Searching History

Introduction

His birth name was Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and he was born on August 31, A.D. 12.  He is better known by his nickname, Caligula.  He was the third of six surviving children of Germanicus Julius Caesar, a Roman general and politician, and Agrippina (the Elder).  Germanicus was a grandson of Mark Anthony, and his wife was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia (the Elder), which made her Caesar Augustus’s granddaughter.

Rome’s future emperor, Claudius, was Caligula’s paternal uncle.  Caligula has two older brothers (Nero Julius Caesar and Drusus Caesar) and three younger sisters (Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla).  The children and their mother accompanied Germanicus while he was on campaign.  When Gaius was two or three years old, his mother made a Roman legionnaire’s uniform, including small-sized army boots (called caligae).  His father’s men greatly enjoyed seeing the little boy strutting around in his uniform and calling him “Little Boots” or Caligula.  In later life, however, Gaius grew to dislike the nickname.

Germanicus was a greatly respected general and widespread among his troops and citizens of every class.  After a lingering illness, he died at Antioch, Syria, in A.D. 19, aged thirty-three years.  Germanicus was convinced that someone had poisoned him — which was always possible in ancient Rome.  Many believed that Germanicus had been killed by his uncle, the reigning emperor Tiberius — who saw him as a potential rival.

After his father’s death, Caligula lived with his mother, Agrippina.  Agrippina was a clever woman but possibly too smart for her own good.  She made no secret of her ambitions for herself and her sons, which led to strained relations with Emperor Tiberius.  Tiberius (not incorrectly) believed himself constantly threatened by treason, conspiracy, and political rivalry.  He forbade Agrippina from remarrying out of fear that it would serve her ambitions and introduce another threat to his throne.

Consequently, Tiberius banished Agrippina and her son Nero on charges of treason in A.D. 29.  An adolescent, Caligula was sent to live with his great-grandmother (Tiberius’ mother), Livia.  When Livia died, he was sent to live with his grandmother, Antonia Minor.  In the year A.D. 30, Tiberius had the Roman Senate declare Caligula’s brothers, Drusus and Nero, declared public enemies.  Drusus was imprisoned, and Nero was exiled.  Caligula and his three sisters remained in Italy as hostages of Tiberius, who kept them under close watch.

In A.D. 31 (at the age of 19), Caligula was remanded to Tiberius’s care at Villa Jovis on the island of Capri. He lived there for six years.  Historians describe Caligula as a first-rate orator who was well-informed, cultured, and intelligent at this time.  He was a natural actor and smart enough to realize he was in great danger.  He hid his resentment of Tiberius’s maltreatment of himself and his family, which probably saved his life.

As a young man, Caligula had been befriended by the Emperor’s Praetorian prefect, Naevius Sutorius Macro (21 B.C. – A.D. 38).  Macro had been involved in the downfall of his predecessor, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, a man who had become a trusted confidant of Tiberius.  Macro spoke well of Caligula to Tiberius, always trying to quell any ill-will or suspicion the Emperor had toward the young man.  Macro also saved Caligula’s life on several occasions.

Meanwhile, Caligula’s brother Nero died while in exile (A.D. 31), and his mother Agrippina and brother Drusus died while in prison (A.D. 33).  Caligula was married to Junia Claudilla Silanus, the daughter of an ally of Tiberius.  She and her newborn died while in childbirth the following year.

In A.D. 35, Tiberius named Caligula joint heir to his estate along with Tiberius Gemellus, his grandson.  Gemellus was seven years younger than Caligula but a viable candidate to succeed his grandfather to the throne.  By all accounts, Tiberius was in good health and likely to survive to his grandson’s majority.  Tiberius was genuinely fond of his grandson and feared for his safety should Caligula ever become Emperor — the shrewd Tiberius saw through Caligula’s warped personality.  Still, he also doubted his grandson’s capacity to rule.

By this time, Caligula was already cruel and vicious.  Tiberius indulged the young man’s taste for theatre, dance, and singing — and did so in the hope that such activities would soften his savage nature. 

At Capri, Caligula learned to conceal his psychotic personality.  Doing so probably saved his life — along with the assistance of Macro.  Many historians believe that given a little more time, Tiberius would have eliminated Caligula as a possible successor — but his timing was off.  He died before it could be done.  Caligula, who was virtually unknown to most and inexperienced in government and the day-to-day exercise of political power, became Emperor of Rome.

The new emperor

Tiberius died on March 16 A.D. 37, a day before the festival known as Liberalia.  There are conflicting reports of Tiberius’s death.  Some claim Caligula smothered him, assisted by Macro; others reported that he died a natural death.  Whatever the truth, Caligula was hailed by members of the Praetorian Guard.  He was the sole heir of Caesar’s household and, when ratified by the Roman Senate, was declared imperator.     

When he arrived in Rome on March 28, the Senate conferred the “right and power to decide on all affairs.”  Tiberius’s will named two heirs, but the Senate annulled the instrument on the basis that Tiberius was mentally incompetent and incapable of sound judgment.  Caligula continued to benefit from Macro’s role as his advisor.  Some months after succession, Caligula took up his first consulship.  Because of his youth, Caligula initially refused to accept the Father of the Fatherland title.

To legalize Caligula’s succession, the Senate was compelled to describe and define his role constitutionally, but the rites and sacrifices to the living genus of the emperor already acknowledged his constitutionally unlimited powers over his friends and enemies alike.  Each princeps was, in reality, a monarch who played the challenging role of primus inter pares (first among equals), not through policy exercise but through self-restraint, decorum, persuasion, and tact.  These personal qualities were in very short supply to Caligula during his reign.

Caligula’s father had been a superb diplomat and a skilled speaker.  Caligula demonstrated potential in these areas, but after becoming emperor, he discarded all pretenses and spoke his mind.  He was, as one might note, very un-politic.

Everyone loved Caligula, but only for one thing: he wasn’t Tiberius.  After his ascension to the throne, Rome celebrated for three months.  For another seven months, the people of Rome celebrated Caligula’s “Golden Age” — a time of great happiness and prosperity.

Even though the Senate set aside Tiberius’s will, Caligula honored many of its terms.  Each praetorian guard received a generous payment of 500 sesterces, which Caligula doubled and then took credit as an act of personal generosity.  He also paid bonuses to city troops and those stationed outside of Italy.  Additionally, every citizen of Rome was paid 150 sesterces; heads of household were paid double that.  The opening reign of Caligula was one of Rome’s greatest spending sprees.

To gain the Senate’s trust and confidence, Caligula publicly burned Tiberius’s secret papers, which outlined many of the Senate’s acts of villainy, betrayal, and treason.  Caligula claimed (falsely) that he had read none of these documents before burning them.

Stressing his descent from Augustus, Caligula went in person to retrieve the remains of his mother and brothers for interment in the Mausoleum of Augustus.  He granted political and priestly honors to his sisters and other family members (including Claudius, who had not been recognized as a member of the imperial household during Tiberius’ reign).  He also began work on a temple to Livia, the widow of Augustus.  Livia held the honorific title of Augusta while still alive and was eventually made a diva (goddess) of the Roman state under Claudius.  The temple had been promised during her lifetime but not constructed.  Claudius was made Caligula’s consular colleague in the new emperor’s first consulship.

Of course, Caligula eventually purged Tiberius’s supporters.  In A.D. 37, Caligula fell ill and hovered on the edge of death for quite some time, but he remained very popular, and citizens gathered at temples to pray for his recovery.  It was after his recovery that he began the purges.

One of the first to go was Gemellus, whom he had taken into his dynasty as a son.  Gemellus was forced to kill himself.  Tacitus, a historian, was eradicated for his submissive attitude.  After Gemellus’s death, Caligula named his brother-in-law Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, heir and married him to his sister Drusilla, who died within a year.

Conflict with the Senate

In A.D. 39, Caligula’s relationship with the Roman Senate deteriorated into outright hostility and confrontations, which involved public denunciations and trials for treason.  He accused them of servility, treachery, and hypocrisy for voting honors to Tiberius and Sejanus while they were alive and then rescinding those honors once they were dead.  

Caligula’s tirades exposed the idealized First Senator as an illusion and imposture.  When the senate convened the next day, they voted a thanksgiving to Caligula (as if to a monarch), expressing gratitude for allowing them to live when others had died.  Modern historians tell us that these actions illustrated Caligula’s intent to dominate the Senate and, through them, the State.  As emperor, Caligula came unraveled before everyone’s eyes.  As it happens, Caligula had not destroyed Tiberius’s records and notes of various senators — they came in handy.

After reviewing the records, Caligula decided that numerous senators discharged from Tiberius’ court hearings were, in fact, guilty of conspiracy against the emperor all along.  Tiberius’s treason trials had encouraged professional informers (delatores) (who were loathed by the populace).  Many accused had testified against each other — and Caligula’s family.  If they had acted against his family, then why not against Caligula himself?

New investigations were launched, and five senators, including the ruling consul, were found guilty and executed.  Others were publicly shamed and degraded.  In early September, Caligula dismissed the two suffect (interim) consuls, citing their inadequate, low-key celebration of his birthday (August 31) and their excessive attention to the anniversary of the Battle of Actium (September 2).  Actium was the last battle in a damaging civil war, which Caligula found no cause for celebration.  In response to the dismissal, one of the discharged consuls killed himself: Caligula may have suspected him of conspiracy.

Note: Lucius Cassius Dio was a Roman historian (and Senator) credited with publishing an eighty-volume set of Roman history in Greek.  The books cover 1,400 years, beginning with tales of Roman mythology and events through A.D. 229.  He was not alive during Caligula’s reign.

Through Cassius Dio, we learned of Caligula’s favorite horse, Incitatus (Swift or fast-moving).  Caligula proposed making his horse a consul of Rome and later a priest of his cult.  Note: Incitatus is sometimes used to denote a situation in which an incompetent person is promoted.  According to Anthony Barrett (author of Caligula: The Abuse of Power, London, 2015), the horse fiasco was one of Caligula’s many malicious insults directed at the Roman Senate.  The Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (known as Suetonius) tells the story as proof of Caligula’s insanity.  Modern historians argue that Suetonius may not have understood the “joke.”

Britannia

Caligula made a weak attempt to extend Roman rule into Britannia.  After forming two legions for an expedition to the British Isles, the plan was scrapped.  Ancient writings suggest two explanations.  First, Caligula lacked the courage to lead such an operation or was too far gone, mentally, to lead it.  The second offering could be related to the first: his legionnaires mutinied under his psychotic leadership.  In his writing, Suetonius recounts that Caligula, having moved his legions to the seashore, ordered his soldiers to collect seashells.  In any case, Caligula’s successor, Claudius, later achieved the conquest of Britain.

Judaea & Egypt

Caligula’s reign saw a dramatic increase in tensions between Judeans, Jews of the diaspora, and ethnic Greeks. Greeks and Jews had settled throughout the Roman Empire, and Judaea was ruled as a Roman client state. Jews and Greeks had settled in Egypt following the Macedonian Greeks’ conquest and remained there after Rome’s conquest.

Tensions between these communities were complex.  They involved the spread of Greek culture, Roman law, and the rights of Jews within the Roman Empire.  Of course, their differences in religious beliefs and practices were most evident.  For example, Alexandrian Greeks were regarded as citizens of Rome, while Alexandrian Jews were classified as settlers with no rights as citizens.  Greeks feared that official recognition of Jews as citizens would undermine their status within the Empire.

When Caligula became emperor, he appointed Herod Agrippa Governor of Batanaea and Trachonitis (present-day Jordan).  Caligula did not trust the Egyptian prefect Aulus Avilius Flaccus because Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius and had conspired against Caligula’s mother.  Flaccus also had connections with Egyptian separatists.  

In A.D. 38, Caligula sent Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to observe and report on Flaccus.  Agrippa was met with jeers from the predominantly Greek population, who viewed Agrippa as a king of the Jews.  While on Agrippa’s visit, a mob of Greeks broke into the Jewish synagogue to erect statues of Caligula — an act forbidden by Jewish religious law.  Flaccus responded by declaring all Jews as foreigners and aliens and expelled them from all but one of Alexandria’s five districts — where they were forced to live under dreadful conditions.  Caligula held Flaccus responsible for the disturbances and eventually had him executed.

Note: Herod Agrippa (also known as Marcus Julius Agrippa, Herod II) was the last Jewish king of Judea. He was Herod the Great’s grandson and Herod Agrippa II’s father, the last king of the Herodian dynasty.  Agrippa spent his childhood at the imperial court in Rome and became close friends with Claudius, Drusus, the son of Tiberius, and Caligula.  Herod Agrippa’s death is described in the New Testament, book of Acts 12: 20-23.

In A.D. 39, Herod Agrippa accused his uncle, Herod Antipas of Galilee and Perea, of planning a rebellion against Roman rule.  Herod Antipas confessed and was exiled by Caligula.  Herod Agrippa was rewarded for his loyalty with the territories of Herod Antipas.

In A.D. 40, Caligula announced to the Senate that he planned to leave Rome permanently, move to Alexandria, and rule from there as a divine monarch — a Roman Pharaoh.  In Roman law, wherever the Emperor went, that was the seat of Roman Imperial Power. 

Earlier, Caesar Augustus had made Egypt an Imperial Province under his direct control rather than that of the Roman Senate.  Egypt was the primary source of Italy’s grain supply, ruled and administered by members of the equestrian order who were directly responsible to the emperor.  Despite their high status, Roman Senators had no hold on Egypt.

Caligula’s Divinity

At the time of Tiberius’s death, he was despised by his subjects.  Upon elevation as Emperor, Caligula asked the Senate to approve his deification.  The Senate turned him down.  Caligula, with prudence, did not press the issue.  Instead, he gave Tiberius a magnificent funeral (at the public’s expense) with a wonderfully delivered eulogy.  In the first six months of his reign, he made a good impression by refusing costly honors (such as statues of himself) and, if not promising to share power with his Senate, giving that impression.

But all this changed early in his short reign, possibly following his near-mortal illness of late A.D. 37.  Caligula dressed himself in costumes to impersonate various Roman heroes and gods, from Dionysus to Apollo.  This behavior convinced most of Caligula’s observers that he was a few bubbles off plumb.  They might have been a bit harsh because earlier, when Caesar Augustus was made up to look like Apollo, no one considered him insane — just behaving in poor taste.

Dio tells us that Caligula impersonated the gods to seduce women but occasionally referred to himself as a divinity.  In public documents, he was also referred to as Jupiter.  Historians tell us that Caligula had a unique attraction to Jupiter.  But to Dr. Ittai Gradel (an expert on Roman religion and lecturer at the University of Copenhagen), Caligula’s performances as various deities prove no more than a proclivity for theatrical fancy dress and a desire to shock others.  As emperor, Caligula was also the chief high priest (pontifex maximus), one of Rome’s most powerful and influential “state” priests.

Note:  In ancient Rome, Pontifex Maximus was the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs.  This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until around 254 B.C., when plebians were admitted to the college.  Although it was the most powerful office in the Roman priesthood, the position was officially ranked fifth, behind the rex sacrorum (priest of the Senate).  Fast forwarding to the 15th century, Pontifex Maximus became the official title of the Roman Catholic Pope.

Promoting mortals to godlike status, based on their superior standing and perceived merits, was a well-established feature of Roman culture; a client could flatter their living patron as “Jupiter on earth” without fear of reprimand.  For example, in Lentulus’s own time, Cicero could protest the implications of Caesar’s divine honors while at the same time speaking to Publius Lentulus as both a parent and god to thank him for his help against the conspirator, Lucius Sergius Catiline (62 B.C.).

Caligula seems to have taken his religious duties very seriously. He found a replacement for Diana’s aged priest and reorganized the priests of Mars, yet he ploddingly insisted that it was improper for Jupiter’s leading priest to swear any oaths; he could not, for example, swear the imperial oath of loyalty.  Caligula wanted to take over the half-finished Temple of Apollo for his cult.  Seemingly, his statue was prepared, but when Pausanias visited the still-unfinished temple, he found the statue was of Apollo.

Note:  Pausanias (A.D. 110 – 180) was a Greek traveler and geographer.

Suetonius and Dio were the only historians to mention a temple dedicated to Caligula in Rome.  If such a temple had existed, it would have been located in the Palatine.  Earlier, Caesar Augustus linked the Temple of Castor and Pollux to his imperial residence on the Palatine, establishing an official priesthood of lesser magistrates.

Dio claims that Caligula positioned himself to receive adoration and that two temples were built for him to achieve it.  Divination was important to Caligula, as reflected by an embassy from Greece, which greeted him as the “new god Augustus.”  Cyzicus’s public inscription thanks him as  the “New Sun god.”  Egyptian provincial coinage shows Caligula sitting on a throne as Neos Helios.

The problem is that there is no confirmation of the existence of the temples.  Moreover, historians claim that if a temple did exist, Caligula would have built it himself.  For anyone wondering where he got his money, Caligula sold priesthoods to the wealthiest nobles for a per capita fee of 10 million sesterces.  We are led to believe that his priests included his wife, Caesonia, and his uncle, Claudius, who was bankrupted by the cost.

Note: Milonia Caesonia was Rome’s empress and Caligula’s fourth and last wife from their marriage in A.D. 39 until their assassination in A.D. 41.

Assassination

The day before Caligula was scheduled to depart for Alexandria, January 24, A.D. 41, Praetorian tribunes Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus — both of whom died soon after.  The primary source of our understanding of this assassination is Josephus, who names many close to Caligula as co-conspirators.  Dio, with access to a senatorial version, named many others.  Modern historians opine that it is more likely that the conspiracy involved very few, and not all need to have been directly in touch with each other because the fewer who knew, the greater the chance of success.

Earlier attempts to murder Caligula floundered when conspirators faced the risk of betrayal.  The Senate was a disunited body of self-interested, wealthy, untrustworthy aristocrats who were mostly unwilling to risk their own lives.  They maintained a virtuous front.

Josephus presented Chaerea as a noble idealist deeply committed to Republican liberties. He was motivated by his resentment of Caligula’s routine of insults and mockery.  Suetonius confirms that Caligula insulted Chaerea, giving him nicknames such as Venus (owing to his weak and high-pitched voice).  Caligula also assigned him to do Caligula’s “wet work,” the torture and murder.

Chaerea, Sabinus (and others) accosted Caligula as he addressed an acting troupe.  The details of the assassination vary according to their sources, but all seem to agree that Chaerea was the first to knife Caligula.  The action occurred in a narrow space, offering little room for escape or rescue.  By the time Caligula’s Germanic guard could respond to the attack, Caligula was already dead.  Several of the emperor’s party died with him, including innocent senators and bystanders.  The murder only stopped when the guard took control.

According to Josephus, the Senate tried to use the assassination to restore the Republic. At least one senator thought it was an excellent opportunity for the Senate to seize power.  Some believe Senator Lucius Annius Vinicianus was the conspiracy’s main instigator.  Nevertheless, most citizens were shocked by the murder, finding no cause for celebration because they ended up losing the benefits of his rule.  Some Senators were brave enough to have claimed knowledge of the conspiracy as if they were heroes of the realm, but the wise politicians kept their own counsel.

After killing Caligula, the assassins sought out and murdered Caesonia and their daughter, Julia Drusilla.  They tried but were unable to reach his uncle, Claudius.  A soldier found Claudius hiding behind a curtain, took him to safety, and promptly nominated him to succeed Caligula.  The Senate, faced with the inevitable, named Claudius emperor.

The killing of Caligula had been extralegal, without due process of law, and those who carried it out had broken their loyalty oaths.  As Caligula’s replacement, Claudius could acknowledge his predecessor’s failings but could not be seen condoning his murder or finding fault with the principate as an institution.  He no doubt realized that the life of an emperor was cheap — and that there would always be someone in the shadows looking to take the throne.

Claudius appointed a new Praetorian prefect and ordered the execution of Chaerea, a tribune named Lupus, and all centurions involved in the assassination.  He allowed Sabinus to commit suicide.

Caligula’s name was removed from the official lists of oaths and dedications, and his statues and inscriptions were discreetly removed.  However, most of his statues had the heads recut to resemble Augustus or Claudius, or, in one case, Nero—who would suffer a similar fate.  Suetonius informed us that Caligula’s body was temporarily buried until it could be burned and interred by the remains of his sisters.

Was Caligula a psychopath?  According to modern scientists, his delusions of grandeur, paranoid episodes, and other strange behaviors seem to suggest that he suffered epileptic psychosis.