Born Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus on 31 August 12 AD in Antium, Italy, Caligula was the third child among the six surviving children of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. [100], The Governor of Syria, Publius Petronius, fearing civil war if the order were carried out, delayed implementing it for nearly a year. [125] Details recorded on the events vary somewhat from source to source, but they agree that Chaerea stabbed Caligula first, followed by a number of conspirators. Aldrete, G, 2019. [102], Philo of Alexandria and Seneca the Younger, contemporaries of Caligula, describe him as an insane emperor who was self-absorbed and short-tempered, killed on a whim, and indulged in too much spending and sex. The two older brothers of Gaius were Nero and Drusus. The paucity of sources has resulted in significant gaps in modern knowledge of the reign of Caligula. But, in the end Rome would not stand for such a leader. [50] Centurions who had acquired property by plunder were forced to turn over spoils to the state. Born Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus on 31 August 12 AD in Antium, Italy, Caligula was the third child among the six surviving children of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Before made in China was a shorthand for crappy How musty and stinky were 1800s ballroom parties? Caligula began appearing in public dressed as various gods and demigods such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. He states that both the elder Gaius Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar) and the younger Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula) were stabbed 30 times by conspirators led by a man named Cassius (Cassius Longinus and Cassius Chaerea respectively). Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. There are several details in Caligula's biography that support this argument. The site is secure. [118] The situation had escalated when, in 40, Caligula announced to the Senate that he planned to leave Rome permanently and to move to Alexandria in Egypt, where he hoped to be worshipped as a living god. He was the third child of Augustus Caesar's granddaughter, Agrippina the Elder, and her husband, the Roman general Germanicus.As a . He hated being the grandson of Agrippa and slandered Augustus by repeating a falsehood that his mother was conceived as the result of an incestuous relationship between Augustus and his daughter Julia the Elder. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. If the illness caused his madness, then it is easy to see how dangerous it can be to concentrate power in one man. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Davies, "The Abortive Invasion of Britain by Gaius". [27] He accepted the powers of the principate and entered Rome on 28 March amid a crowd that hailed him as "our baby" and "our star", among other nicknames. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. The Germanic guard killed several assassins and conspirators, along with some innocent senators and bystanders. [139], Caligula's sister, Agrippina the Younger, wrote an autobiography that certainly included a detailed explanation of Caligula's reign, but it too is lost. [68] Additionally, Tiberius' treason trials had eliminated a number of pro-Julian senators such as Asinius Gallus. The strange behavior of emperor Gaius has been the subject of debate for many historians. Cassius Dio's work is invaluable because it alone gives a loose chronology of Caligula's reign. [57] He also intended to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece and sent a chief centurion to survey the work. [57] He also expanded the imperial palace. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. [3] Gaius had two older brothers, Nero and Drusus,[2] and three younger sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla. To this day, the highly controversial movie remains banned in some countries. [70], In 40, Caligula expanded the Roman Empire into Mauretania,[2] a client kingdom of Rome ruled by Ptolemy of Mauretania. Caligula was deranged, and absolute power corrupted his ability to think rational and remain just. [75] Caligula's move seemingly had a strictly personal political motive fear and jealousy of his cousin Ptolemy and thus the expansion may not have been prompted by pressing military or economic needs. The reign began with good feelings all around, since Caligula declared an amnesty for all Romans imprisoned or exiled under Tiberius, posthumously restored honor to his mother and brothers, and stopped the treason trials, getting rid of the informers in the process. In early 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. He ordered a number of citizens of Rome murdered under the flimsiest of pretexts, torturing the victims and taking pleasure in their pain. Please read the rules before participating, as we remove all comments which break the rules. His younger sisters were Julia Drusilla, Agrippina the Younger, and Julia Livilla. ago The funniest Roman emperor 172 44 r/ancientrome Join 5 mo. [61] Caligula had planned to rebuild the palace of Polycrates at Samos, to finish the temple of Didymaean Apollo at Ephesus and to found a city high up in the Alps. The ships were among the largest vessels in the ancient world. Caligula is often remembered as a selfish and capricious ruler whose ineptitude weakened the Roman empire during his four-year reign. In a now lost portion of his Annals, Tacitus gave a detailed history of Caligula. The Death of Caligula (Jan Luyken / Public Domain), https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/caligula-the-embodiment-of-cruelty/, https://www.museumcenter.org/the-curious-curator/2020/6/19/caligula-mad-or-misunderstood, https://www.magellantv.com/articles/sex-and-violence-in-rome-caligulas-empire-and-the-salacious-rumors-that-built-it-. [138] Cluvius Rufus was a senator involved in the assassination of Caligula. Answer: We don't know the nature of Caligula's illness. His father was the famous General Germanicus; his mother was Agrippina, the Elder. Supposedly Tiberius knew of this but never dared to do anything about it. Before falling ill, he was known as the baby, the star of the empire of Rome. May 1, 2020 By Rosie Lesso, MA Contemporary Art Theory, BA Fine Art [141] The question of whether Caligula was insane (especially after his illness early in his reign) remains unanswered. He banished or murdered most of his relatives and had people tortured and killed while he dined. [128] These wounded conspirators were treated by the physician Arcyon. [39], In 38, Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Alexander Thomson. So it was that Caligula's place in Roman history was secured. There are a number of speculations about what the illness exactly was. [94] Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him. [130] Chaerea tried to persuade the military to support the Senate. THE ILLNESS OF CALIGULA The Emperor Gaius Caesar (Caligula) is gen-erally believed to have been a madman. [26] He destroyed Tiberius' treason papers, declared that treason trials were a thing of the past, and recalled those who had been sent into exile. However, it is not known whether they are speaking figuratively or literally. government site. Can his madness be blamed on this illness? After a soldier, Gratus, found Claudius hiding behind a palace curtain, he was spirited out of the city by a sympathetic faction of the Praetorian Guard[133] to their nearby camp. [63] Caligula, who could not swim,[64] then proceeded to ride his favourite horse Incitatus across, wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. But assuming the much-maligned emperor was the loon his chroniclers describe, some scholars have suggested that an illness made him come unhingedpossibly temporal lobe epilepsy, hyperthyroidism or Wilsons disease, an inherited disorder that can cause mental instability. Caligula invited Ptolemy to Rome and then suddenly had him executed. Caligula awakes from his coma in January 38 C.E. No mentions of coma it's quite rare condition in fact. The site of the ships' discovery, Lake Nemi, lies 19 miles south of Rome in the region of Lazio. It was Suetonius who first published claims that Caligula committed incest with his three sisters. [152][153] Based on scientific reconstructions of his official painted busts, Caligula had brown hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. [146][147] Modern historians have theorized that Caligula lived with a daily fear of seizures. He aided those who lost property in fires, abolished certain taxes, and gave out prizes to the public at gymnastic events. [87] Caligula's religious policy was a departure from that of his predecessors. Modern historians have put forward numerous theories in an attempt to explain these actions. Some were for the public good, though others were for himself. The Boxer Rebellion: When China Found Her Freedom? Accessibility However, according to Josephus, when the ship carrying the statue was still underway, news of Caligula's death reached Petronius. [90] The cause of tensions in the east was complicated, involving the spread of Greek culture, Roman law and the rights of Jews in the empire. Caligula was murdered by Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius they were [46][49] Wills that left items to Tiberius were reinterpreted to leave the items instead to Caligula. They accuse Caligula of incest with his sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Livilla, and say he prostituted them to other men. Pliny the Elder's Natural History has a few brief references to Caligula. [12][13] Suetonius writes that after the banishment of his mother and brothers, Caligula and his sisters were nothing more than prisoners of Tiberius under the close watch of soldiers. Caligula had the heads removed from various statues of gods located across Rome and replaced them with his own. March, 37 CE: At about 25 years old, Caligula was named Rome's third emperor, the first direct descendant of Augustus to take the throne (click here for a coin on which Caligula emphasizes this relationship). [53] A brief famine of unknown extent occurred, perhaps caused by this financial crisis, but Suetonius claims it resulted from Caligula's seizure of public carriages;[46] according to Seneca, grain imports were disrupted because Caligula re-purposed grain boats for a pontoon bridge. After marrying Germanicus, she defied tradition by accompanying him on his military campaigns in Germania, reportedly acting as an adviser and diplomat. Thus, his acts should be seen from other angles, and the search for "mad Caligula" abandoned. [70] Soon afterwards, the Governor of Germany, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, was executed for connections to a conspiracy. In the manner of the eastern monarchs, Caligula had Drusilla deified; she was the first Roman woman ever officially declared a deity, but her divinity did not survive his reign because he had so egregiously flouted Roman precedent (in contrast, when Claudius had Livia deified, he emphasized her role as diva Augusta, wife and mother of emperors). One month after his accession, his grandmother, Antonia, died. "[58] In 40, Caligula began implementing very controversial policies that introduced religion into his political role. Caligula was only the third Roman emperor, ascending to the imperial throne in 37 AD. [5] He wore a miniature soldier's outfit, including army boots (caligae) and armour. Later in the year Caligula's favorite sister, Drusilla, died; he had been so close to her that there were rumors of incest. [57] He had new roads built and pushed to keep roads in good condition. He staged a number of chariot races, beast hunts, entertainments, and spectacles in order to amuse the inhabitants of the city. At the time of his accession, he was just 25 years old. The bulk of what is known of Caligula comes from Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Like none, so you could be very corrupt and end up assainated. His younger sisters were Julia Drusilla, Agrippina the Younger, and Julia Livilla. Occasionally he was liable to faintness, during which he remained incapable of any effort". The Senate had become accustomed to ruling without an emperor between the departure of Tiberius for Capri in 26 and Caligula's accession. [131] Uncomfortable with lingering imperial support, the assassins sought out and killed Caligula's wife, Caesonia, and killed their young daughter, Julia Drusilla, by smashing her head against a wall. Helen Mirren in a scene from . According to Josephus, Chaerea had political motivations for the assassination. Caligula tricked Macro into believing that he was being made prefect of Egypt and then had him arrested and executed. But if his leadership skills were so abysmal, some scholars have argued, how did he wind up annexing new provinces, expanding westward and formulating a feasible plan to take over Britain? Conditions that may be described as brain fever include:Encephalitis, an acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by a viral infection.Meningitis, the inflammation of the membranes. In Roman political culture, insanity and sexual perversity were often presented hand-in-hand with poor government. One of the four conditions described as brain fever is Encephalitis (most common). now it's seem caligula prefer to end this deception and establish an eastern-hellenistic style absolute monarchy, now some ^ Birmingham Mail (5 May 2013). However Caligula had very little practical experience in terms of governing. Caligula was born on August 31, 12 CE. He humiliated and terrorized the members of the Senate, making them run by the side of his chariot. AutoModerator 3 yr. ago Welcome to r/AskHistorians. Historians believe that he probably went insane. Evidence for Caligula's life is sparse, as the work of Tacitus for this period is lost. His full name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. [8] After the death of his father, Caligula lived with his mother, Agripinna the Elder, until her relations with Tiberius deteriorated. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. If you are referring to brain fever as a fever where the normal regulation of body temperature by the brain is out of whack, then that can happen by a variety of reasons. He has written for 8 years in a variety of fields including history, health and politics. It looks like he suffered some kind of brain damage from this extended sicknessmaybe a prolonged high fever, but that's just my guess. With this in mind Chaerea persuaded his fellow conspirators, who included Marcus Vinicius and Lucius Annius Vinicianus, to put their plot into action quickly. Answers must be in-depth and comprehensive, or they will be removed. [65] The ships burned in 1944 after an attack in the Second World War; almost nothing remains of their hulls, though many archaeological treasures remain intact in the museum at Lake Nemi and in the Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo) at Rome. Skip to content. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Caligula has a "brain fever" and fell into a coma. [82] Reportedly, he began referring to himself as a god when meeting with politicians and he was referred to as "Jupiter" on occasion in public documents. Coma it & # x27 ; s biography that support this argument or literally Invasion of by. Trials had eliminated a number of citizens of Rome murdered under the flimsiest of pretexts, the. 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