The Rotten Grape

Whether or not you've ever studied Ancient Rome, chances are you've heard a story or two
about Caligula.
Although he only ruled for the very short period of 4 years, he is still one of the most popular
(and by popular I mean known, not necessarily liked) of all the Roman emperors. Among the
numerous rumours and tales that surround his life, some of the most prominent include
those regarding his supposed incest with his sisters, his unquenchable blood lust, and his
claims to divinity. You may indeed recognise many of these attributes from the Hollywood
portrayal of Commodus in the blockbuster film, Gladiator (not by any means a coincidence).
So what do we actually know about the troubled emperor?
Born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus in AD 12 to Agrippina (daughter of Agrippa,
granddaughter of Augustus) and the beloved Germanicus (grandson of Mark Antony and
Octavia, the sister of Augustus), Gaius sat very comfortably on the branches of the JulioClaudian family tree.
When Gaius was very young, maybe 2 or 3, he was brought along with his father and mother
to the military camp Germanicus was based at in Germany. Dressed in a miniature army
uniform, Gaius was nicknamed 'Caligula' meaning Little Boots, by the soldiers - the name
stuck.
You may remember from the last post [see The Guinea Pig] that the Praetorian
Prefect, Sejanus, had Agrippina banished in AD 29 along with two of her sons, who later
died. Young Gaius' teenage years were thus resultantly rather stressful. Passed from his
great-grandmother's care, to his grandmother, before finally being summoned to join
Tiberius at Capri, Gaius enjoyed little stability under the reign of his great uncle/adoptive
grandfather (Roman imperial family trees are a messy lot).
Roman writers and historians who wrote on the life of Caligula did so with the benefit of
hindsight, so that they often recorded proofs of his 'perverseness', brutality and general
unsuitability for the role of emperor, as demonstrated before he acceded to the position.
In AD 37 however, this was not the general opinion of the populace. He was the son of the
nation's treasured Germanicus, and had a bloodline that linked him to the mighty Augustus he was an entirely appropriate candidate. Although his lack of military and political
experience was a disadvantage, the final 'tyrannical' years of Tiberius had meant the
populace would have happily accepted almost anyone as Tiberius' successor. Moreover, to
the Senate, Gaius was like a blank canvas- unmarked by any political troubles, he could be

influenced and swayed to push forward their own agendas. It it also likely that both the
Senate and the populace thought some of his father's many great skills and attributes would
have rubbed off on him, but Germanicus had died when Gaius was still just a boy; his
formative years had been spent under the suspicious scrutiny of Tiberius and other close
members of his imperial family.
On top of that, Gaius was mad. At least that was the general opinion formed at the time (after
he was dead and buried though, of course) and is indeed the opinion of most scholars today.
According to the biographer Suetonius, Gaius suffered from epilepsy as a child, in addition
to insomnia (which plagued him throughout his adult life), and some kind of mental illness.
[1] Some medical professionals in recent times have actually made attempts to diagnose
specifically what mental ailment Gaius suffered from, although such attempts, noble though
they may be, cannot possibly give any definitive answer.
What we know for sure about Gaius is that he was young- 24 years old in fact at the time of
his accession- and utterly inexperienced. Having had no practice on the battlefield (as a
soldier or otherwise), in addition to having virtually no real understanding or experience of
Roman politics, Gaius was left in a rather difficult position. Unlike Tiberius, who at least had
his years as a competent general to point to as reason for entrusting the empire to him, Gaius
had nothing. As we have already discovered, being Emperor meant trying to strike a delicate
balance between pleasing the Senate, pleasing the army, and pleasing the public. Augustus
had managed it expertly, Tiberius had just about managed it. As Gaius would likely have
been advised by his imperial staff (particularly Macro, the Praetorian Prefect who replaced
Sejanus), his first moves as Emperor were crucial to securing his position.
You may remember from the last post that in AD 35, Tiberius drew up a will in which both
Gaius and his other grandson Tiberius Gemellus, were named as joint heirs. So what
happened? Well, as soon as Tiberius had died, Macro sent word to all the military
commanders and governors throughout the empire that Gaius was to accede to the position
of Emperor. With Macro controlling the armed forces in Rome, and now ensuring the
support of all the empire's senior military men, Gaius' new role was pretty much secured.
The Senate, we are told by Suetonius, "immediately and unanimously conferred absolute
power upon him" [2]- Gaius received in one act, what had taken Augustus and Tiberius
many years and stages to acquire. Macro then sent a request to the Senate, asking for
Tiberius' will to be voided on the grounds that the former Emperor had not been of sound
mind when he had drawn it up. Gemellus was only 17 years old at the time, so the request
was easy to justify- the old Republic may have been dead and buried, but the Senate were not
so subservient that they would roll over and be ruled by a teenager (not yet at least). So as to
further remove any possible quibbles about Gemellus being co-ruler, Gaius made the

somewhat insulting move of adopting Gemellus- though there were only 7 odd years between
them- and made him princeps iuventutis, 'Leader of the Youth' (a title formerly bestowed on
Gaius and Lucius Caesar by Augustus when they both reached 15) thereby underlining the
fact that the 'boy' was too young to rule.
Gaius then went about trying to please those 3 most important branches; to appease the
Senate, he burned a multitude of documents relating to the criminal charges brought about
under Tiberius, and abolished the charge of maiestas, treason, which had caused so much
distress among the senators, and had seen to numerous executions. For the army, he gave a
generous donation of 2000 sesterces per man to the Praetorian Guard, and for the people, he
put on lavish gladiatorial games and shows, in addition to giving generous donations. Gaius
seems to have spent the earliest part of his reign making a pointed effort to appear as
different to Tiberius as was humanly possible. Although he showed the necessary sorrow and
grief at the funeral of Tiberius, in addition to proposing Tiberius be granted all the same
posthumous honours as Augustus had been given upon his death,* Gaius wanted to show the
people his reign would be decidedly dissimilar to his grandfather's. And that it most certainly
was.
For the first 6 months of his reign, things seemed to be going pretty well. The people were
happy, the Senate appeased, and the army taken care of. But things suddenly took a darker
turn. In October of AD 37, Gaius fell seriously ill. Our sources are quite scarce for the reign
of Caligula, so it is not entirely clear what was wrong with him, but Roman writers and
historians seem to have believed that Gaius' illness marked a turning point in his reign.
Macro and Silanus, (his former father-in-law, who at this point was one of the most
prominent men in the State) apparently made arrangements for the succession of Gaius if he
was to die; Gemellus was to take his place. Now it would be a perfectly logical and
sensible decision to make those kind of preparations under the circumstances- the only
problem is if the Emperor makes preparations entirely contradictory to those you have
made, and then recovers from his illness. That of course, is what happened. Gaius, on what
he likely believed to be his deathbed, named his sister Drusilla as the person he wanted to
inherit his property, as well as the empire. Of course, with Roman society being what it was,
it would in fact have been her husband, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who took over as
Gaius' successor.
When Gaius recovered and found out about the preparations that had been made to make
Gemellus his successor, he took some rather dramatic steps. Seeing what a potential threat
Gemellus could be to his position, Gaius had him executed. Silanus also committed suicide
(or according to Suetonius, was forced to), following a series of extreme insults from Gaius.
It also came to the Emperor's attention that 2 men had each made some rather overt

statements of grief during Gaius' illness- one man had stated he would give his life, if only
the Emperor would survive; the other, that he would fight as a gladiator upon the Emperor's
recovery. Such gestures were of course meant to show their dedication to the Emperor, much
like the man who had sworn he had seen Augustus' spirit ascend to heaven, and had been
rewarded generously by Augustus' widow, Livia. Gaius however took them up on their wordthe first man was put to death, the other forced to fight (although he won, and escaped with
his life).
It seems likely that Gaius' illness and subsequent recovery made him realise just how much
power he had, and unlike Augustus and Tiberius, Gaius used his position as sole ruler to it's
complete advantage. The following year, AD 38, his beloved sister Drusilla died- possibly
the greatest restraining influence in his life. Gaius had her granted a public funeral, statues
of her were placed in the Forum, and he also decreed that she was to be deified and
worshipped.
The rest of the year saw a series of both good and bad acts by the Emperor: he put on a series
of games and displays for the people, as well as publishing all the accounts of the public
funds, as Augustus had done but which had ceased during the final years of Tiberius when he
had been away from Rome. AD 38 was however also the same year that Macro was forced to
kill himself, along with his wife Ennia. Macro, the very same man who had helped him secure
power, was now seen as a threat to Gaius, most likely as the Emperor realised just how much
power he held as Prefect of the Praetorian Guard (in fact, Gaius made the precaution of
having two joint Prefects, rather than one, following Macro's death).
Things quickly went downhill from there. He reinstated the recently abolished treason trials
as a means of getting rid of anyone who displeased him. Moreover, in AD 39, Gaius had a
falling out with the Senate, and from then onwards behaved openly hostile and arrogantly
towards them. As Suetonius records, he made some of the highest officials of the Senate run
beside his chariot for miles, dressed in their togas, while others he made wait on him like
slaves [3]. According to one story, at a dinner party, Gaius suddenly burst into laughter;
when the consuls asked him why he was laughing, he replied,
It occurred to me that I have only to give one nod and both your throats will be cut on the
spot!" [4]
As further proof of his contempt and lack of respect for the Senate, Gaius also proposed to
make his horse, Incitatus, a consul. Though some have taken this as proof of his insanity, it
could just as easily be argued that the gesture was intended to demonstrate the uselessness
of the senators, now that there was a sole Emperor.

Gaius is also said to have had a multitude of sexual relationships with both men and women,
often in fact taking the wives of senators to bed, and then openly boasting about their
performance in front of their husbands. He behaved extravagantly, drinking pearls dissolved
in vinegar and other bizarre concoctions, and brutally, murdering Roman officials and
ordinary civilians indiscriminately. To top it off, Gaius loved to spend. According to one
report, in less than a year Gaius squandered every last sesterce of the entire 2,700 million
fortune that Tiberius had left upon his death.
Unsurprisingly, it was decided that Gaius had to go. A conspiracy was formed by the
commander of the legions of Upper Germany to replace Gaius with Lepidus, the man Gaius
himself had marked out to succeed him in AD 37. The conspiracy was uncovered however,
and the plotters were quickly executed. His remaining sisters, Agrippina and Julia Livilla,
were implicated in the plot and subsequently exiled, while Lepidus was murdered.
Over the course of the next year, Gaius aptly demonstrated to those who wanted him dead,
the importance of doing something right if you're going to bother doing it at all. His
behaviour worsened. Having now turned against his family, his only real claim to the
position of Empire, Gaius began to emphasise his status as a god. If he could not point to
military triumphs, or political victories, he would instead use his self-appointed status as a
god, as grounds for his supreme power. The Senate and populace were forced to
acknowledge his divinity, which caused a significant problem with one group in particular,
the Jews.
In Roman times, it was customary in the Greek East for living kings to be worshipped as
divine, as say the pharaohs were in Egypt. In Rome however, such a tradition did not exist.
The deceased could be deified, but living men were not seen to be divine- sacrifices could be
offered to the genius of a living ruler instead, such as Augustus had initiated (the genius was
the divine being born with with every male). The Jews however, were not compelled to do sodue to their status as an ancient religion, they were pretty much left alone. As a compromise,
they made offerings to their God, for the emperor's health; everyone was happy. Gaius
however was enraged at the Jewish people for not acknowledging his divinity, and ordered
for a statue of himself to be placed in the Jerusalem Temple to be worshipped. On the cusp of
a revolt by the Jews, Gaius rescinded his order, apparently due to the intervention
of Agrippa I, the king of Judaea.
AD 40 also saw Gaius try his hand at military glory. An invasion of Britain was planned, but
failed. The story goes that Gaius and his troops got as far as Gaul, picked some seashells from
the beach, and then returned home. A very bizarre event, even for Gaius, but it is possible
that the troops simply refused to disembark and fight, under the inexperienced command of

their Emperor. With his popularity decreasing more and more, in tandem with his increasing
cruelty, it is unsurprising that another conspiracy was soon formed.
In AD 41, Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus, two tribunes of the Praetorian Guard
formed a conspiracy against the Emperor, including many high ranking members of the
imperial court. Cassius, having been subjected to continual humiliation under Gaius, took
the lead. Catching Gaius walking down a corridor in the palace, he stabbed the young
Emperor, before being joined by the other conspirators who all had a go, avenging all the
wrongs they had each suffered. Gaius' wife (his fourth) and infant daughter, unfortunately
shared his fate, and were murdered by the group the same day.
At 29 years of age, Gaius had almost effectively destroyed the reputation of the great family
lineage he had once laid claim to. The treasury, left full and in good shape by the gloomy
Tiberius, had been drained by the maniacal Gaius. The Senate, the army, and the people had
all suffered at the hands of Caligula, but now, upon his death, things were far from
straightforward. After murdering the Emperor, everyone seems to have had a bit of a, 'What
now?' moment. They had planned to put an end to his tyrannical reign, and the fact they
murdered his wife and child, suggests they planned to put an end to the Julio-Claudian
dynasty altogether. But if so, they failed in their quest, for they forgot about one quiet,
unassuming, yet crucial figure.
They forgot about Claudius.

A bust of Gaius
source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Iulius_Caesar_Germanicus_Caligula#mediaviewer/File:Istanbul__Museo_archeologico_-_Mostra_sul_colore_nell%27antichit_12_-_Foto_G._Dall%27Orto_28-5-2006.jpg

* NB: Although Gaius proposed this, the Senate decided not to deify Tiberius, as Augustus
had been.
[1] Suetonius, Gaius Caligula 50
[2] Gaius 14
[3] Gaius 26
[4] Gaius 32

Glossary:

Forum - the heart of the Roman city, where all legal and political activities would take
place, as well as many religious activities.

Sesterce - the standard Roman bronze coin.