Guy Caligula can be called one of the most controversial political figures in world history. There are so many speculations about the short period of his reign that it is very difficult to distinguish them from the truth. Lucius Seneca, a Roman philosopher and contemporary of Caligula, said of him that "nature created him as if to show what infinite depravity combined with infinite power are capable of."
Nicknamed Boot
Guy Caesar Caligula was born into the family of the commander Germanicus, the adopted son of Octavian Augustus. Most of his childhood was spent in army camps on the border with the Rhine. One of the legionnaires once saw a little boy dressed in soldier's clothes (special clothes for children are an invention of the new era). The legionary was amused by the small-sized soldier shoes on the feet of the son of his beloved commander, and he jokingly called Gaius Caesar "Caligula" (from the name of the soldier's shoes - Kalig), that is, Boot or even closer to reality - Sandalet.
The nickname stuck to the boy - the Romans liked to give a person a funny or even caustic nickname. The famous poet Ovid was nicknamed, for example, "Nose". Growing up among the warriors, the boy, nevertheless, received an excellent education - he knew how to speak in court, had the gift of eloquence and a subtle mind.
Guy had two older brothers and three sisters, but this hardly brought him happiness. When he was 7 years old, his father died, poisoned by envious people, and the boy and his sisters were sent to be raised by Libya's great-grandmother. After another 10 years, the emperor sent into exile his mother, Agrippina, and his older brother Nero. A year later, they were followed by a second brother - Druz.
Tiberius, whom rumor blamed for the death of Germanicus, was afraid of any contender for supreme power, but having eliminated some (Nero and Drusus were soon killed), he took the younger, Gaius Caligula, under his supervision, and kept him with him all the time in his villa on the island Capri.
Promotional video:
The slightest slander was enough for Tiberius to start persecuting an imaginary envious person. Caligula was lucky, he was not slandered, but it was given to him at a high price. After one of his contemporaries said about Caligula: "There was no better slave and worse sovereign in the world." Secrecy and suspiciousness, combined with the natural cruelty and excessive freedom of morals that reigned among the Roman nobility at that time, became the norm for Caligula throughout his life. He hardly felt like an heir then - even the very thought of Tiberius's death was dangerous.
Power and wealth
Tiberius feared conspiracy and death. It is not known for certain how his last hours passed. The cruelty of Caligula's short reign made his contemporaries suspect him of the murder of Tiberius. What actually happened is shrouded in mystery - all the writers, Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio Cassius, lived much later, when legends and gossip about the death of Tiberius survived for more than one generation.
But the people and the Senate greeted the new ruler with joy, hoping for an end to the terror that had become the norm under Tiberius. When the twenty-four-year-old Caligula in mourning accompanied the body of the deceased emperor to Rome, according to Suetonius, “the people on the way met him in thick, jubilant crowds, with altars, with sacrifices, with lighted torches, admonishing him with good wishes, calling him a“light”and“darling ", And" doll ", and" child ".
Guy Caligula tried to satisfy the aspirations of the people - fortunately, Tiberius was thrifty and left the richest treasury. Mass distribution of money to the inhabitants of Rome, gladiator games, sacrifices to the gods and celebrations did not stop for three months.
He honored Caligula and the memory of his relatives: he buried the bodies of his dead brothers and mother (Tiberius himself forbade this), installed a game in honor of this, arranged an amnesty for those convicted by Tiberius.
However, Caligula did not forget himself. He took baths in fragrant oils, drank pearls dissolved in vinegar.
To feel his power, he ordered to dig up mountains and fill up valleys …
But behind this was not just a desire to compensate for the hardships for the years spent at the court of Tiberius - in constant fear for his life, flattery and suspicion. The ancients thought that it was about epilepsy, and modern researchers increasingly assume that Caligula suffered from a certain type of mental disorder that manifested itself after he had encephalitis.
Monster ruler
Caligula ruled for only 3 years, 10 months and 8 days, the disease overtook him two months after the beginning of the reign. But she only contributed to the general mental disorder.
The Roman writer Suetonius delimits his story about the life of Caligula in the following way: "Until now, it was about the ruler, then we will have to talk about the monster." The huge spending of the beginning of the reign made itself felt very soon. The treasury was empty and Caligula had to introduce new taxes and levies. They were distinguished by great cruelty, unreasonableness and striving for only one thing - to get money quickly”.
Some of them went to the construction of a magnificent temple, which Caligula dedicated to himself. To do this, he ordered the best statues of the Olympian gods to be brought from Greece and replaced with their own heads. He ordered himself to be worshiped as a god, and he himself was often present at the sacrifices made to him by the senators. He also deified his favorite horse named Swift-footed (in Latin Incitatus) and planned to make him consul.
Even taking into account the exaggerations of Roman historians, a lot says that he simply did not know measure and fear in his actions. The list of Caligula's entertainments stands out even against the background of the depraved morals of that era: from incest to personal participation in torture and desecration of the statues of the famous men of Rome.
the end
Caligula's appearance was not pretty, but rather disgusted: pale, overweight, with thin thin legs and arms, sunken eyes, bald head (because of which it was forbidden to look at him from above). Such atrocities, which affected almost all senators and many inhabitants of Rome, could not last long.
It is not surprising that one of the many conspiracies was not solved: Caligula was trapped by the assassins as he went to breakfast. His last words - "I'm still alive!" - as if confirming that he could not believe in his death. Caligula was at the head of the empire for only four incomplete years and died very young - at 28 years old.
Even when he died, people did not immediately believe in this news - they thought that the princeps himself spread rumors about his death in order to find out who and how would react to it and then punish those who wanted him dead.