The Jewish Middle Platonist philosopher Philon of Alexandria (lived c. 20 BC c.50 AD) gives a first-hand account of his experience with Caligula in his Embassy to Gaius. As we have already seen, the contemporary ancient sources are unambiguous about the fact that Caligula sought to portray himself as a deity. I named my tuxedo cat with white socks Caligula. Its possible he may have really done it, but its also possible that it is simply a rumor invented by some senator who was annoyed that Caligula was showering extraordinary honors on his sisters while holding the Senate in the uttermost contempt. Mr.McDaniel, ABOVE: Title screen from the 1976 BBC drama series I, Claudius. Yeah, the issue is they acted like these stories were all categorically true. [3], Lepidus married Caligula's sister Drusilla sometime in November or December of 37. In I, Claudius, episode nine (Zeus, by Jove!), Gemellus is portrayed as a young child with a cough and Caligula is portrayed as having him murdered because he cant get the sound of him coughing out of his head. Remembered as a cruel and erratic tyrant, his deranged tendencies The film is a cinematic depiction of Rome under Caligula's rule. Of these he is believed to have violated Drusilla when he was still a minor, and even to have been caught lying with her by his grandmother Antonia, at whose house they were brought up in company. This possibly made the conjugal life of Agrippina and Claudius more combative in the last few months of his life and gave Agrippina a motive to remove him. The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger (lived c. 4 BC 65 AD) describes Caligulas sadism in his treatise On Anger, which he probably wrote in around 45 AD, only a few years after the end of Caligulas reign. Thus, it seems that everything Suetonius says about Caligulas relationship with his sisters is confirmed by earlier sourcesexcept for his claim that Caligula was having sex with them. Even though it wasnt his actual name, I do think the name Caligula is useful for historical purposes because it is unique and can only refer to one specific individual. He writes, in Rolfes translation: To leave no kind of plunder untried, he opened a brothel in his palace, setting apart a number of rooms and furnishing them to suit the grandeur of the place, where matrons and freeborn youths should stand exposed. There is very little evidence to support the idea that Claudius had anything to do with Caligulas assassination. Many naked women have dim but visible tan lines, mostly around their hip area. In AD 50, Claudius adopted Nero, then known as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Its almost certainly true that Caligula was a profligate spender, but the extent of his profligacy as reported by Suetonius is probably greatly exaggerated. When he finally awakens from the coma, he is portrayed completely delusional, believing that he is the god Zeus and that his sister Drusilla is the goddess Hera. It Stay connected with WiFi in public areas (surcharge). The problem is that the Romans werent ready for that yet, so it backfired on him politically. Gnaeus was her paternal first cousin. Then soldiers come out and start whipping all the senators, just as the black curtains of mourning come falling down from the ceiling on everybodys heads. Self-restraint is rewarded by strength and health, incontinence by infirmity and sickness bordering on death.. (Incidentally, the notorious later emperor Elagabalus, whom I wrote about in this article from November 2019, wasnt generally known by the name Elagabalus during his lifetime either; instead, he was known as Avitus or Marcus Antoninus.). While the circumstances and reason surrounding her death vary, the source of conflict between mother and son is considered to be Neros affair with Poppaea Sabina by many. The kings of the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 305 BC until 30 BC, had been known for marrying their own sisters to keep their bloodlines pure. [5] After the death of Gemellus in 37, Lepidus was publicly marked by Caligula as his heir. His uncle Claudius regards this whole situation as a disgrace, so Caligula forces him to collect money at the door. - NERO CAESAR. It is unclear why the Praetorian Guard declared Claudius emperor, but it is possible that they may have believed that he was feeble-minded and that he would be easy to control. He was so beside himself with grief that suddenly fleeing the city by night and traversing Campania, he went to Syracuse and hurriedly returned from there without cutting his hair or shaving his beard. Once again, though, the fact that Caligula commissioned sculptures of his sisters doesnt prove that he was having sex with them. Unfortunately, over the centuries, a tremendous mythology has grown up around him and many of the things that are popularly believed about him are simply not true. Philon asserts in his Embassy to Gaius, chapter thirteen, that Caligula gave in to madness and frenzy and that he was utterly insane. Seneca exclaims with regard to Caligula in his On Anger 1.20, How great was his madness! Suetonius claims in his Life of Caligula, chapter fifty, He was sound neither of body nor mind.. As Peter Gainsford argues in this blog post titled What did Caligula think of his nickname? the name that Caligula most likely preferred to be called by was actually Germanicus. The only reason why Caligula murders her and devours her fetus in the show is because the writers of the show wanted to show the sheer extent of Caligulas alleged insanity. When Claudius comes in, Caligula tells him that he has undergone a metamorphosis and that he has miraculously transformed into a living god. It is entirely possible that the real reason why Caligula honored his sisters so highly is simply because he wanted to emphasize the importance of the Augustan bloodline. As usual, though, the Netflix series Roman Empire: Caligula: The Mad Emperor is absolutely desperate for something juicier. The uncut version has since been rated R18+ by the Australian classification board in 2021. If Caligula really did have incestuous relations with his sisters, he may have done so in conscious imitation of the Olympians. III, COS. III. With striking resemblance to Emperor Caligula, Game of Thrones character, King Joffrey has definite parallels to the Roman Emperor. resulting in this compromise. If there is any truth to the story, it is possible that Caligula may have intended this as a humiliating punishment for his soldiers, who, according to Suetonius himself, had just been on the brink of mutiny. As long as you are reviewing literature about Caligula, you might want to check out Camuss play. Leave a reply A huge thank you to Bragan Thomas, the Provincetown Library, the Provincetown Theater, and The Body Parts in the Library is available from Amazon as a, The suspicious death of Claudius, the emperor who conquered Britian, Titus - the 'good' emperor who helped the victims of Vesuvius, 1705: The birth of Farinelli, music's first superstar, 1947: The birth of footballer Giorgio Chinaglia, Nifeislife.com - Italian food delivered to your doorstep, Bomb destroys Archiginnasio anatomical theatre, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli physiologist and physicist, Roberto Paci Dal composer and film maker, Renzo Mongiardino - interior and set designer, Veronica De Laurentiis - actress and author, Giuseppe Pino Greco - Mafia executioner, Angelo Moriondo - espresso machine pioneer, This bronze bust of Caligula is displayed in the, This bust can be found in the Ny Carlsberg, The remains of Caligula's Bridge on the Palatine Hill in Rome. This is a story that is actually found in some ancient sources. ABOVE: Proclaiming Claudius Emperor, painted in 1867 by the Dutch painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Putting all of these stories aside, the contemporary sources do unambiguously claim that Caligula was insane. This is basically all the information we find about the so-called Plot of the Three Daggers in the ancient sources. In fairness, though, most of the most famous stories Ive investigated in this article actually are in the sources. Ancient authors record that, after he became emperor, Gaius absolutely detested it whenever anyone called him by the nickname Caligula or by his personal name Gaius. In I, Claudius, episode nine (Zeus, by Jove!), Caligula is portrayed as impregnating Drusilla. Further evidence of the high esteem with which Caligulas sisters were held during his reign comes from the fact that there are a large number of surviving portrait heads representing them. All of this is completely made up. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (639) was the husband of the emperor Caligula's younger sister Julia Drusilla. Wow, most of these things I remember getting presented even in history class as fact. This was the first appearance of living women, identified by name, on an imperial coin. Claudius asked wealthy, intelligent and powerful Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus to divorce his wife, Domitia Lepida the Elder, Neros first paternal aunt, and marry Agrippina. Caligula had Lepidus executed while Agrippina and Livilla were exiled to the Pontine Islands. In Gravess original novel, Claudius merely says that he suspects that Drusilla was murdered by Caligula. In the same way that some people today lavish attention on their dogs, it is easy to see how Caligula might lavish attention on his horse. He had exchanged the recent more homely and, therefore, healthier way of life which he had followed while Tiberius was alive, for one of extravagance. As for the rest of your, as usual very good, post it is yet another example of why one should not take Holywood too seriously gor historical accuracy. Even if the story is true, there are still a couple different ways we can interpret it that dont entail Caligula being completely bonkers. Although prostitution was legal in the Roman Empire, prostitutes and pimps alike were widely looked down upon as lower-class scum. Ancient Historian Suetonius (1914) offers us insight into their relationship suggesting, "Caligula lived in habitual incest with all his sisters." Gnaeus and Agrippina chose to live between Rome and Antium (present-day Anzio and Nettuno). The Ptolemaic dynasty needed and wanting to pose as a continuing According to sources, Agrippina poisoned Claudius to death on October 13, AD 54 serving him a plate of poisoned mushrooms. For them, a conspiracy and an assassination isnt enough; Claudius has to be in on it all too. Then he falls into a coma, which lasts for an unspecified amount of time. Unfortunately, virtually all our surviving ancient sources about Caligula were written by elite Roman men, who despised him and saw him as the prototype of a bad emperor. We dont know very much about what the common people thought of him. When a soldier presents the emperor with Gemelluss severed head, he declares, Ive cured his cough.. During this time, her great-uncle Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire succeeding Augustus. Throughout the rest of the episode, Caligula is portrayed as calling himself Zeus and Drusilla Hera. He starts dressing up as Zeus and he renovates the palace to make it look more like Mount Olympos. spear bearer, that sceptre is much too long and his posture not correct From very early on, it is evident that Agrippina was utilising her sexuality to not only influence Caligula, but in an effort to consolidate her own power, in a failed conspiracy to over throw her brother. The way this is presented makes it seem like something that we know really happened and that is recorded in the ancient sources. In sharp contrast to I, Claudius, this film quickly won a reputation as one of the worst films ever made. In March 1981, a censored, R rated release to cinemas was made by Roadshow. To celebrate this mans death he gave the soldiers money, as though he had defeated some enemies, and sent three daggers to Mars Ultor in Rome., He deported his sisters to the Pontian Islands because of their relations with Lepidus, having first accused them in a communication to the senate of many impious and immoral actions. Following his accession to the throne, Claudius recalled Agrippina and Livilla from exile. Not only is it not found in any of the ancient sources, but it is not even found in the original 1934 novel I, Claudius by Robert Graves that the series is based on. Besides a stall of marble, a manger of ivory, purple blankets and a collar of precious stones, he even gave this horse a house, a troop of slaves and furniture, for the more elegant entertainment of the guests invited in his name; and it is also said that he planned to make him consul.. Coma patients generally lack a swallow reflex, meaning they cannot swallow food or drink. Suetonius does, however, claim that Caligula lavished an unusual amount of attention on Incitatus and that he was alleged to have talked about making him a consul. Gaius, who held the consulship twice, was possibly treacherously killed by Agrippina around AD 47. See production, box office & company info. Following the marriage, Gaius became Neros step-father. Now that we know where some of the misconceptions about Caligula come from, lets talk about what those misconceptions are. Caligula was many thingsincluding a jerk, a narcissist, a sadist, and a tyrantbut he probably wasnt really insane. Graves revels retelling in the same sorts of bizarre and horrifying stories told by Suetonius, often exaggerating these stories to make Caligula seem even more insane. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Agrippina was given Lepidus bones in an urn and bidden to carry it back to Rome, keeping it in her bosom during the whole journey. There is definitely some. Monday to Saturday from 11am - 11pm. Ancient Roman writers often focus on profligate spending as an indication that a ruler is foolish and morally degenerate. In claiming to be a living god, Caligula was really just trying to apply the Hellenistic model of divine kingship to the Roman Empire. This is why, for the rest of this article, I will be calling the emperor in question Caligula, even though he was certainly not known by this name while he was emperor. 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