Caligul Agustus In Ancient Rome

Caligula was born in Antium, Italy on August 31, 12 A.D. Although Caligula was a childhood nickname meaning “little soldier’s boot”, his real name was Gaius Caesar. He grew up in a military family, his father’s soldiers gave Caligula the nick name “little boot”. An interesting fact to know is that Julius Caesar was his great-great-grandfather and his great-grandfather, Augustus. When Caligula’s father died in 19 A.D. his mother Agrippina the Elder assumes that it was Tiberius who poisoned and killed her husband. Tiberius saw Germanicus to be a political threat to him. Caligula’s mother wanted to get revenge on Tiberius. In 29 A.D. Tiberius charged Agrippina and Caligula’s brother Nero with treason. Also, in 30 A.D. Caligula’s brother, Drusus

Caesar was charged with treason and sent to prison. His brother Nero died in prison from starvation or suicide. Soon, Caligula and his four sisters would be nothing but prisoners of Tiberius. Caligula was asked to come to Capri, where Tiberius lived in 31 A.D. Caligula went to Capri and lived there for 6 years. His plan was to kill Tiberius with a dagger and free his mother and brother from prison. Agrippina and Caligula’s brother Drusus both died in prison. Two years later, in 33 A.D., he was married to Junia Claudilla. The very next year Junia died in childbirth. Caligula befriended a guard named Naevius Sutorius Macro. Due to Tiberius’s health, Caligula was named joint heir to Tiberius’s estate along with Gemellus which was Tiberius’ grandson. In the year 37 A.D., Caligula defeated Tiberius as Roman Emperor.

He did not want to have to share his power with someone else so he went to the Roman Senate and demanded that Tiberius’ will be invalid. The Roman Senate declared Caligula the Roman emperor, that would be Rome’s third emperor. It has been said that for his first six months as emperor he was a good ruler. The people of Rome fell in love with Caligula, but it wasn’t long after he became emperor Caligula became ill with what they called “brain fever”. He seriously became insane, he would have his family members killed (MRREESE 2014). There has been talk about him having sexual relations with his sister (Cohen 2012). Caligula would have his rivals killed, children killed and forced the family members to watch. He would also have people tortured and killed if they did not respect him. He would have intercourse with married women while his guests were dining, then come back to the table and brag about it. Caligula raised the taxes and would often take property of the wealthy, then have them killed. Caligula had been married four times and cheated on all of his wives with both men and women. Each wife knew of the infidelity. The people of Rome have had enough of Caligula and his hatefulness towards

them. On January 24 in 41 A.D., Caligula was killed. He was attacked by Cassius Chaerea, the Praetorian commander and a few senators. He was stabbed over 30 times all over his body, some even made a point to stab him in his private area. It has been said that Claudius, Caligula’s uncle knew of the plot for Caligula to be killed. His wife then, Caesonia was also stabbed to death. Their daughter was murdered by people bashing her head against a wall. The whole imperial family was murdered. (Editors 2017)