Who killed Caligula. Caligula: ten little-known facts from the life of the most cruel and scandalous emperor of Rome

There is no documentary evidence that Caligula actually made his horse a senator, as popular history claims, but some facts about the eccentricities of the Roman emperor in relation to his favorite horse named Incitatus are known. He treated his pet better than most of his subjects.

This horse had his own home, and it was not some improved stable. Caligula gave the horse his own multi-room house with furniture and slaves, who were ordered to fulfill all the wishes of Incinata. During lunch, Caligula “invited” his horse to dine with him. The horse was brought to the dinner table, where the emperor and Incinatus were served wine in golden glasses, and the first toast was to the good health of the horse.

The emperor even ordered the soldiers to protect the animal's peace. One historian wrote that after Caligula noticed that the crowd of spectators in the arena was bothering his horse with their shouts, he sent soldiers to silence everyone present at any cost.

The imperial throne was not enough for Caligula. He wanted to be a god and even created his own cult. The Emperor of Rome built temples where people would worship him. There were life-size statues of Caligula made of pure gold. And that's not all.

Caligula planned to remove the head of the statue of Zeus at Olympia - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - and replace it with his own image. He even hired his own team of priests to perform the extravagant rituals dreamed up by the emperor. To show devotion to Caligula, it was not enough to sacrifice a bull, as before. His fans were required to sacrifice flamingos and peacocks in honor of the emperor.

The obsession of Caligula, who dreamed of becoming a god, almost brought the country to rebellion. At some point, considering that the Jews did not worship him much, Caligula ordered the consul-sufect Publius Petronius, governor of Syria, to erect a giant statue of his beloved in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jews were ready to revolt, but everything was limited to the execution of Publius Petronius, who refused to install the statue.

Legend has it that Caligula once declared war on the sea god Neptune and ordered his men to attack the English Channel. There are reasons to think that this story is a bit exaggerated, but there is no doubt that Caligula sent an army to the English Channel. The version accepted by most historians is that Caligula waged an unsuccessful campaign against the British, and his troops were ready to mutiny because the emperor had cut their pay. Then Caligula led his entire army, including the catapult crews, to the English Channel and told the people that they could fill their helmets with any number of shells in lieu of wages.

When Caligula took the throne, he allowed some of Tiberius' (previous emperor) political enemies to return to Rome. Caligula even invited one of them to his place for a personal conversation and asked how this man spent his time in exile. He answered him that he “constantly prayed to the gods so that Tiberius would die and Caligula could become emperor.” The man tried to flatter Caligula, but instead his words led to the death of several thousand people. After the conversation, Caligula decided that all the people expelled by him were praying against him in the same way. And he gave the order to kill every person he sentenced to exile.

Caligula may have been crazy, but he certainly knew how to throw a party. Having come to power, he ordered the construction of two huge floating “pleasure palaces” in which to hold orgies. These giant barges, located on Lake Nemi, were covered with precious stones and their floors were lined with glass mosaics. The ships were filled with huge statues and golden goblets. Even the sails were made of purple silk, a material so rare at the time that it was used exclusively for the emperors' clothing.

Caligula held crazy orgies on these ships sailing on Lake Nemi, and his favorite guests were... his own sisters. But he didn't stop at incest. Caligula ordered his courtiers to bring their wives. He forced the women to line up in front of him, then examined their bodies and chose his next favorite for the evening. Her husband, sitting in a chair next to the bed, had to watch the emperor's pleasures with this woman.

Caligula's greatest achievement was the construction of a 5-kilometer floating bridge across the Bay of Bailly. At that time, such a bridge was completely unheard of - and the emperor built it, as they say, “out of spite.” Before Caligula became emperor, an astrologer named Thrasyllus predicted that Caligula "had a better chance of riding a horse across the Bay of Bahia than becoming emperor." As a result, Caligula ordered the construction of a temporary pontoon bridge so that everyone could see that the astrologer was mistaken. As you might guess, he triumphantly rode across it on horseback.

During intermissions during performances in the arenas of ancient Rome, criminals were usually executed to entertain the crowd. People were lined up and then their throats were cut. Caligula really liked this idea, but one day, when during the intermission there were no criminals to execute, the emperor became bored. He ordered his guards to throw random spectators from the stands into the arena. Then wild animals were released into the arena to tear people alive.

In his youth, Caligula had a hair problem, about which he was very sensitive. Hair grew everywhere on his body except on the top of his head, where the future emperor was bald. When Caligula became emperor, he first forbade paintings of him with a bald head. Then, by his order, it became a crime to say “goat” in the presence of the emperor.

Caligula also introduced a rule that his subjects could greet him only once a day. A second meeting with the emperor during the day could result in the death penalty.

Caligula once executed a man simply because he was handsome. The emperor noticed an impeccably dressed, handsome man with a beautiful haircut, and was overcome with such a feeling of envy that Caligula ordered his execution. This young man's father did everything he could to save his son's life. He begged Caligula to spare his son, but this only had the opposite effect.

Immediately after the execution, Caligula invited his father to have dinner and drinks with him by the emperor himself. The man was forced to drink a toast to the health of the emperor, dine with him at the same table and accept gifts from Caligula... and all the while he had to look at the man who had just killed his son. According to Senator Seneca, the father had to sit and smile, knowing that his other sons would die if he showed the slightest hint of grief.

No one will ever know whether Caligula had such a twisted sense of humor, or whether he was truly mentally ill. There are historical records that Caligula had hallucinations throughout his life. He rarely slept more than three hours at a time because his hallucinations worsened at night. For example, he once stayed up all night complaining that the ocean was talking to him.

Reports from chroniclers have reached our time that he often spoke with the god Jupiter, and not at all respectfully. He was arguing heatedly with an imaginary interlocutor whom no one else could see. The philosopher Seneca claimed that he once witnessed Caligula threatening Jupiter. They were watching the ballet when a thunderstorm began. Furious that the show was interrupted, Caligula began to shout, threatening Jupiter with a thrashing.

Continues the series of articles about the luxurious life of dictators and rulers. This time we will talk about one of the most famous and mysterious emperors of the Roman Empire - Caligula, who ruled the country from 37 to 41 AD. During these four years, the monarch gained a strong reputation as a merciless despot, known for his eccentric antics and love of orgies and murder. He was obsessed with maintaining his image, every day inventing new ways to amaze and humiliate those around him. He spared neither effort nor funds from the treasury for this.

“You have to live either as a modest person or as a Caesar!” - one of the most famous emperors of the Roman Empire, Caligula, liked to repeat. The monarch, who loved to bathe in luxury, of course, chose the second option.

Legends were made about Caligula’s extravagance and his passion to surround himself with everything most beautiful and expensive. Wanting to diversify his life, every day he came up with new entertainments: he either threw feasts with outlandish dishes, or went to the baths, where his body was rubbed with aromatic oils. He often dressed as a woman, wore wigs, exotic outfits, unusual jewelry and shoes. The emperor was known as a gourmet who appreciated culinary delights. Dishes were often served to him on gold sheets.

Knew a lot about parties

One of his most expensive entertainments was ships for orgies. Galleys with 10 rows of oars with a pearl stern, also decorated with precious stones, with purple silk sails (at that time it was considered the most expensive and popular) and large baths were essentially floating villas. There was a heating system, temples and banquet halls decorated with mosaics. Each ship was trimmed with marble and decorated with the heads of mythical creatures, as well as the heads of lions and wolves.

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“The ships had enough salons, baths and galleries, different varieties of grapes grew, as well as unusual fruit trees,” contemporaries described Caligula’s ships.

The galleys were launched into Lake Nemi, considered holy by the ancient Romans. At that time, these ships were the largest in the world: about 20 meters wide and about 70 meters long. According to historians, the emperor was a frequent guest on these ships, participating not only in orgies, but also in murders and sports competitions.

In the 1920s, the Italian dictator ordered the lake to be drained in order to find the ships. Only two of them were discovered, along with them - statues and decorations from the ship, which were placed in the museum. Unfortunately, they did not survive to this day - they were destroyed during the Second World War in 1944.

Gold, more gold!

In those days when Caligula was not having fun on ships, he came up with new activities for himself. The emperor's great passion was gold. The monarch loved to strew the floor with objects made of this precious metal and walk on them barefoot. He also loved to dress up. The best clothes that tailors could offer at that time were in the emperor's wardrobe. He liked things made of silk and expensive brocade, decorated with jewelry.

Caligula had another rather unusual passion - adding natural pearls, previously dissolved in vinegar, to the goblet. Usually he did this in public at all kinds of banquets.

When choosing a new residence, the monarch, in search of delights, ordered the construction of something that, in principle, seemed impossible. It is not surprising that he quickly squandered the huge budget he inherited from his uncle, Emperor Tiberius. To replenish the depleted treasury, Caligula resorted to new tricks. For example, he introduced further taxes that were unaffordable for the population. Thus, not only merchants, but also prostitutes paid their percentage to him. He declared wills illegal, confiscating the property of the deceased, and confiscated real estate from all those convicted. The Romans tolerated the emperor's crazy and cruel antics for four years. But before this, such behavior seemed impossible.

Cute boy in beautiful boots

The first years of the future emperor's life were spent in military camps. His parents, dreaming of winning the love of soldiers, dressed their son in military clothes. Tiny boots were sewn especially for him, especially liked by the warriors. They nicknamed the future ruler Caligula - “boot”.

Initially, the people rejoiced when 24-year-old Guy Caligula ascended the throne: the people loved his father very much, and the military remembered him as a sweet boy, cutting clothes in cute shoes.

At first, the newly-crowned emperor also reciprocated with the people: he pardoned those convicted and exiled, tried to restore public assemblies, eased taxes and compensated many who suffered from various troubles, abolished the censorship that existed during the time of his uncle, and also completed the construction of the Temple of Augustus.

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To improve the water supply of Rome, two aqueducts were laid in the first months of his reign, and he paid special attention to the condition of the roads.

The rejoicing of the people did not last long: after eight months the emperor fell ill. Many assume that childhood mental trauma has made itself felt. The recovered monarch began to behave completely differently, losing his mind more and more every day.

At first, Caligula decided to come up with various epithets with which he should be called. Thus, he became “the good and greatest Caesar”, “father of the troops”, “son of the camp”, “pious”. The emperor's cult of personality knew no bounds - he decided to compare himself with a deity, ordering sculptures of Jupiter to be brought and the heads of the statues replaced with an image of his own head. But even this seemed to him not enough.

So, in Rome he built a temple named after himself. In its center appeared a golden statue of Caligula, as tall as the emperor himself. They dressed the monument in the same things that the monarch wore. As for sacrifices, if the carcass of a slaughtered bull was brought to ordinary temples, here flamingos and peacocks had to be sacrificed.

Good old ultraviolence

There were rumors that Caligula was incredibly cruel. Obsessed with killing and torturing people, he came up with more and more mockeries every day. Thus, the emperor preferred to hang new laws in hard-to-reach places, forcing them to be written in extremely small handwriting. Thus, many Romans did not even understand what they had violated this time. The monarch could also prohibit spectators from entering under the awnings over the Colosseum arena, forcing them to swelter in the heat during various sporting events.

The Emperor simply adored such events, watching what was happening from the best rostrum. Most of all, he liked chariot racing, in which he sometimes took part. He once acted as a gladiator. His opponent was armed with a wooden knife. At a certain moment, the opponent was ordered to fall, when he did so, Caligula stabbed him with a dagger and ran through the stadium with a victorious palm branch in his hands.

In addition to gladiatorial battles, the monarch loved to perform on stage as a singer or dancer; he also adored theatrical performances, spending a lot of time with actors. He tried to instill a love of art in the Romans, though in a rather strange way: he did not allow the audience to leave until the end of the performance, and ordered those who made noise during the performance to be whipped.

As for the appearance of the monarch, the inhabitants of Ancient Rome did not consider him handsome. “A disgusting pallor that betrays madness, a wild look of eyes deeply hidden under an senile forehead, an ugly head of irregular shape with hairs sticking out here and there, a neck overgrown with thick stubble, thin legs and monstrously huge feet,” this is how his contemporary Roman philosopher described the emperor. Stoic Seneca.

Caligula's body was quite hairy, while his head began to go bald early on. Trying to hide this as much as possible from others, he made a law prohibiting anyone from looking down on him or being superior to him.

Where are the rumors and where is the truth?

Historians claim that the emperor was distinguished by a rather depraved imagination. In particular, the ancient Roman monarch is suspected of cohabiting with his three sisters. This is not known for certain. It is only confirmed that he really loved one of them - Julia Drusilla. Her image was printed on local coins. There were rumors that he was going to make her his heir. After the sudden death of his sister, the emperor could not recover from grief for a long time. He named his only daughter after his sister, Julia Drusilla.

The girl did not live long. She was killed along with her mother Caesonia and father when she was less than a year old. Caligula died, like Julius Caesar, at the hands of the conspirators. The emperor was waylaid as he walked to the baths and was stabbed 30 times.

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Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula)

"Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula)"

Roman emperor (from 37) from the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the youngest son of Germanicus and Agrippina. He was distinguished by his extravagance (in the first year of his reign he squandered the entire treasury). The desire for unlimited power and the demand for honor for oneself as a god displeased the Senate and the Praetorians. Killed by Praetorians.

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the son of the popular consul Germanicus, who died at thirty-four, believed to be from poison. Germanicus had nine children with his wife Agrippina, and due to his popularity among the people, Tiberius, his paternal uncle, adopted him and made him his heir. When Tiberius died, the people demanded that Germanicus be elected head of Rome, but he himself abandoned power.

Tiberius came from an ancient and noble Claudian family and inherited the strong character and aristocracy inherent in the family. It is not surprising that his death was greeted with jubilation, and the Senate entrusted the powers of princeps to the grandson of Tiberius and the son of the popularly beloved Germanicus, Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, nicknamed Caligula (“Boot”).

He owes the nickname Caligula to the soldiers, because he grew up among soldiers, in the clothes of an ordinary soldier. After the death of his father, and then after the exile of his mother, Caligula lived with his great-grandmother Livia Augusta, and after her death - with his grandmother Antonia. When he was nineteen, Tiberius summoned him to Capri, where Caligula patiently endured ridicule and bullying and did not express dissatisfaction, without succumbing to provocations. However, the insightful old man understood the essence of Caligula very early, and said that he was feeding the echidna for the Roman people. Tiberius was not mistaken, because indeed Gaius Caesar Germanicus - Caligula - was by nature cruel and vicious, so vicious that one must agree that he was sick from birth. In Capri, Caligula gladly attended tortures and executions, and at night he wandered through taverns and brothels, indulging in all kinds of debauchery.

He married Junia Claudilla, the daughter of a noble Roman. But he got married after he deflowered his own sister Drusilla, after he had known hundreds of priestesses of love, and after he indulged in debauchery with Ennia Naevia. Therefore, he needed marriage only for some observance of external decency and even more in order to get closer to power. Innocent and inexperienced Junia made no impression on him. With difficulty, Caligula endured this stupid, as it seemed to him, wedding ceremony, but, left alone with the bride, he felt nothing but irritation.

His wife died during childbirth, and he did not regret her and very quickly forgot as if she had never existed.

"Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula)"

Now the widower could well enjoy the sophisticated caresses of Ennia Naevia, who was the wife of Macron, who stood at the head of the praetorian cohorts. Yes, they both were worth each other, because Naevia had guessed, before she gave herself to him, to demand a receipt that he would take her as his wife when he achieved the highest power in Rome. Caligula gave her an oath and a written receipt, and she managed to make him friends with her husband. They indulged in love under the noses of Macron and the sick emperor. With the help of Ennia's husband, Caligula poisoned Tiberius, who was seriously ill, but still did not die and was in no hurry to give his grandson the place of head of the empire. The poison did not act for a long time, then Caligula covered Tiberius’ head with a pillow and leaned on him with his whole body. One young man saw this and screamed in horror, and Caligula immediately sent him to the cross.

However, the people could not know about the depravity of the heir, and greeted the new ruler of Rome with delight, remembering their love for his father. When Caligula entered Rome, he was immediately given supreme and complete power by the Senate. He did everything possible to arouse love for himself in people. In Rome, people's favorite circus performances, gladiator fights, and animal baiting have been resumed on an unprecedented scale. He pardoned those convicted and exiled. He honored his relatives who died and died from the machinations of Tiberius, but forgave those who wrote denunciations against his brothers. He organized nationwide distributions of money and gave luxurious feasts for senators and their wives. The people loved him and revered him endlessly, and therefore the Roman nobility was forced to endure all the wild antics of Emperor Caligula.

At feasts, this tyrant, who imagined himself to be a deity, each time chose one of his wives and took her to his chambers. Having enjoyed his guest, he returned her to her husband, immediately telling him in detail how he made love to her, what he liked about her and what he didn’t. He did not leave a single eminent woman alone, not to mention the libertine Pirallis. The respectable townspeople endured everything, otherwise they were threatened with death from wild animals, prison and torture. Macron, who was close to the emperor like no one else, endured everything.

What about Ennia Naevia, whom he promised to marry when he came to power? She did not want to let him go and was still his mistress, and often her husband Macron was waiting for them to finish at the door of his own house. But when Drusilla appeared in the palace again, Caligula lost interest in Ennia, and the memory that she helped to come to power was unpleasant for the emperor.

"Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula)"

Now Caligula kept with him all the time the best executioner in Rome, who beheaded anyone at any moment - at the first sign of the emperor. And then one day he entered Ennia's bedroom with her husband and forced them to make love. At that moment, the executioner entered and struck with his sword, but he did not manage to kill both at once - only Macron died. Ennia was strangled by Caligula, and the executioner was killed by soldiers who burst into the bedroom, deciding that he had attacked the emperor.

The historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus in his book “The Lives of the Twelve Caesars” (c. 120 AD) wrote: “It is difficult to say about his marriages what was more obscene in them: conclusion, dissolution or stay in marriage. Livia Orestilla, who married Gaius Piso, he himself came to congratulate him, immediately ordered to be taken away from her husband and a few days later he released him, and two years later he sent him into exile, suspecting that during this time she had gotten back together with her husband. Others say that at the wedding feast itself, he, lying opposite Piso, sent him a note: “Don’t meddle with my wife!”, and immediately after the feast he took her to his place and the next day announced by edict that he had found himself a wife, following the example of Romulus and Augustus: Lollia Paulina, the wife of Gaius Memmius, consular and he summoned the military commander from the province, having heard that her grandmother was once a beauty, immediately divorced her husband and took her as his wife, and after a short time he released her, forbidding her from henceforth to get close to anyone.Caesonia, who was not distinguished by her beauty , neither in her youth and who had already given birth to three daughters from another husband, he loved most passionately and longest of all for her voluptuousness and extravagance: he often took her to the troops next to him, on horseback, with a light shield, in a cloak and helmet, and even showed her to his friends her naked. He honored her with the name of his wife no sooner than she gave birth to him, and on the same day declared himself her husband and the father of her child. He carried this child, Julia Drusilla, through the temples of all the goddesses and finally laid him on the womb of Minerva, instructing the deity to raise and feed her. He considered her fierce temper to be the best proof that she was the daughter of his flesh: even then she was so furious that she would scratch the faces and eyes of the children playing with her with her nails.”

As already mentioned, one of his favorite women was his sister Drusilla. It is generally accepted that Guy seduced her as a teenager. Then he gave her away in marriage, and when he became emperor, he took her away from her husband and placed her in his palace, where Drusilla lived as his wife. He also seduced other sisters, but his passion for them was not as unbridled as for Drusilla, and he often simply gave them to his favorites for amusement, and in the end he condemned them for debauchery and exiled them.

"Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula)"

Drusilla had enormous power over his body.

His grandmother, Antonia, was terribly worried about the abominations committed by her grandson, and more than once tried to get to him to talk. But he did not accept the old woman, not wanting to listen to her moral teachings. He humiliated her for a long time and finally accepted her when Macron was still alive, in his presence. An elderly relative, famous for her virtuous life, did not say anything to the emperor, realizing that Caligula needed a witness to condemn her for disrespect for authority. According to some evidence, Caligula humiliated Antonia in a way that is impossible to even imagine - he ordered Macron to rape her in front of his eyes, which was carried out by a faithful and devoted warrior. Antonia was then poisoned on the orders of her grandson. His grandmother's body was burned, and he watched the funeral pyre from the palace window.

Undoubtedly, all - or almost all - of Caligula's wild antics were driven by a diseased brain obsessed with sexual perversion and violence. The permissiveness of tyrannical power encouraged and intensified the disease. Endless spectacles of torture and executions aggravated sensuality already brought to the extreme.

Having declared himself a god, and even the only one, Caligula lived according to the principle of permissiveness, but really no one could object or interfere with him. And so, on his orders, they hastily cut off the heads of the statues of Jupiter and replaced them with the heads of him, Caligula. Sometimes he himself stood in the temple in the pose of a statue of God and accepted the honors of the people intended for God. He no longer behaved like an emperor, but like a jester, performing publicly in the circus, singing and dancing, which befitted only a slave. Slave and... God, of course. But all his sophisticated entertainment did not save him from monstrous boredom.

His dependence on Drusilla was also beginning to irritate him. He was attached to her, he missed her. Obviously, she, his sister, was just as vicious and depraved as he was, which is why they had such a good time. She was shameless, she tried to be the best lover in the world for him, because his cooling towards her was certain death for her. Finally, having learned that one of the commanders of the cohorts was plotting a conspiracy against the emperor, Caligula came up with a most sophisticated plan, which, according to his plan, could prevent the coup planned by his enemies from being carried out. He announced to Tullius Sabon, tribune of the Praetorians, that he wished to become related to him and the commanders of the cohorts through his sister. And he gave his beloved Drusilla to the soldiers, and she, of course, could not withstand the violence and monstrous humiliation and died out in a few months.

Caligula declared national mourning and grieved for his beloved sister so much that he retired into the desert. However, he soon returned, but from now on he sealed all oaths in the name of Drusilla.

Having marked the beginning of his rise to power by distributing money, Caligula spent the entire treasury a year later and began to rob the people and provinces, introducing new unprecedented taxes, and simply robbing everyone.

Several plots against the mad ruler failed. But everyone understood that sooner or later this would happen. Having lived twenty-nine years, having been in power for three years, ten months and eight days, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, or simply Caligula, was killed by conspirators in an underground passage on January 24, 41 AD.

The main role in this conspiracy was played by Cassius Chaerea, a tribune of the praetorian cohort, whom, despite his old age, Guy mocked in every possible way. It was decided to attack Caligula at the Palatine Games. Suetonius described this assassination attempt as follows: “...Some say that when he was talking with the boys, Chaerea, approaching him from behind, cut the back of his head deeply with a blow of his sword, shouting: “Do your job!” - and then the tribune Cornelius Sabinus, the second conspirator pierced his chest from the front. Others report that when the centurions, initiated into the conspiracy, pushed back the crowd of companions, Sabinus, as always, asked the emperor for the password; he said: “Jupiter”; then Chaerea shouted: “Get yours!” - and when Guy turned around, he cut his chin. He fell, screaming in convulsions: “I am alive!” - and then the others finished him off with thirty blows - everyone had one cry: “Strike again!” Some even hit him with a blade in the groin. At the first noise, porters with poles came running to the rescue, then the German bodyguards; some of the conspirators were killed, and with them several innocent senators."

The house where Caligula was killed soon burned down in a fire. His wife Caesonia, hacked to death by a centurion, and his daughter, who was smashed against a wall, also died...

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Caligula - Roman emperor, third representative of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, tribune, great pontiff. Known for his brutal reprisals and dissolute behavior. The ruler is ideally characterized by the phrase he himself said:

“Let them hate, as long as they are afraid.”

Childhood and youth

Caligula was born on August 31, 12 in the city of Antium of the Roman Empire. His full name is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. His father was the famous commander Germanicus, his mother was Agrippina the Elder. The boy was the sixth son in the family, after Agrippina she gave birth to three more daughters. Three of Guy's brothers died in infancy.

He spent the first two years of his life in Rome, but was soon sent to a military camp with his father. There the future emperor received the nickname “Caligula”. The boy loved to dress up in the uniform of legionnaires and wore miniature boots, like soldiers' boots. The soldiers began to call him Caligula - a diminutive of the word "caliga". Despite the prevalence of the nickname, the emperor did not like it at all.

His father Germanicus died young, presumably the man was poisoned. The commander enjoyed unprecedented popularity among the Roman people, which aroused envy and discontent among Emperor Tiberius. Germanicus was his nephew, but at the insistence of Octavian, Tiberius had to adopt him. Despite this, he did not like him. The emperor was very afraid that with the love of the people Germanicus would take power away from him, because he was his first heir.

Immediately after the death of Germanicus, Agrippina and her eldest sons fell out of favor. Tiberius sent them into exile, where they were brutally abused. The boys died of starvation, and the woman allegedly committed suicide, unable to withstand the beatings. At this time, Guy was too small, perhaps that is why he remained alive. His great-grandmothers took him into their care.

When Guy reached adulthood, Tiberius summoned the guy to his place. Ill-wishers tried to push their heads together. But Caligula showed prudence and caution in communicating with his grandfather. The young man began to live at court and studied a lot. Some biographers claim that Guy’s pathological craving for cruelty and voluptuousness appeared during that period. He liked to watch the bloody executions and torture that were carried out regularly at the court of Tiberius.

It is not known for certain whether Caligula was involved in the death of Tiberius. It is known that Prefect Macron and Guy were present at his death. According to the ancient Roman historian Tacitus, on March 16, 37, Tiberius did not die, but simply lost consciousness. And when everyone was congratulating Caligula, the emperor suddenly opened his eyes. But Macron decided to finish the job by ordering the old emperor to be strangled. It was rumored that Caligula did it himself.

Governing body

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was joyfully received in Rome. He immediately showed himself to be a polite and considerate ruler. Caligula granted amnesty to prisoners taken into custody by Tiberius. In 37, he returned the right of elections to the people, expanded the rights of the Senate, and restored the people's assemblies. The liberalization of domestic policy at the beginning of Caligula's reign also affected other areas of public life.

Some historians accuse Caligula of excessive wastefulness, which allegedly led to a deterioration in the financial situation of the empire. Indeed, he often showed unprecedented generosity - he gave gifts to the soldiers. But in the 20th century, researchers changed their minds.

The fact is that there is no evidence that his successor Claudius had an acute shortage of money at the beginning of his reign. It is noteworthy that it was Caligula who returned what Tiberius had abolished in his time: he began to publish financial reports on the state of the empire.

Caligula was also remembered by his contemporaries as an active builder. To improve water supply in Rome, he began building aqueducts. He completed the construction of churches and restored theaters. He began to build a circus on the Vatican Field. To decorate it, he brought an obelisk from Egypt, for transportation of which he had to build a special ship. In 1586, this obelisk was installed in the Vatican, in the center of St. Peter's Square.

Caligula paid a lot of attention to transport infrastructure. For each section of the road, a caretaker was appointed who was supposed to monitor the condition of the road surface. If these people approached the matter carelessly or stole money allocated for repairs, they were severely punished.

In foreign policy, Caligula achieved peace with Parthia. He strengthened the position in remote regions by appointing loyal rulers to posts. The emperor also expanded the possessions of the Roman Empire in North Africa.

According to chroniclers, the emperor soon became very ill. He did not appear in public for a long time. The people prayed for his recovery. And when Caligula recovered, everyone was incredibly happy, although not for long. His behavior changed dramatically after his illness. First of all, he ordered the killing of Tiberius the Younger, Grandmother Antonia, Prefect Macron and his wife. The number of tortures and executions increased every day. They were committed in front of Caligula, right during dinners.

He carried out brutal reprisals everywhere. For example, he ordered to seize the first spectators at gladiatorial fights and throw them to be torn to pieces by lions, before cutting off their tongues so that they would not scream.

Caligula proclaimed himself a god by placing his own statue in the form of Jupiter in the temple. One of the craziest acts of the Roman emperor was to appoint his horse named Inciatus to the post of senator and then consul.

He turned his own palace into a brothel, appropriating the income from it. He executed the rich and confiscated their property.

Some researchers suggest that Caligula suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy. Others claim that he suffered from encephalitis, which affected the brain and, accordingly, affected his mental health. Disputes still continue over the diagnosis of the Roman emperor.

Personal life

Caligula was married four times. His first wife was Junia Claudilla, the initiator of this union was Tiberius. And the nature of this marriage was clearly political. However, both the child and Junia herself died during childbirth.

At the beginning of his reign, he married Livia Orestilla, but after a few days they divorced. This was practiced in the 1st century. In 38, Caligula married Lollia Paulina. The reason for their divorce was the woman's infertility. The Emperor ordered her never to have relations with men again. He probably didn't want to question his own fertility.

His fourth legal wife was Milonia Caesonia. She was 7 years older than Guy and already had three children from another marriage. But the main goal now for Caligula was the birth of an heir. Caesonia gave birth to the emperor's daughter, Julia Drusilla.

Of course, the man was not distinguished by marital fidelity. He did not hide his lovers. And there were a lot of them. Ancient authors claim that Caligula was also involved in incest with his sisters, and the historian Eutropius states that one of them bore him a child. The chronicler Suetonius reports that the emperor also had homosexual relationships.

Death

The despotism of Caligula pushed the praetorian commander Cassius Chaerea into a conspiracy. On January 24, 1941, the tyrant was killed in the corridor of the theater. He was dealt over thirty blows with swords. His wife Caesonia was also stabbed to death, and the centurion killed his little daughter Julia by hitting her against a wall.

This is how the Roman Emperor Caligula died after a reign that lasted less than four years.

The Roman throne was transferred to his uncle, Germanicus' brother, Claudius.

Memory

To the cinema:

• 1937 – feature film by Joseph von Sternberg “I, Claudius”, in the role of Caligula – Emlyn Williams
• 1979 – feature film “Caligula”, in the role of Caligula –

In literature:

• "Caligula"
• "Messalina", Giovagnoli Raffaello
• "Caligula", Obermayer Siegfried
• “Caligula, or after us at least a flood”, Toman Joseph
• "Caligula", Siliato Maria Grazia
• "The Lives of the Twelve Caesars", Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (12-41 AD) became famous as one of the most cruel rulers of the Roman Empire during the entire period of its existence. Better known as Caligula, he was proclaimed Princeps by the Roman Senate on March 18, 37. In the first few months of his reign, showing concern for his people and state, the new emperor reduced taxes and paid off the debts left by his predecessors. Caligula was distinguished by his special piety and very quickly won the love of the people. Eight months later, according to chroniclers, he became very ill and did not appear in public for a long time. There were rumors that Caligula would never return to state affairs and would soon die, but a miracle happened and everyone’s beloved emperor finally recovered. However, the joy from such news did not last long: soon the Romans dubbed Caligula the “black ruler,” and conspiracies began to be prepared one after another in the Senate. What influenced such a rapid development of hatred towards the once beloved ruler, and why did he pay with his life?

Crazy ruler

Modern researchers, based on historical documents and the works of ancient Roman writers, suggest that Caligula suffered from a disease that resulted in serious neurological abnormalities. In his book “The Lives of the Twelve Caesars,” dedicated to the biography of the first Roman emperors, the Roman encyclopedist and historian Suetonius, who lived at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, described Caligula’s illness as similar to epilepsy. Some modern scientists are inclined to believe that the emperor suffered a more serious illness - encephalitis, which affected the brain and, accordingly, affected his mental health.

Horses are people too, or how Caligula's favorite became a senator

One of the craziest acts of the Roman emperor was to appoint his horse named Inciatus to the post of senator and then consul. Caligula even sometimes spoke on his behalf in front of the people and organized magnificent celebrations in his honor! Intiate received from his patron as a gift a luxurious marble palace with a golden trough and a whole retinue of servants. The horse, in turn, regularly came to work and, together with the other senators, took part in all sorts of meetings.

Black Emperor Caligula

When Caligula fell ill, many Romans, who dearly loved their ruler, were so worried about his illness that they were ready to give their lives for the sake of the emperor’s recovery. When Caligula “recovered,” he ordered everyone who so wanted to sacrifice their lives to fulfill their promises. Because you need to keep your word.

His cruelty and tyranny manifested itself in literally everything. Most of all, the emperor enjoyed watching executions, in which, as the ancient Roman chroniclers testify, he often personally took part. Caligula treated death from a philosophical point of view and easily decided human destinies. He could sentence to death any person he did not like, regardless of whether the unfortunate person had committed any crime or not. Among those displeasing His Augustness were not only ordinary Romans, but also representatives of noble families, and even close relatives of the emperor.

Caligula: God Emperor

The narcissistic emperor proclaimed himself God and ordered his person to be worshiped. In honor of himself, he built a large temple, where he installed a golden statue, which the priests had to dress every day in the clothes in which Caligula went out to the plebs. In addition, the emperor attended the daily sacrifices performed in his divine honor, and executed those who worshiped other Gods.

One day, Caligula even decided to take possession of the sea and declared war on Neptune, the ancient Roman God of the seas and oceans. He gathered his army, led it to the shores of the sea and ordered them to throw spears and arrows into the water in order to defeat their sworn enemy.

Gold and easy money

Caligula never hid his passion for a luxurious life. Having almost completely emptied the state treasury to satisfy his own whims, he began to raise taxes and come up with new ones. In addition, the emperor forced rich citizens to include him in the inheritance, and when he received what he wanted, he ordered the testator to be poisoned if he turned out to be too alive. Caligula sold the high positions of consuls and priests for a lot of money, and for the position that the imperial horse received, all owners of these animals in Rome, without exception, had to be paid. If its owner could not fulfill the ruler’s next whim, this was regarded as an insult to the Intiate, and a rather sad fate awaited the careless horse along with its owner.

Caligula spent money with ease and wanted to receive it with the same ease. For large sums, he allowed everyone to share a dinner meal with him, but the buyer of such a precious service did not always return to his chambers. The emperor could poison his guest if he simply did not like him.

Pay

Caligula was at the head of the Roman Empire for only four years, but during this time he managed to become famous for his exceptional cruelty and was known as a madman. Conspiracies were prepared against him more than once, and the emperor knew about this, so he was always wary of everything that happened and did not trust anyone. However, one day, on the way to the baths, conspirators waylaid him and carried out their own sentence, taking the lives of not only Caligula, but also his wife and young daughter. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was killed on January 24, 41 at the age of 28. According to Suetonius, the last words of the cruel ruler were “I am still alive!” Apparently, until the last minutes of his life, Caligula could not believe that retribution would still overtake him.