Emperor Caligula Is Assassinated
Emperor Caligula, born Gaius Caesar in A.D. 12, ruled Rome from 37 to 41 A.D. His reign began with initial popularity due to his pardoning of prisoners and public celebrations, but it quickly descended into tyranny after he suffered a serious illness. Following his recovery, Caligula exhibited increasingly erratic behavior, believing himself a deity and engaging in bizarre acts, such as waging war on Neptune and appointing his horse as a consul. His extravagant spending and ruthless treatment of political enemies led to growing discontent among the elite, ultimately culminating in his assassination on January 24, A.D. 41. A group of praetorian guard officers carried out the plot, catching Caligula off guard as he left a public event. Following his death, chaos ensued, during which his uncle Claudius was declared emperor by the praetorian soldiers. Contrary to expectations, Claudius proved to be an effective ruler, marking a significant shift in leadership following Caligula’s controversial reign.
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Emperor Caligula Is Assassinated
Emperor Caligula Is Assassinated
On January 24, a.d. 41, the depraved and tyrannical Roman emperor Caligula was assassinated. Caligula's real name was Gaius Caesar. He was born in Antium, modern-day Anzio, in Italy in a.d. 12. His father was Germanicus Caesar, a prominent Roman general who earned the honorific Germanicus for his successful campaigns in Germany. As a child Gaius enjoyed dressing up in soldier's clothes, which earned him the nickname Caligula (little boot).
At the time of Caligula's birth, Rome was ruled by Augustus Caesar, the first and longest ruling emperor of Rome. Because Augustus ruled wisely and the Roman people enjoyed decades of peace and prosperity, when Augustus was succeeded after his death in a.d. 14 by his stepson Tiberius, there was little opposition to the creation of a hereditary monarchy. Tiberius continued Augustus's policies, maintaining peaceful and prosperous rule over the Roman provinces and keeping the borders secure, and he was a competent and largely successful emperor. He died in a.d. 37 after appointing Caligula, a favored member of his household, and Tiberius Gemellus as joint heirs to succeed him.
Caligula acted quickly to remove Gemellus from power after Tiberius died and won official endorsement by the Roman Senate as the sole emperor. At first Caligula was a popular ruler: He pardoned some prisoners, publicly burnt records that Tiberius had kept on those suspected of disloyalty, and held a number of public games and feasts. However, he was struck down by a serious illness, and when he recovered he seemed insane. He became convinced that he was a god and declared war on Neptune, the god of the sea; he had his legions gather seashells from the beach as supposed “tribute” from Neptune to signify his imagined victory. Caligula made his horse Incitatus a Roman consul, letting the animal, draped in official robes, wander about the floor during Senate sessions. He squandered the treasury on elaborate public displays and on temples built to honor him as a god. Furthermore, his personal life was depraved, and he made no effort to conceal it, holding public orgies in the imperial palace. Finally, his arbitrary execution of supposed political enemies and confiscation of the fortunes of wealthy families in order to finance his excesses threw the ruling classes of the Empire into turmoil.
Having endured four years of Caligula's madness, several officers of the praetorian guard, the elite Roman military force that kept order within the city of Rome and traditionally served as the emperor's personal bodyguard, decided to assassinate him. It was not an easy task, because Caligula had incorporated a number of German mercenaries into his personal bodyguard, and they were loyal to Caligula as their patron. However, on January 24, a.d. 41, the conspirators were able to catch Caligula as he left a public entertainment and stab him to death.
When news of Caligula's assassination reached the public there was panic. During the confusion that followed, the common soldiers of the praetorian guard took the occasion to loot the imperial palace and other buildings. In one they found Caligula's uncle Claudius hiding behind a curtain. Claudius had several infirmities, including a stutter and nervous twitch, and was scorned as a half-wit. Partly as a joke and partly because they assumed he would be easily manipulated by them, the praetorian soldiers declared Claudius to be the new emperor.
Claudius surprised everyone by proving to be not only very intelligent but also a very capable emperor. Thus Caligula's assassination did not lead to a popular rejection of imperial rule in favor of a return to the Republic but simply to the replacement of a bad emperor with a good one.