52-3 Caligula

Tiberius died at 77 and this news was welcomed by the citizenry. He was succeeded by the great grandson of Augustus: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, whose nickname was Caligula.

Caligula was a mediocrity. He wanted to rule well but was ill-equipped to handle the challenge of absolute rule. He failed that ingredient needed with power: measure. He had not proven himself with accomplishments and service to Rome. He had merely been born into the right family. It was the emperor's guard, the Praetorian Guard, that selected Caligula – a selection rubber stamped by the Senate.

Caligula began by wanting to rule well. He returned to the courts the power to make indpendent decisions in sentencing people, and he increased the number of jurors. He began publishing a budget and he began more building. But along with good intentions he suffered from vanity.. The godliness that was atttibuted to his great-grandfather Augustisus may have led him to believe not that he was a god but that he should be worshiped as a god.

He lacked self-restraint. He indulged his appetites for food and grew fat and irritable. He indulged his sexual appetites. He wanted to be adored, but he made enemies and indulged an appetite for revenge and control. He used his power to have those he saw as enemies executed. A conspiracy against him arose among those who felt their lives endangered, including officers of the Praetorian Guard. In the year 41, at the age of 29, after having been in power three years and ten months, members of his guard assassinated him.

The third of Rome’s emperors, Caligula (formally known as Gaius) achieved feats of waste and carnage during his four-year reign (A.D. 37-41) unmatched even by his infamous nephew Nero. The son of a great military leader, he escaped family intrigues to take the throne, but his personal and fiscal excesses led him to be the first Roman emperor to be assassinated.

CALIGULA’S EARLY LIFE

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus was born in 12 A.D., the third son of the renowned Roman general Germanicus and his wife, Agrippina the Elder. During his childhood, his family lived at his father’s posting on the Rhine, where the general’s troops gave the future emperor his nickname “Caligula,” meaning “little boot,” in reference to the miniature uniform in which his parents dressed him.

hough known for his harsh treatment of others, the infamous Roman emperor Caligula lavished attention upon his horse Incitatus, giving the animal his own house with a marble stall and ivory manger. As an expression of his absolute power, Caligula planned to appoint the horse to the high office of consul, but he was assassinated before he could do so.

After Germanicus died in 17 A.D., Caligula’s family fell from favor in the eyes of the emperor Tiberius and the powerful Praetorian guardsman Sejanus, who saw the elder sons of the popular general as political rivals. Caligula’s mother and brothers were accused of treason, and all died in prison or exile. Caligula’s grandmother Antonia managed to shield him from these intrigues until Sejunus’ death in 31. The next year, Caligula moved in with the aging Tiberius, who gleefully indulged his great-nephew’s worst habits, commenting that he was “nursing a viper in Rome’s bosom.”

Tiberius adopted Caligula and made him and his cousin Gemellus equal heirs to the empire. When the emperor died in 37, Caligula’s Praetorian ally Marco arranged for Caligula to be proclaimed sole emperor. A year later, Caligula would order both Marco and Gemellus put to death.

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