Gaius Caesar Germanicus (August
31, 12 - January 15, 41), also known as
Gaius Caesar or
Caligula,
was a Roman emperor who reigned 37-41. Known for his extremely extravagant,
eccentric, and sometimes cruel despotism, he was assassinated in 41 by
several of his own guards.
He was the son of the popular general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder.
As a boy, he accompanied his parents on military expeditions and would
wear soldier's boots around the camp, hence the nickname Caligula
(Latin: "little boots" or "bootsie"). Through his mother he was the great-grandson
of the emperor Augustus, through his father the great-grandson of Augustus's
wife Livia. See the Julio-Claudian Family Tree.
Most of the information about Caligula comes from sources biased against
him, mainly from the historian Suetonius.
After the death of Tiberius the Roman Senate annulled his will and proclaimed
Caligula imperator on March 18, 37. He probably had an incestuous
sexual relationship with his sister Drusilla. In 38 he had his former supporter
and powerful head of the guard Naevius Sutorius Macro executed; he also
had the grandson of Tiberius, Tiberius Gemellus, killed.
At the height of his reign, Caligula claimed to be a god. After having
squandered the state's finances on generous rewards for the military and
pompous games, he extorted money from the Roman aristocracy and established
a state brothel. He was also said to have an extraordinary fondness for
his horse Incitatus. One paticularly well-known anecdote holds that Caligula
eventually appointed Incitatus as a Senator.
In 39, Caligula suppressed a revolt among his troops on the Upper Rhine
and marched on to the northern coast of Gaul, apparently in order to invade
Britain. Instead, he ordered his troops to shoot into the waters and collect
seashells.
A famous motto of his was oderint dum metuant ("Let them
hate so long as they fear", a saying attributed to Lucius Accius).
When he was assassinated, his wife Caesonia and their infant daughter
were also killed.
-
previous emperor Tiberius (14 - 37)
-
following emperor: Claudius (41 - 54)
See also Ludwig Quidde's essay
Caligula. Eine Studie über römischen
Caesarenwahnsinn (
Caligula: A Study of Imperial Insanity) (1894),
in which Caligula is likened to the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Caligula is the title of a play by Albert Camus, which
was the basis for a 1996 Hungarian movie and the 2001 made for TV version.
Caligula is also a controversial movie in 1979 about
the emperor starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Sir John Gielgud and
Peter O'Toole, among others, directed by Tinto Brass, and produced by
Penthouse
magazine's Bob Guccione. The movie, based on a novel by Gore Vidal, was
unrated when shown in theaters in certain jurisdictions because it contained
several scenes with sexually explicit content, including orgies and masturbation.
It was highly controversial, and considered by some objectors to be pornographic
and would almost certainly have received an X rating.
