Caligula

  • Caligula (37-41 CE) was the third Roman Emperor and the first to be assassinated by the Praetorian Guard.

1. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF CALIGULA

  • NAME:
    • Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
  • DATES OF REIGN AS EMPEROR:
    • 28 March 37 CE – 24 January 41 CE
  • FAMILY DYNASTY:
  • DATE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
    • 31 August 12 CE – 24 January 41 CE
  • PLACE OF BIRTH AND WHERE HE DIED:
  • PREDECESSOR:
  • SUCCESSOR:
  • CALIGULA’S RIGHT HAND MAN:
  • HEIR TO THE THRONE BECAUSE:
    • He was the adopted grandson of Tiberius and named co-Heir with Tiberius’ Grandson, Tiberius Gemellus.
    • In 37 CE Macro, the new Prefect of the Praetorian Guard supported Caligula and declared the Will of Tiberius void. This disinherited Tiberius Gemellus as co-Emperor, who was either killed or forced to commit suicide.
  • FATHER:
  • MOTHER:
  • WIVES AND CHILDREN:
    • Junia Claudilla (33-37 CE) she died during childbirth between 34-37 CE. The child also died.
    • Orestilla (37-38 CE) Caligula divorced her the day after their marriage.
    • Lollia Paulina (38-39 CE) lasted 6 months.
    • Milonia Caesonia (39-41 CE) His last wife, assassinated along with Caligula on 24 Jan. 41 CE.
      • Julia Drusilla, (39-41 CE) The only daughter, assassinated along with Caligula on 24 Jan. 41 CE.
  • DIED PEACEFULLY OR ASSASSINATED
  • WHERE BURIED:

2. A GOOD OR BAD EMPEROR

  • CALIGULA’S CHARACTER:
    • Tiberius is alleged to have said: ‘ I am preparing a viper for the Roman People’ according to Suetonius.
    • Suetonius states that as a child Caligula experienced the ‘falling sickness’, meaning Epilepsy.
    • Josephus states that Power made Caligula think he was Divine.
    • Philo of Alexandria and Seneca state that Caligula was insane.
  • CALIGULA’S POPULARITY:
    • According to Suetonius, the celebrations at his accession continued for 3 months during which 160,000 animals were slaughtered.
    • He was accepted as a Good Ruler for the first two years of his Reign. He recalled those exiled by Tiberius and declared the Treason Trials to be over. He was loved for being the son of the very popular Germanicus.
    • After this he is portrayed as an insane Tyrant.
  • THE REASON CALIGULA WAS FAMOUS:
    • Suetonius and Cassius Dio state as proof of his insanity that he slept with his sisters, forced them into prostitution, and turned the Palace into a Brothel.
    • They also state that Caligula made his horse, Incitatus, a Priest and planned to make him a Consul but that he was assassinated before he could do so.
    • During an intermission at the Games, he had his Guards throw part of the crowd into the Arena to be eaten by the animals, because there were no criminals.
  • FAMOUS QUOTES BY CALIGULA:
    • ‘Let them hate us, as long as they fear us’
    • ‘Would that the Roman People had a single neck, to cut off their head’ Caligula said this after witnessing an execution.

3. CALIGULA’S EARLY LIFE

  • 29  CE His mother was arrested and exiled by Tiberius, so Caligula went to live with Livia, Tiberius‘ mother and his great grandmother. After she died, he went to live with his grandmother, Antonia.
  • 31 CE Summoned to live with Tiberius in his villa at Capri, where he stayed until Tiberius died.
  • 33 CE Became a Quaestor.
  • 33 CE Caligula’s Mother Agrippina the Elder and his brother Drusus, died in Prison.
  • 35 CE Named joint Heir with Tiberius Gemellus, Tiberius‘ Grandson.

4. CALIGULA’S REIGN

  • RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ROMAN SENATE:
    • 39 CE Caligula reviewed Tiberius‘ records of the Treason Trials, and restarted them. He replaced the Consul and had several Senators executed. According to Suetonius, others were humiliated by being made to behave like servants to Caligula.
    • 39 CE Two conspiracies emerged, one by his Brother-in-law and another by the Legate of Germania Superior, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. Both were executed.
  • MILITARY CAMPAIGNS/ REFORMS BY CALIGULA:
  • Britannia:
    • 39 CE Caligula prepared for the invasion of Britannia, building the Lighthouse at Boulogne (Gesoriacum) and moving the Legions to the coast, but then he cancelled it.
  • Mauretania:
    • 39-44 CE He annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania, by inviting the King, Ptolemy of Mauretania to Rome, then had him executed. He subsequently created two new Roman Provinces, Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis.
  • CALIGULA’S DOMESTIC POLICY: TAXATION
    • In 38 CE Caligula re-introduced Democratic Elections.
    • He published the accounts of the Public Funds.
    • He admitted new members to the Senatorial and Equestrian classes.
  • Executions (38 CE)
    • He had, Macro, the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, executed and commenced executions of others, without Trial.
  • Financial Crisis (39 CE)
    • Within two years, Caligula had spent the State Funds of 2,700,000,000 sesterces which had taken Tiberius 23 years to amass.
  • New Taxes and the Seizure of Estates
    • Caligula then resorted to desperate measures to raise Funds:
    • He auctioned the lives of Gladiators at Displays. He imposed a Tax on Marriage, Prostitution and Court Cases. State officials were accused of embezzlement and obliged to repay vast sums. Centurions were obliged to repay the Spoils of War to the State. Caligula accused, and fined or executed individuals, in order to seize their Estates.
  • Famine:
    • Finally, all this resulted in a brief Famine, as insufficient grain was now reaching the Capital.
  • CALIGULA’S RELIGIOUS REFORMS:
    • Augustus had started the tradition of worshipping the Emperor as divine after he had died.
    • Caligula introduced the concept of worshipping the Emperor as Divine whilst he was alive.
    • Caligula started to claim he was a God.
    • He had two Temples built to worship him in the Rome: The Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum Romanum, was dedicated to Caligula. The Heads of Statues of the Gods in the Temples were replaced with likenesses of himself.
    • He appeared in public, dressed as various Gods, such as Apollo, Hercules, Mercury, and even Venus. He was also referred to as Jupiter in official documents. A sacred area was set up to worship him in Miletus, Asia.
    • Egyptian coins were minted showing him as a Sun-God.
  • PROBLEMS IN THE EAST UNDER CALIGULA:
    • Caligula’s imposition of Emperor Worship as a living God, created a conflict with the Monotheism of the Jews.
    • 37 CE Caligula promoted his friend Herod Agrippa as Governor of Batanaea and Trachonitis. He also made him King of the Tetrarchy of Lysanius.
    • 38 CE The Prefect of Egypt was Aulus Avilius Flaccus.
    • Herod Agrippa was next sent to Alexandria as an Envoy, but the Greek crowds jeered him as a King of the Jews. To appease the Greeks and Caligula, Flaccus placed statues of Caligula in the Jewish Synagogues to be worshipped.
    • Riots erupted, and in response, Caligula ordered Flaccus to be dismissed and executed.
    • 39 CE Herod Agrippa was then given the Tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea after discrediting his uncle, Herod Antipas, as being in league with the Persian Empire. Herod Antipas was exiled.
    • 40 CE Riots broke out again in Alexandria between the Greeks and the Jews.
    • In Jamnia in Judaea, a clay altar was erected by the Romans, but then destroyed by the Jews.
    • Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself to be worshipped in the Temple of Jerusalem.
    • The Governor of Syria, Publius Petronius, postponed its erection for a year recognising it would start a Civil War, and Herod Agrippa finally persuaded Caligula to abandon the idea.

5. PERSONAL LIFE OF CALIGULA

  • CHILDHOOD:
    • As a child of 2 or 3 years old he accompanied his Father in Germania. As he wore a miniature uniform with miniature boots, the Legions nicknamed him ‘Caligula’. ‘Caliga’ means soldiers boot and ‘Caligula’ means ‘little soldier’s boot’.
    • 19 CE After his Father died in Syria, he lived with his Mother, Agrippina the Elder, in Rome.
  • CALIGULA’S PERSONAL LIFE:
    • He never forgave Tiberius for the murder of his Mother, Brother and possibly his Father, Germanicus.
    • 33 CE He married Junia Claudilla, who died in childbirth in 34 CE.
    • 31-37 CE He befriended Macro, the new Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. When he became Emperor, Macro supported him in declaring the Will of Tiberius void, regarding Tiberius Gemellus as being co-Emperor. But in 38 CE he had Macro executed.
    • 37 CE He ordered the remains of his Mother and Brothers be brought back to Rome and buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus.
    • 39 CE He ordered a two mile long Pontoon Bridge to be built between Baiae and Puteoli in the Bay of Naples. Wearing the Breastplate of Alexander the Great he rode his horse, Incitatus, across the Bridge in defiance of the Prophecy by Thrasyllus of Mendes, that he had ‘no more chance of becoming Emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae’.
  • PERSONAL INTERESTS:
  • LANGUAGES SPOKEN:
    • Latin and Greek.

6. CONSEQUENCES OF CALIGULA’S REIGN

  • EXPANSION OR CONTRACTION UNDER CALIGULA:
  • Expansion:
  • ENRICHMENT OR BANKRUPTCY THE STATE
  • Bankruptcy:
    • Within his first two years, Caligula had spent the State Funds of 2,700,000,000 sesterces which had taken Tiberius 23 years to amass.
    • In 39 CE the State Treasury was bankrupt and a Financial Crisis and brief Famine occurred.
  • CALIGULA’S MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS
    • The annexation of Mauretania.
    • The Planning of the invasion of Britannia.
    • Various Monuments and Aqueducts.
    • Inadvertently giving the Praetorian Guard the Power to decide the Succession and thus becoming the first Emperor to be assassinated by them.

7. THE SUCCESSION TO CALIGULA

  • In 37 CE Tiberius Gemellus, who was named co-Emperor in Tiberius Will, and was Caligula’s cousin, was excluded from Power when Caligula declared that part of the Will to be Void. Caligula then had him accused on a false charge and executed the same year.
  • Caligula also executed his Father-in-law, Marcus Junius Silanus, and his Brother-in-law, Marcus Lepidus. He executed his two sisters, Livilla and Agrippina the Younger. His third and favourite sister, Julia Drusilla, fell ill and died. His uncle, Claudius, survived this purge, mostly because he was considered to be an idiot.

The Assassination of Caligula

  • A Plot was coordinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, various Senators and Equestrians.
  • Cassius Chaerea, a member of the Praetorian Guard assassinated Caligula, whilst elsewhere, separately, his wife and child were murdered, but Claudius escaped the assassins.
  • An attempt to restore the Republic was then overthrown by the rest of the Praetorian Guard, who ordered the execution of Cassius Chaerea and instead supported Claudius as Emperor.

8. CALIGULA’S BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS

  • STATUES AND COINS:

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • CLASSICAL SOURCES:
    • Suetonius The Lives of the Twelve Caesars Book IV: The Life of Caligula

10. FILMS AND DvD’s

 

Vaticano Obelisk, Vatican City

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37 CE
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