any new Roman colony. Augustus proclaimed on multiple occasions that he was not himself personally divine; instead the Cult centered around his numen, his personal spirit, and gens, the collective spirit of his family and ancestors. After Augustus, Tiberius seems to have had little interest in the Cult, and its promulgation and expansion seems to have been on a local level and driven by local magistrates, rather than from a central organizational structure. Caligula expanded this Cult on an unprecedented scale. The temple of Castor and Pollux on the Forum was linked directly to the Imperial residence on the Palatine and dedicated to Caligula himself; he would appear here on occasions, dressed and presenting himself as a god, and demanding that those in his presence adopt sycophantic methods of acknowledging him. The nature of the Cult of the Deified Emperor changed from honoring the spirits around the Emperor to direct worship of Caligula himself. Likewise, Caligula's policies affected religious practice in the whole of the Empire, not just those practices associated with the Cult. The heads of the statues of many of the gods throughout Rome and the empire were replaced with Caligula's head, including many of the female statues, and Caligula demanded that he be worshipped as an embodiment of these gods, similar to the Hellenistic ruler-cults. A plan to place a statue of himself as Zeus in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was stopped only because of the delaying tactics of the Syrian governor, Publius Petronius, and the intervention of Herod Agrippa. Without their intervention, Rome would have faced riots and a potential uprising in Judea. The ancient sources are unanimous as to the cause of Caligula's downfall: he was insane. The writers differ as to how this condition came about, but all agree that after his good start Caligula began to behave in an openly autocratic manner, even a crazed one. Outlandish stories cluster about the raving emperor, illustrating his excessive cruelty, immoral sexual escapades, or disrespect toward tradition and the Senate. The sources describe his incestuous relations with his sisters, laughable military campaigns in the north, the plan to make Incitatus a consul, and his habit of roaming the halls of his palace at night ordering the sun to rise. He comes across as aloof, arrogant, egotistical, and cuttingly witty, and is generally portrayed as insane. He is said to have cried "I wish the Roman people had but a single neck" when an arena crowd applauded a faction he opposed. Suetonius wrote that he often uttered "Let them hate, so long as they fear", and described this as a familiar line of the tragic poet (Accius); however, Suetonius also attributes the utterance of this line to Tiberius and Nero in sections describing their faults as rulers. Whatever else may be said about Caligula and his reign, it is known that his rule was short and tumultuous, and that after his death there were few who mourned his passing. Assassination Caligula was murdered following a conspiracy amongst officers of the Praetorian Guard, who apparently acted for purely personal reasons. However, it appears that the officers had at least the support of some senators and an imperial freedman. As with conspiracies in general, the plot may have been more extensive than the sources indicate, and may even have enjoyed the support of the next emperor Claudius, but there is little if any evidence to support such claims. What is known is that on January 24, 41, the praetorian tribune Cassius Chaerea and other guardsmen accosted Caligula while he was addressing an acting troupe of young men during a series of games held for the Divine Augustus. Chaerea had a distinguished record as one of Germanicus's best officers and had known Caligula since infancy. One possible motive provided by Suetonius is that Chaerea had experienced years of abuse by Caligula over his so-called effeminacy, possibly due to a wound to his genitalia; Suetonius records that Caligula commonly gave the watchwords "Priapus" (erection) or "Venus" (Roman slang for a eunuch) when Chaerea was on duty. Chaerea requested the watchword from the Emperor, and after Caligula's response struck the first blow. The co-conspirators quickly moved in and stabbed the Emperor to death, according to Josephus's account only a few feet away from his guard and entourage. By the time Caligula's German guard responded and attacked the co-conspirators, the Emperor was already dead. Chaerea and another aggrieved tribune, Cornelius Sabinus, also killed Caligula's wife Caesonia and their infant daughter, Julia Drusilla, by smashing her head against a wall. Caligula’s Insanity Recent sources say that Caligula probably had encephalitis. Ancient sources, like Roman biographers Suetonius and Cassius Dio, describe Caligula having a "brain fever." Philo of Alexandria reports it was nothing more than a nervous breakdown, as Caligula was not used to the pressures of constant attention after being out of the public eye for most of his life. Rome waited in horror, praying that their beloved Emperor would recover. He became better, but his reign took a sharp turn. The death of Gemellus and of Silanus, Caligula's father-in-law, took place right after Caligula recovered. The question of whether or not Caligula was insane remains unanswered. Philo, author of Legatio ad Caium ("embassy to Caius") and leader of a delegation sent to Caligula to seek relief from persecution by Alexandrian Greeks, claimed that the emperor was no more than a vicious jokester. Based on the contemporary reports of his behavior, modern psychology would likely diagnose Caligula as delusional, and possibly suffering from antisocial personality disorder as a result of his traumatic upbringing. However, given Caligula's unpopularity as emperor, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. There are many famous stories attesting to his bizarre behavior as emperor: that he tried to make his beloved stallion, Incitatus, a consul, though this could have been a political statement indicating that he felt his horse was as well qualified for the position as any of the incumbents. Other stories claim that there existed incestuous relationship between Caligula and his sisters (particularly Drusilla), a brothel he set up at the palace featuring the wives of prominent senators, his abandonment of a campaign in Britain that instead resulted in his soldiers collecting seashells as "spoils of the sea" in his battle with the sea god Neptune, wanting to erect a statue of himself in Jerusalem (his good friend Herod Agrippa stopped it), his amusement with shutting down the granaries and starving the citizens, his hobby of watching executions as he ate, and labeling himself a "god". According to Suetonius he "often sent for men whom he had secretly killed, as though they were still alive, and remark off-handedly a few days later that they must have committed suicide." Regardless of the validity of any of these anecdotes, historians tend to agree on one fact: he was extremely unqualified and unprepared to be Emperor. Alternate Views The lack of a full accounting of Caligula's reign, and the hyperbolic nature of the records that do remain, creates several problems for historical analysis. It must be noted that, except for Philo's "Embassy to Caius" and mention by Josephus' "Antiquities of the Jews", Chapters 6 through 8," all historical writings regarding Caligula are authored by Romans of Senatorial rank; a class of individuals whose power had been severely checked by the growth of the Principate. Additionally, in Roman politics sexual perversity was often presented hand in hand with poor government; Suetonius accuses Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero all of sexually perverse behaviour, and also heavily criticizes many of the administrative aspects of these Emperor's rules. Therefore, much of what is recorded about Caligula, especially that coming from Suetonius, must be taken "with a grain of salt". It is known that in 39 there was a political break between Caligula and the Senate, and it is from this point forward that Caligula's reign takes on a decidedly despotic tone. The purges of Tiberius had removed from the Senate some of the staunchest supporters of the Julian line, of which Caligula was a prominent member. Caligula was thus presented with a Senate that, at best, offered half-hearted support. Additionally, the absence of Tiberius for much of his reign meant that the Senate, previously docile after almost 50 years under Augustus, had been forced to take up much of the administrative apparatus of the Empire once again. Caligula was thus faced with an uncooperative Senate that was once again beginning to rule the Empire as it had before Caesar and Augustus. The position of the Princeps was an elaborate facade that required the most powerful man in Rome to act as if he were nothing more than a concerned citizen and magistrate under the Senate's supervision. Caligula, faced with an uncooperative Senate, seems to have quickly tired of this facade and decided to act indiscriminantly with the powers given to him as Princeps. The vast financial reserves that Tiberius had left behind were quickly spent and the imperial treasury emptied by the end of Caligula's brief reign. Caligula's reign saw the expansion of the imperial court and imperial palace into the Forum itself. Imperial duties and responsibilities that Tiberius had returned to the Senate were reclaimed as rights of the Princeps, and the powers of the Senate were further restricted. Perhaps modeling his rule after the Hellenistic monarchs, Caligula sought to make himself the center of all religious activity, as has been noted above. In essence, Caligula sought to take the Principate to its next logical step: a divine monarchy. However, the complexities of Roman society and Roman politics demanded that the facade of the "first-citizen" be continued. Suetonius compares Caligula to Julius Caesar; in the mind of the Roman Senate, the delicately balanced Principate had become little more than the tyranny it had rid itself of a century before. Thus, much of the sensational accusations leveled at Caligula could be viewed as politically motivated attacks against his character and his memory. It must be kept in mind that the records that we have today of Caligula were all written by his political opponents, and those most damaged by his attempt to enforce his absolute authority. Legacy Regardless of whether Caligula is viewed as an insane monarch or simply a misguided politician, the conclusion remains the same. Whatever damage Tiberius’s later years had done to the carefully crafted political edifice created by Augustus, Caligula multiplied it a hundred-fold. When he came to power in 37, Caligula had no administrative experience beyond his honorary quaestorship, and had spent an unhappy early life far from the public eye. He appears, once in power, to have realized the boundless scope of his authority and acted accordingly. For the elite, this situation proved intolerable and ensured the blackening of Caligula's name in the historical record they would dictate. The sensational and hostile nature of that record, however, should in no way trivialize Caligula's importance. His reign highlighted an inherent weakness in Augustus’s Principate, now openly revealed for what it was -- a raw monarchy in which only the self-discipline of the incumbent acted as a restraint on his behavior rather than the "first among equals" Augustus had intended. That the only means of retiring the wayward Princeps was murder marked another important revelation: Roman emperors could not relinquish their powers without simultaneously relinquishing their lives. Caligula would be the first of many emperors to be executed in the years to come.