Caligula: (Little Boots) The Mad Emperor

Caligula, is not merely one of a litany of deranged wearers of the Imperial Purple of Rome, he is the most infamous and his name has become a by-word for cruelty, excess, and the corrupting influence of power. There is little doubt that he was a disturbed young man, but was he mad? Or was he merely frightened. So ossified with fear that he could be master of the universe one moment, and a distraught supplicant the next, begging at the feet of his servants in floods of tears for forgiveness and remittance from sin of his misdeeds. A man who could kill and love in equal measure. He had lived in fear of his life ever since he had been a young child. He had seen the humiliation and exile of his mother and witnessed the execution of his brothers. As a result, he had been extremely close to his sisters but in the end even they would betray him. He was a scared, bitter and paranoid young man, and on 16 March, AD 37, he would become the Emperor of Rome.

Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, the future Caligula, was born on 31 August 12 AD. He was the third son of the hugely popular General, Germanicus. His mother was Agrippina, an extremely ambitious, willful and headstrong woman who was the daughter of the late Emperor Augustus’s right-hand man Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the victor at the Battle of Actium that had preceded the downfall of Mark Anthony.

As a child the young Gaius would accompany his father on his military campaigns and would be dressed in a miniature military uniform with toy sword, armour, and soldiers boots. He would copy the centurions mannerisms, and amused, the army very quickly took him to their hearts and they nicknamed him Caligula (Little Boots). All this changed, however, when on 10 October, 18 AD, his father Germanicus unexpectedly died in mysterious circumstances following a dispute with the Governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso.

Claiming he was murdered, Caligula’s mother, Agrippina, blamed the Emperor Tiberius for her husband’s death, and she went public with her suspicions. She believed that Germanicus had been poisoned by Piso on the orders of Tiberius. The majority of Romans believed her accusations and were broadly sympathetic to her cause. Under increasing public pressure Tiberius was forced to put Piso on trial for his life. When it became apparent that he would be found guilty and that the Emperor would not spare him, Piso committed suicide. Aggripina had won a victory and made her point, but Tiberius was not one to forget a slight.