Caligula: The Madness Behind his reign
The notorious Caligula ruled the Roman Empire from 37 AD until 41 AD as a tyrant who in due time became a villain. Although Caligula was an intelligent and amusing young man he also had a cruel and darker side that would in modern times, leave people to question his mental stability. His weird and unusual actions would reinforce this idea, such as him wanting and having his counterparts look up to him and worship him as a god because he considered himself a divine one. He would force both men and women to have sex with him and would commit incest with his sisters. Although incest was acceptable in that time, it is an action that is highly frowned upon in modern day. One considerable reason for the madness behind Caligula’s reign could be due to a disease called megalomania. German pacifist Ludwig Quidde made this term known and described it as “the point of regarding oneself as divine; disregard for all limits of law and all the rights of other individuals; brutal cruelty without purpose or reason” (qtd. in Winterling 2). However this would not have bothered Caligula. He enjoyed having food that was covered in gold leaf and drinking from vinegar that had dissolved pearls inside of it. He also thought enough to want to hold a ceremony to crown his horse and make him apart of his consul. Caligula indulged in the excitement and torture of execution. The victims of these senseless crimes were often Roman senators. He even removed two from his office because they forgot his birthday. Although he was in the position of high authority, author of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Caligula, Suetonius stated a clear explanation for his behavior that “he was insane” (qtd. in Winterling 7).
Gaius Caesa...
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... estates. Caligula’s mind was so far gone that in 40 A.D. he marched with his troops in Gaul as if they were invade Britain. However, he quickly stopped them and had them collect seashells which he called “spoils of the conquered sea” (Fagan).
The people of Rome quickly began to realize that the young man they thought he was be was not the man he was becoming. His behavior was highly disliked by Rome’s elite, and conspiracies were soon to be made against this tyrannical ruler. On January 24th of 41 A.D., four months after he returned from Gaul, Caligula was murdered by members of the Roman senate and officers of the Praetorian Guard and one well known man, Cassius Chaerea. Caligula’s wife was stabbed to death and his infant daughter’s head was bashed against the wall. This opened the way for Caligula’s uncle, Claudius to succeed him and become Rome’s next emperor.
He suffered from a permanent limp, speech impediments and abdominal pains. Because of his poor health he was not considered a political threat, but rather, his ill health became an advantage on the January 24th, AD 41, the night Caligula was assassinated. He strived to create a military image for himself and this was achieved through his conquest of Britain. He personally led his Roman armies to land in Britain, despite his physical disabilities.
Julius Caesar elected himself as the dictator of Rome. He became a favorite to many of the people of the lower classes. Unlike many leaders, Caesar valued the poor. Most people agreed with his decisions, but some of the higher classes’ did not. On March 15 44 BCE, now called the Ides of March, a few of Caesars’ closest peers decided to murder Caesar. Marcus Brutus killed Julius Caesar, on March 15.
Julius Caesar (July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, Consul, and author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. On March 15 44 B.C.E, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar was murdered. There are multiple accounts of this incident, while all accounts came after the death of Caesar, the writing on the incident portray Julius Caesar to have been a selfish dictator.
For thousands of years people have been talking about the great powerful Caesar. He is one of the greatest known dictators known to people today mostly because of all of the things he was able to accomplish during his rein as emperor. After reading primary sources about Caesar, it has given me a better understanding of what other people thought of him during this time period. It’s safe to say that Caesar was obsessed with power and respect from other people that would explain his thirst for war and land, which is one of his greatest strengths and helped in making Rome a great empire.
Julius Caesar emerged. He was able commander who led many conquests for Rome. In 59 B.C. Caesar set out for a new conquest. After nine years of constant fighting, he finally conquered Gaul. Pompey grew jealous of his achievement and had the senate order him to disband his forces and return to Rome. Caesar secretly crossed the Rubicon and killed Pompey then entered Rome. After crushing many rebellions, Caesar forced the senate to make him a dictator. Caesar launched many reforms such as public work programs and giving land to the poor. According to legend those in the senate murdered Caesar on March 15. Caesar's Grandnephew, Octavian, and Marc Anthony joined forces to capture his killers. However bitter feuds grew it soon became a battle for power.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was one of the most outstanding leaders in history. He was the first ruler of the Romano-Hellenic civilization and achieved his goals with great success throughout his life of 56 years. He was assassinated by the conspirators, who accused him for practicing tyranny. This essay will discuss whether it was right for the conspirators to murder Caesar and what its consequences were.
Finally his sudden death was the result of various personal factors that insulted the senators and created hate between Caesar and them, believing his death was expected. His death then led to a domino effect, which ends in the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire. Caesar was assassinated by his own Senate. Julius Caesar had many men conspiring against him with a plot to assassinate him. Among the 60 men plotting to murder him, many were senators, which included Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Brutus Albinus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Brutus believed the death of Caesar would bring the return of the old Roman spirit unfortunately, the city was in shock, and people became increasingly more aggressive, because Caesar was popular with the people of Rome. Unfortunately, peace was impossible and the conspirators fled to
Goldsmith’s account of Nero and Caligula is important in understanding why John Reed is likened to them. According to Goldsmith, Caligula was arrogant, greedy, and cruel (365). He had many vices and hurt everyone around him.
Gaius Caligula was welcomed happily as emperor after Tiberius's death. Just like most Roman Emperor, Caligula was not very sympathetic He was not interested in the murder of his relatives nor was he concerned about his own sickness. Someone had promised to fight in the arena when Caligula had healed from his illness. As a result, he forced the man to fulfill his oath and would not allow him to leave until he won the match. Someone had also promised to commit suicide and when Caligula found out he was still alive he had the man flung over the rampart. Suetonius believed that there was something wrong with Caligula mentally that caused him to not be an effective emperor. As a child, he suffered from epilepsy so Caligula was well aware of both his mental and physical sickness.
his successor. When Claudius died: 54 AD, Nero was pronounced emperor. At the time he was only 17. He declined his mother’s attempts to control him and soon after killed her. After her death, he felt free and decided to spend lavishly and behaved inappropriately. He began executing opponents and Christians and committed suicide in 63 AD.
In the light of Germanicus’ death, Caligula’s family had drifted out of the heart of Tiberius, who then saw the brothers, sisters, and mother of Caligula to be rivals. He accused all of such of treason. To which they all were either exiled, or imprisoned. Thus was the death of the family – all except “little boots”, himself.
After Augustus's death, his successors had varying degrees of effectiveness and popularity. Caligula – bloodthirsty and mentally unstable Claudius – conqueror of Britannia, and Nero – uninhibited spender and disinterested ruler, all were in Augustus's dynasty. After Nero's suicide in the face of assassination in 68 c.e., the principate was held by four different Emperors in the span of 18 months.
middle of paper ... ... Ultimately Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times, his opponents wanted him dead, and in fact stabbed many of their co-conspirators in the fight. They were not honorable at all in killing him. Ultimately, the Roman Republic’s downfall lay in its lack of major wars or other crises, which led to a void of honor and leadership. War united all of Rome’s people, and provided the challenge to its leaders to develop honor and leadership through their causes and actions.
The conspirators had already decided how and when they would kill Caesar, and Brutus, Cassius, along with Decius, knew they had to lure Caesar close. They had an advantage at this because they knew that all they would have to do was prove to Caesar that they had a good, solid friendship, and this would help their situation and leave Caesar completely sightless to the fact that his situation had grown dire. So they decided to use their friendship with Caesar in a horribly deceptive manner, effectively, in order to kill him. Decius managed to start this off well by using flattery and quick wit in order to trick Caesar into going to the senate house, despite the fact that Caesars wife, Calpurnia had dreams of Caesars murder the night before.
The conspirators had planned the death of Julius. Brutus and Cassius, along with Decius, knew they had draw in to Caesar close. Proving Caesar that they had a firm friendship, that would solidify their situation and leave Julius completely sightless to his doomed fate. Caesar's wife Calphurnia would have a dream. She would see Caesar's statue run with blood and men with swords surrounding him.