The figure of an emperor who has gone down in history for his great madness, his wickedness and the terror of being in the focus of his attention, we have to speak without a doubt of Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus or Caligula, a name he would adopt when he assumed the position of Emperor. A person with serious psychiatric problems, that put an entire empire in check during the years in which he ruled until his death in AD 41. A few years after the death of Caligula, Rome will revive a similar situation, another emperor would rule with similar qualities, Nero. In this article we are going to focus on the figure of Emperor Caligula, more specifically on The Madness of Caligula.
The Madness of Caligula | His Childhood and Adolescence
Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus was born in Antium, what is now Anzio, on August 31, 12 AD His father, General Consul of Rome and Governor of Germany, called Germanic and his mother Agrippina the Elder, model of a virtuous woman from Rome.
Gaius Julius’s father was one of the greatest generals the Roman Empire had, belonging to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The couple had nine children, of whom only six survived birth, Julia Livia, Drusilla, Agrippina, Drusus Caesar, Nero Caesar, and Gaius Julius Caesar, the future emperor Caligula.
He received the nickname of Caligula, for some events that took place when he was barely two or three years old and his father took him to the campaigns he led to North Germania. When he was only two years old, Cayo Julio wore the full military uniform, with his armor and boots.
The nice appearance of the child, made everyone the soldiers were amused to see him arrive so serious and with his uniform, giving him the nickname of “booties” or what is the same «caligula». A name that he had hated all his life and that no one would dream of mentioning in his presence again.
but also lived very hard moments from a very young age, only 7 years old and accompanying his Germanic father to some campaigns that were taking place in Syria, Germanicus was poisoned and October 10 of the year 19 AD, passed away. The Germanic General was becoming a dangerous political rival for the emperor Tiberiuswho appears to be was the instigator of the murder.
With the death of his father, Gaius Julius, moved to live in Rome along with his mother. After the trauma caused by the death of his father and a radical change of city, friends, etc., little Cayo Julio began to show signs of great intrusivenesstaking refuge in his horse, to whom he granted most of his time and the best care.
Tiberius afraid that agrippina could get married again and because of his lineage position he could be a possible competitor, he chose to remove a possible rival. The best way he found to remove Agrippina from Rome was to denounce her for treason. This false complaint got exile both Agrippina and her son Nero Caesar.
Caligula At that time, year 29 AD, he was already 17 years old, he was a young teenager and he was sent to live with his great-grandmother and mother of the emperor Tiberius, when Livia, the emperor’s mother passed away, her grandmother Antonia She was the one who took care of the young man Caligula.
The Madness of Caligula | preparing the way
But a series of events that occurred around the year 30 AD, such as the imprisonment of his brother Drusus and the death of his brother Nero in exile, made propose a strategy to the young Caligula that would allow him in the first place to safeguard his life and in the second place to reach occupy in the not too distant future the position of Emperor.
Caligula tried by all means to stay as close as possible to Tiberius, in fact became part of the entourage of companions of this one. He felt good by the emperor’s side and he made the emperor feel good too with his company. This feeling, which surprised many, was part of Caligula’s strategy, while he hid his resentment.
Thanks to the effort that Caligula put into ingratiating himself and gaining the total trust of the person who had been responsible for his father’s death, he obtained the position of quaestor, meanwhile his mother also passes away. Thanks to various friends whom Caligula encouraged to speak well of him in front of Tiberius, he managed to get the year 35 Caligula and Tiberius’ grandson, called Tiberius Twin they were proclaimed heirs to the throne of Rome.
The Madness of Caligula | The emperor
when caligula came to power in the year 37, after the death of Emperor Tiberius, he felt loved and acclaimed by his people. During the first months of government, the results were good, maintaining respect to the decisions of Senate Y improving the People’s Assembly so that the ones who chose the magistrates would return to them, a right that they had previously lost.
Caligula tried to make his people love him and one of the first laws he decreed was a blanket amnesty for all those condemned at the time of his predecessor Tiberius. It was also characterized by organization of great circus celebrations for the population.
Everything changed in October of the year 37in this date the young Caligula falls gravely illAccording to the doctors, this disease was due to the excesses of the emperor. But the news felt like a jug of cold water for his people, after having lived a period of great splendor thanks to his new emperor, he is now about to die.
Caligula managed to recover from the disease, but the high fevers suffered made his character changefrom this moment began to be displayed with a character authoritarian and absolutistNothing is further from the thought of a Republican Empire.
Caligula began to modify the foundations of the republic, from now on the emperor had a divine character. With this divine authority, he commanded assassinate both his cousin Tiberius Gemelo like Macronhead of the praetorian guard.
The parties at court became parties of luxury, food and prostitution, expenses that Rome financed, endless wars that caused great expenses, all these important expenses in the face of less abundant income, caused the bankruptcy of the state coffers.
Caligula found the solution raising taxes Y killing rival senators in order to keep their possessions.
began to reduce autonomous power of the conquered territories until in the year 41, a conspiracy that had been hatched among the very ranks of his guard, killed Emperor Caligula on January 24, 41 AD
in the next update We will start with a section where we will record the follies and eccentricities of this emperor who, despite having been much loved, became a tyrant with his people.
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