Caligula2

Many studies have been made on the emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or “Caligula.” He was professed to be the maddest, and cruelest of all Roman emperors. As emperor, Caligula put the imperial treasury in severe debt, performed acts of insanity, and committed scandalous sexual acts. The ludicrous deeds he participated in, and carried out left the Roman Empire in infamy.

During the reign of Tiberius, the captain of his bodyguards Sejanus began a campaign of extreme and devious means. He desired the Roman throne and so, started to eliminate his competition. The first to go was Drusus, Tiberius’s heir. Sejanus then took out other key contenders for the throne including Germanicus Caesar, his wife Agrippina the Elder, and three of his four sons. The sole survivor was Gaius Caesar, more famously (or infamously) known as Caligula.

Caligula grew up in a military camp. His name stemmed from the soldiers nickname, “Little Boots” for the “child size military boots he always wore.” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome). Being so close to the throne required that he spend his adolescence in Capri with the aging emperor, Tiberius. Though he attempted to “play the part of a dutiful and upright young man

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

Thus, he claimed that, like the god Neptune, he had ridden across the waters” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome). Strangely, “his real nature was only gradually revealed” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome). Others were confined in narrow cages, where they had to crouch on all fours like animas, or were sawn in half” (Gaius Caligula). “He had his quaestor flogged, commanding that his clothes be ripped off and laid beneath the soldiers’ feet beforehand to give them a better foothold when plying their whips” (Lissner 95). She was forced to live with him when he took the throne and act as his wife. His two colonels then leaped out and stabbed him. When Apelles hesitated, Caligula had him cut to pieces with the whip, praising his voice as he pled for mercy, remarking on the melodiousness of his groans” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome).

The ludicrous acts of state that Caligula engaged in were great. “Sometimes he had those with a fine head of hair to be shaved” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome). The forms

Higham 6

of torture were horrific indeed. ”

“Tiberius tried to draw him out by telling him things which might make him betray resentment, but he never gave him a cause for suspicion. Allegedly this was demanded after Gemellus “drank cough medicine which Caligula mistook for an antidote to poison. When accused, the youth replied ‘Antidote- how could one take an antidote against Caesar’ ” (Gaius “Caligula” of Rome)?

The beginning of Caligula’s reign was mild and beloved. “Germanicus’s army staged a revolt, and as a result, he ordered his wife and little Caligula to withdraw form the camps.

Approximate Word count = 2280
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.