A Brief History
On January 24, 41 A.D., the Roman emperor known as Caligula was assassinated by his own Praetorian Guard!
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (his actual name) usually referred to as Caligula or “little boot,” a nickname.
By any name, Caligula is remembered as perhaps the worst of the worst of the Roman emperors, and his excesses are legendary! Although some of these excesses are probably exaggerations made by his enemies and detractors, the idea that his most loyal body guards would kill him should serve as a clue! (Imagine how bad a U.S. president would have to be for his Secret Service detail to assassinate him!)
The first Roman emperor to be assassinated (Julius Caesar was technically not emperor), Caligula’s reign was marked by a constant grab for power in order to make his position supreme and absolute. In so doing, he minimized the power of the senate, making that body a mere joke.
Caligula is purported to have killed his predecessor Tiberius by smothering him and was initially received by the masses with enthusiasm as Tiberius was known as a cruel and ruthless ruler. The public love for Caligula lasted only a few months until his acts of kindness and generosity changed wildly to acts of cruelty and persecution. Exiling and executing anyone that opposed him, or at his whim, Caligula is reported to have humiliated politicians and other rich people by making a horse a senator and by prostituting their wives!
Caligula’s wanton spending quickly depleted imperial funds, and he reacted by confiscating property and levying harsh taxes. No wonder the people from top to bottom quickly tired of him after only 4 years and accepted the limping and partially deaf Claudius as their ruler upon Caligula’s death.
Although the most sensational aspects of Caligula’s reign may well be fiction (nobody living really knows), today he is thought of as the epitome of excess and power gone mad. This is apparent in the many films (notably the 1979 movie Caligula, starring Malcolm Macdowell), books, video game allusions, music and television specials that refer to Caligula as the crazy, power hungry, sexual maniac, the embodiment of all sorts of abuse.
A final bizarre aspect to Caligula’s story is that he declared himself a god and had the heads removed from statues of gods and had them replaced with heads in the likeness of himself. Apparently the people were not fooled and he was murdered anyway! With good reason, he ranks first among the “Top 10 Infamous Roman Emperors!”
Question for students (and subscribers): Do you believe the sources that Caligula was really a madman? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information on this fascinating, yet terrible man, see…
Schneider, Deborah Lucas, Aloys Winterling, et al. Caligula: A Biography. University of California Press, 2015.
Tranquillus, Gaius Suetonius. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 04: Caligula. Aeterna, 2010.
And for a movie version, you know you secretly wish were made, please watch the following NSFW video… (again, I cannot stress enough here, the following is NSFW!)
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1065 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1065">60 Comments
With a boss like this, I can understand why they wanted him dead. He was cruel and had more than one loose screw in his head. He was also quite arrogant.
Hearing of how bad an emperor he was at the time of his reign, I’m surprised that Roman officials did not give me the boot sooner. His sickly ways seemed too much for Roman society.
I find it odd that Caligula was so dismissive and insulting toward the Senate, because if used correctly they could have probably be a great aid to him in achieving his other dreams as emperor. I also find it odd that he has the nickname of “Little Boot.”
Caligula must have behaved very badly in order to have him own body guards kill him. I mean using the comparison with the secret service killing the president is very cool to think about how insanely Caligula must have acted.
I find it most interesting that Caligula started out as a well loved emperor before devolving into the madman we know today. One has to wonder if something happened to change him or if he was always like this but only showed his true colors once he was in power.
I think it’s fascinating that Caligula actually started out as a well loved ruler who was known for his generosity before he became one of the most infamous emperors in history.
It’s amazing that a ruler can be so evil that his own bodyguard’s assassinated him. Never really heard of something like that prior to this.
I am just curious about what led Caligula to become such an awful individual. I know we discussed his illness in class, but I wonder if the power just didn’t get to his head…
I find it funny that his nickname stuck around with him his whole life. It shows that even back then there was a sense of humor.
In high school, I watched the movie Claudius I in Latin III and I specifically remember 1) Caligula being crazy and 2) the scene where he was stabbed by his body guard. I did not recall that until rereading this article.
Once again the mad king gets a taste of power and falls from his pedestal. What’s even more interesting is that his assassins didn’t leave anything up to chance killing almost his entire family.
The most shocking thing about the four year time period where Caligula ruled, is that the people didn’t have him murdered sooner. He sounds like an awful man that would do anything to make himself more comfortable before even looking at the needs of his people.
Its interesting to see that he was such an awful guy that
his body guard ended up killing him, especially since he was loved by the
people in the beginning as a ruler. I think power got the best of him and made
him crazy.
It is surprising that a ruler could be internally assassinated by his own guard. This is very unlikely to happen in today’s world.
I wonder what illness Caligula caught that possessed his mind to become so evil and treat people that used to adore him like cattle.
I think it’s really interesting that he was such a great ruler before he came down with an illness to make him basically insane.
How fast a man can fall in history. If he would have stayed good, what great things would he have accomplished? Now he will always be the most hated ruler of Rome.
Its interesting how a ruler could be killed by one of his guards and its interesting how he let the power get to his head and make him power crazy.
A horse as senator? Really! And why was he nicknamed “little boots?” Just a nickname his family called him that caught on, maybe an insult?
I’m surprised that Caligula did not get overthrown or assassinated earlier. I mean 4 years is a very long time, especially if he was doing so many horrible deeds and acts against his people and even the Senate!
Any man deranged enough to call himself a god should never rule anything…
Caligula is an example of a time where the people who were under him should probably revolted sooner than they did. Allowing him to remain emperor as long as he did only made things worse and worse for the Roman people.
I think Caligula was never genuine in being nice in kind, rather he was trying to win the favor of the people. I think eventually he just showed his true colors, he did smother his successor.
Yeah this guy was really weird. Honestly, I feel like he was mentally ill so I do feel for him in some ways. Although he did some pretty unforgivable things and was one of the worst leaders in human history, I do have a soft spot because it’s pretty clear (from historical accounts anyways) that he was mentally ill in some way. It would be interesting to see what would have happened had his potential not been wasted and the people of Ancient Rome had proper treatment for mental disease.
The more I learn about Caligula, the more I realize why he was executed. He was more of a pain than I thought. How could anybody think that they have higher power than the gods?
The fact that his own body guards killed him just shows how crazy Caligula really was. Some of the things this emperor did during his reign, not just things like making the senate powerless, but his his drunk and sexual actions show how messed up his mind really was.
This guy was crazy! I had to laugh when I read about him replacing the statues heads with ones that looked like him
It’s neat to see a person in power with this kind of reputation. Think of how things would be if you took a person like him and made him a leader of a modern day country. That’d be scary!
Of the many awful Roman Emperors through the centuries, Caligula’s abuse of all classes of Rome could easily mark him as arguably the worst.
For a person to transform from being liked to being hated is interesting to watch happen! Also, his nickname “little boot” and I am interested to figure the origins of it.
i feel Calula was really crazy and insane with how he treated the roman people and I’m glad they got rid of him. I find it hard to realize they really liked him in the first part of his rule
It is crazy to hear about how horrible some rulers were, and makes one wonder what caused Caligula to act this way. It is also sad that so many people were subjected to his cruelty.
i find it very interesting that he was actually very well liked when he first started ruling.
Caligula was insane! Too bad it took the guards so long to get rid of him and save the people from his cruelty.
Very interesting
I am curious as to what made him change his ways of life, one simply does not just go from being a well rounded likable person to a crazy madman who is disliked. That is one thing about history that is very frustrating at times, we will never know truly what happened to change him.
It is funny how he was actually liked at the beginning of his rule. It is crazy how circumstances can change you like that.
Its interesting how Caligula killed his predecessor, but eventually he was killed by his own guards.
What exactly makes someone drastically change who they are in such a short period of time?
I guess what goes around really does come back around. When you come into power by killing the ruler before you, you can only expect to go out in the same way.
I think it is interesting how he killed the leader before and then he was killed by his own guards. What a coincidence.
To declare yourself as a God is the most egotistical thing a person can do, and it only makes the power go to your head even more.
He must have been so terrible to have his own bodyguards kill him!
You must really be crazy and piss your own men off for them to off you.
Shouldnt have pissed off so many of his subjects.
Wow..he really angered a lot of people. How do you go from such a loved man to the most hated.
Caligula was a hated ruler, but interestingly he was liked at first. You wonder what turned him into the fierce ruler he ended up being.
I think that Caligula ended up being a fierce ruler because people started hating him as a ruler, which upset him a lot.
Some of the things he is said to have done are just so outlandish that it’s surprising that the people put up with hi for as long as they did, particularly the Senate.
So much hate will turn anyone into such a tough ruler I believe.
That video added a good visual for the subject
I believe to see the best in people. Even though what Caligula did was terrible, I feel that he must have been able to justify his actions. He may have been raised in a dysfunctional family and was taught to do bad things. No child starts out evil. He or she is neutral until it has to cope with a certain lifestyle. This creates a personality in my own opinion.
I find it interesting that Caligula was the first Roman emperor to be assassinated.
Caligula has always interested me, he was masterful and mad at the same time.
Caligula is very interesting to me; this was a nice article to open my eyes up to more information about him
Caligulas story is pretty interesting and especialy since he was so loved and then he became infamous
This article was very fascinating. He certainly was an interesting man.
It’s interesting that the people really liked Caligula before he became what we know of him today.
Caligula must of been a good liar to hide his sociopathic and psychopathic ways. They tend to be good manipulators.
Caligula was liked at one point? That’s a new perspective I haven’t heard of