“We came, we saw, we conquered.” This famous quote from Caligula is still in use today.
Caligula and Nero were two of Rome’s worst emperors. They both had a share in the fall of Rome. While
Caligula’s spending habits were ruining Rome, his nephew, Nero, wasted the remaining of Rome’s money and laughed as his empire burned to the ground and rebuilt on a much larger, luxurious scale (Morey). These two men were known to be the main reason Rome fell. Caligula, or Gaius Caesar, was emperor of Rome from 37 to 41 AD (Halsall). The young emperor wasted a majority of Rome’s money in only two years (The Roman Empire 29-31). He spent money on banquets, parties, and useless wars. The emperor waged a war on the god Poseidon for having a drought.
He had his troops march down to the
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Caligula spent lots of Rome’s money on banquets and parties. He started his ruling spending money on the people but only after six months became ill and started spending the money for himself (The Roman Empire 29-38). Nero, on the other hand, lived a successful ruling until the end when he started to spend Rome’s money and he had his wife and mother killed. He also corrupted Rome and expected everyone to respect him but he did not respect anyone else. He went around Rome and disguised himself while mugging prostitutes. Nero also set Rome on fire and as Rome was burning, he laughed and played his harp as he watched his empire burn to the ground (The Roman Empire 29-38). He later spent money to rebuild on a much larger scale (Morey). Rome today is nowhere near how it was back then. No emperors to burn the city down. Caligula aided this by spending a majority of Rome’s money. Caligula killed people who disapprove him or talked bad about him. He became ill very quickly and soon after becoming emperor (The Roman Empire 29-38).
Nero, Caligula’s nephew, ran the city very well for the first five years then he became seriously ill.
The credit to his downfall goes to himself. He brought upon the fall of “Caligula and his Tyrannous Reign”.
There were also terrible disasters that happen naturally such as plagues, famine, and earthquakes that would occur. This all means that more spending to fix things had to happen on top of that when Rome didn't have a lot of money due to the huge amount of money going towards the army. These natural disasters did not happen often or frequently but they happen enough to be one of the reason for the fall of Rome.
Julius Caesar emerged. He was able commander who led many conquests for Rome. In 59 B.C. Caesar set out for a new conquest. After nine years of constant fighting, he finally conquered Gaul. Pompey grew jealous of his achievement and had the senate order him to disband his forces and return to Rome. Caesar secretly crossed the Rubicon and killed Pompey then entered Rome. After crushing many rebellions, Caesar forced the senate to make him a dictator. Caesar launched many reforms such as public work programs and giving land to the poor. According to legend those in the senate murdered Caesar on March 15. Caesar's Grandnephew, Octavian, and Marc Anthony joined forces to capture his killers. However bitter feuds grew it soon became a battle for power.
In the glory days of Rome, the empire was safe. People got along very well, large scale public works including bathhouses and aqueducts were built. A single emperor had control of one of the largest empires in history. Great games and festivities rang throughout the land. But, all glory eventually comes to an end.
The Roman Empire was the most powerful Empire during Antiquity. It is traditionally considered to have “fallen” in 476, when Rome’s last emperor was deposed. Many theories have been presented as to why it fell, from unsound economic and social policies to mass lead poisoning. The actual cause of Rome’s fall is the result of many factors, but was mainly caused by Rome’s poor economic policies.
For a long period of time, Rome seemed like an unstoppable empire. It conquered the majority of the land surrounding it, including Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and many of its other neighboring countries. It seemed as though Rome would conquer the entire world, as it was the center of it, until it began to decline in 476 C.E. The very aspects that made it so successful were the ones that caused its collapse. Various political, religious, and economic reasons caused its downfall. The fact that the entire economy of Rome collapsed and money became worthless was a major reason for the empire’s collapse. In addition, the loss of a common religion and lack of efficient ruling in relation to its vast territory affected the empire. The Roman Empire did not become so successful in a short period of time, and so its decline did not just happen overnight. Over several years all of these different aspects together caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
Even though he eventually did believe in complete dictatorship, primarily he was quite promising because of his moderate approach to governance. His tutor and advisor Seneca, who was one of the great intellectuals and philosophers at the time, taught Nero from a young age about mercy, justice and the sacredness of human life. These ideas appealed to Nero and he tried to gain popularity by following these moral ideas. He also allowed the senate to make more decisions which was appreci...
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, born 15 December 37 AD, was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 AD, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his granduncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54AD following Claudius’ suspicious death. Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire. When he became emperor, Nero was a young man who enjoyed the theater, music and horse racing. Ancient Historian, Suetonius, stated that “Nero degenerated from the good qualities of his ancestors, yet he reporoduced the vices of each of them, as if tramsitted to him by natural inheritance” (Suetonius, 110 AD). His dominating mother, Agrippina, had already
As the story goes, Rome was founding in 753 B.C. by two brothers Remus and Romulus who were raised by wolves. The two brothers started fighting over the leadership of the land. Eventually Romulus killed Remus and took control own his own. The city was only a small settlement at that time. As the civilization grew, the Etruscans took over. The Romans drove out the Etruscans in 509 B.C. By this time Rome had become a city. As the empire came to its peak it included lands throughout the Mediterranean world. Rome had first expanded into other parts of Italy and neighboring places during the Roman Republic, but made wider conquests and made a strong political power for these lands. In 44 BC Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman leader who ruled the Roman Republic as a dictator was assassinated. Rome descended into more than ten years of civil war. After years of civil war, Caesar's heir Gaius Octavius (also known as Octavian) defeated his last rivals. In 27 B.C. the Senate gave him the name Augustus, meaning the exalted or holy one. In this way Augustus established the monarchy that became known as the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic, which lasted nearly 500 years, did not exist anymore. The emperor Augustus reigned from 27 BC to AD 14 and ruled with great power. He had reestabl...
The Roman Republic began in 509 B.C.E. with the overthrow of the Etruscan monarchy. In 27 B.C.E the Roman Empire began with Octavian Caesar becoming the emperor, this ended almost 500 years of republican self-government. There is much debate over why Rome became so powerful so quickly. Many think it had to do with Rome’s military strength. Others think that it was because Rome knew of and controlled most of the trade routes. Still others believed it had to do with the technology that was advanced during the Roman Republic. All of these factors played significant roles, but which one played the most important role?
He was privy to violence, death, conspiracy trials, and warped sexual escapades in Tiberius’s palace in Capri at a very impressionable age. He ascended the throne at twenty-four years old and was given complete and absolute control over an empire with very little political experience. If he was not made unstable by all the occurrences in his youth and upbringing, he was bound to be impacted by the constant threat of murder hanging around an emperor. What person could endure such trauma and depravity and remain unaffected? Caligula was murderous and deeply disturbed, but I cannot see how any other person with his past that would not be. It is proportional to putting an abuse victim in the president’s chair and expecting rational thinking. Many historians believe he suffered from some kind of clinical illness that aided in his hostel and fanatical behavior. The main sources we have on Caligula are from Suetonius and Dio, who were not contemporary to all these occurrences and should be read with criticism as their main goal was to attract readers, not to convey truth. Contemporary writers such as Philo and Seneca should also not be taken at face value. Though they are not flattering descriptions of the emperor, their writings were under scrutiny and could get them a quick death penalty if too far out of line. None-the-less I feel that Caligula was not entirely at fault
The narcissistic side of Caligula comes out when he proclaims himself a god to the roman people, in his eye no one else is worth more than himself. He had no empathy for others when they died, and he would kill anyone with no guilt. He used his authority to bend the laws of Rome to murder. He would also indulge himself in wild orgies all the time. This all was made possible by his ability to hide his feelings from those around him and use his social abilities to make the roman people think that he is on their side
The fall of the Roman Empire was a non-expected fall after a long time of control. Still to this date, Rome is history’s biggest empire so far lasting about 1000 years. The 147 emperors show how long the empire lasted. The fall happened because during the end of the Empire, Rome was changing for the worst. There were good and bad times before the Roman Empire before the fall of the empire. Specific reasons of why Rome fell include Christianity becoming the religion of Rome because of the reform by Emperor Constantine, the Roman Empire became too big, and the empire decayed without problems being fixed.
Caligula, though having only ruled for four years, is likely one of the most infamous figures in Roman history. However, it would be unfair not to mention the good alongside the bad. If we take a look at the earlier part of of his rule in comparison with the latter portion, we can see that there was an extreme deterioration in the quality of his rule, for he was once an emperor who was more than just towards his people, and was enthusiastically welcomed by the Senate. At the start of his rule, he was quick to launch sweeping reforms, such as publishing public expenses and allowing new members into the Roman equestrian orders (penelope.uchicago.edu). However, later in his rule, he began to execute people left and right for alleged treason and
Caligula was infamous back in ancient Rome, and nothing much has changed. He is known for being a sadistic, cruel and malevolent ruler. Caligula, who took over the throne after the exhausting rule of his great uncle, Tiberius, who also murdered his father and imprisoned his mother, as well as his two brothers after his mother threatened Tiberius because of her husband's wrongful death. The three died while imprisoned but, due to Caligula's young age, he did not join them in prison. He struggled to hide his hatred for his adopted father. After Tiberius' death, Caligula and his cousin, Gemellus, were made equal heirs to the throne. But, thanks to a friend that Caligula would later kill, some strings were pulled and he became emperor.