On This Day: Caligula comes to power, issues in popular reforms - March 18, 37
(edited from article)
"
How do you solve a problem like Caligula?
March 18, 2023
Caligula was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37-41 AD – a short but unstable reign. He came to power on 18 March but was assassinated on 24 January 41 AD, not quite making four years as an emperor.
At first, Caligula was welcomed by the Roman population. He become emperor at the age of 25 and set out a series of reforms that made him popular, abolishing onerous and unfair taxes, freeing those who had been jailed unjustly – and winning over the militia by granting generous bonuses to Roman soldiers.
There is suggestion that Caligula became cruel and unstable because of the trauma of his early childhood – as well as speculation that he might have been mentally ill or suffering from any number of physical illnesses, such as hyperthyroidism.
But his early life was blighted by the alleged murder of his parents and brothers – and his own physical hang ups. The intricate family relationships of the Romans and their ruthlessness in dispatching family members who posed a challenge to their political power may seem unbelievable to us today – but Caligula shows that perhaps, underneath, they were still oh so very human and just as hung up as anyone else about their appearance and place in the great scheme of things.
"
https://novelromealone.com/2023/03/18/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-caligula-7/
(edited from Wikipedia)
"
Caligula
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31– 41), better known by his nickname Caligula, was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter, members of the first ruling family of the Roman Empire. He was born two years before Tiberius was made emperor. Gaius accompanied his father, mother and siblings on campaign in Germania, at little more than four or five years old. He had been named after Gaius Julius Caesar, but his father's soldiers affectionately nicknamed him "Caligula" ('little boot').
Germanicus died at Antioch in 19, and Agrippina returned with her six children to Rome, where she became entangled in a bitter feud with emperor Tiberius, who was Germanicus' biological uncle and adoptive father. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. In 26, Tiberius withdrew from public life to the island of Capri, and in 31, Caligula joined him there. Tiberius died in 37 and Caligula succeeded him as emperor, at the age of 24.
Of the few surviving sources about Caligula and his four-year reign, most were written by members of the nobility and senate, long after the events they purport to describe. They portray Caligula as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule, but increasingly self-indulgent, cruel, sadistic, extravagant and sexually perverted thereafter, an insane tyrant who demanded and received worship as a living god, and planned to make his horse a consul. Most modern commentaries seek to explain Caligula's position, personality and historical context. Many of the allegations against him are dismissed as misunderstandings, exaggeration, mockery or malicious fantasy.
During his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself. He began the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus.
During his reign, the empire annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania as a province. He had to abandon an attempted invasion of Britain, and the installation of his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem.
In early 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. At least some of the conspirators might have planned this as an opportunity to restore the Roman Republic and aristocratic privileges; but if so, their plan was thwarted by the Praetorians, who seem to have spontaneously chosen Caligula's uncle Claudius as the next emperor. Caligula's death marked the official end of the Julii Caesares in the male line, though the Julio-Claudian dynasty continued to rule until the demise of Caligula's nephew, the emperor Nero.
Private life
The sources are somewhat contradictory on the matter of Caligula's sex life. He is said to have had "enormous" appetites, several mistresses and male lovers, but in relation to the alleged "perversions" practised at Corfu by Tiberius and, in some sources, by himself, he appears remarkably prudish in expelling the spintriae [bronze tokens depicting graphic scenes of sexual acts] from the island on his accession.
He was briefly married to Livia Orestilla. His marriage to the "Beautiful... very wealthy" and extravagant Lollia Paulina was quickly followed by divorce. His fourth and last marriage, to Caesonia, seems to have been a love-match, in which he was both "uxorious and monogamous", and fathered a daughter. Caligula named her Julia Drusilla, in commemoration of his late sister. Caligula's contemporaries could not understand her appeal to Caligula. Some believed that she must have given him a love potion, which turned his mind and brought on his "madness".
Allegations of incest between Caligula and his sisters, or just his favourite, Drusilla, go back no further than Suetonius, who admits that in his own time, they were hearsay. Seneca and Philo, moralistic contemporaries of Caligula, do not mention these stories even when, after Caligula's death, it would have been safe to do so. Then and now, allegations of incest fit the amoral, "mad Emperor" stereotype, promiscuous with money, sex and the lives of his subjects. Dio repeats, as fact, the allegation that Caligula had "improper relations" with his two older sisters, Agrippina and Livilla.
Source opinions
There is no real or reliable evidence of Caligula's mental state at any time in his life. In the course of their narratives, all the primary and contemporary sources give reasons to discredit and ultimately condemn him, for offences against proprieties of class or religion or both. They are unreliable guides to Caligula himself, or his motives. "Thus, his acts should be seen from other angles, and the search for 'mad Caligula' abandoned."
Philo and Seneca the Younger, contemporaries of Caligula, describe him as insane, self-absorbed and short-tempered, murderous, profligate and sexually voracious. He is accused of sleeping with other men's wives and bragging about it and killing for mere amusement. Once, at some games at which he was presiding, he was said to have ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the audience into the arena during the intermission to be eaten by the wild beasts because there were no prisoners to be used and he was bored. Barrett considered Dio’s report to be a garbled version of Suetonius’ account that Caligula resorted to feeding criminals to wild beasts when the cost of using cattle became too excessive.
While repeating these earlier stories, the later sources of Suetonius and Cassius Dio accuse Caligula of incest with his sisters, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, and Livilla, and say that he prostituted them to other men. They also mention sexual affairs with various men including his brother-in-law Marcus Lepidus. They say he sent troops on illogical military exercises and turned the palace into a brothel. Philo, Josephus and Seneca see Caligula's apparent "insanity" as a personality trait accentuated through self-indulgence and the unlimited exercise of power. Seneca states that Caligula became arrogant, angry and insulting once he became emperor. Philo claims that Caligula became more ruthless after nearly dying of an illness in the eighth month of his reign (in 37).
Several modern sources offer medical diagnoses including encephalitis, epilepsy and meningitis. Suetonius claims that Caligula had "falling sickness" (epilepsy in his youth; Benediktson refines this to a diagnosis of Interictal Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, and a consequent fear of seizures that prevented his learning to swim.) In Romano-Greek medical theory, severe epilepsy attacks were associated with the full moon and the moon goddess Selene, with whom Caligula was claimed to converse and enjoy sexual congress. Suetonius' descriptions of Caligula's appearance as repulsive are unreliable and unlikely, considering his ecstatic and enthusiastic reception by the populace.
Contemporary historiography
The facts and circumstances of Caligula's reign are mostly lost to history. Two major literary sources contemporary with Caligula have survived – the works of Philo and Seneca the Younger. Philo's works, On the Embassy to Gaius and Flaccus, give some details on Caligula's early reign, but mostly focus on events surrounding the Jewish population in Judea and Egypt with whom he sympathizes.
Seneca's various works give mostly scattered anecdotes on Caligula's personality. Seneca was almost put to death by Caligula in AD 39, probably due to his associations with conspirators. At one time, there were detailed contemporaneous histories on Caligula, but they are now lost. Tacitus describes them as biased, either overly critical or praising Caligula. Nonetheless, these lost primary sources, along with the works of Seneca and Philo, were the basis of subsequent histories. Fabius Rusticus and Cluvius Rufus both wrote histories condemning Caligula. They are now lost, but Tacitus describes Fabius Rusticus as a friend of Seneca, and prone to embellishments and misrepresentations. Cluvius Rufus was a senator involved in Caligula's assassination.
Caligula's sister, Agrippina the Younger, wrote an autobiography that included a detailed account of Caligula's reign, but it too is lost. Agrippina was banished by Caligula for her connection to Marcus Lepidus, who conspired against him. The inheritance of Nero, Agrippina's son and the future emperor, was seized by Caligula. Gaetulicus, a poet, produced a number of flattering writings about Caligula, but they are lost. Suetonius wrote his biography of Caligula 80 years after his assassination, and Cassius Dio over 180 years after. Dio's work offers a loose chronology. Josephus gives a detailed description of Caligula's assassination. Tacitus provides some information on Caligula's life under Tiberius. In a now lost portion of his Annals, Tacitus gave a detailed history of Caligula. Pliny the Elder's Natural History has a few brief references to Caligula. None of the few surviving sources paints Caligula in a favourable light. The paucity of sources has resulted in significant gaps in modern knowledge of the reign of Caligula. Little is written on the first two years of Caligula's reign, and there are only limited details on later significant events, such as the annexation of Mauretania, Caligula's military actions in Britannia, and his feud with the Roman Senate, whose class provides, almost without exception, the most blatantly hostile accounts of Caligula the man, his reign and his various infamies.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula
---------------------------------------------------------
On This Day: Burst of Joy photo symbolizes release of POWs from North Vietnam - Mar. 17, 1973
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016374479
On This Day: Plane on secret war mission disappears with no trace - Mar. 16, 1962
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016374414
On This Day: George Washington quells serious discord movement in the military - Mar. 15, 1783
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016374380
On This Day: King fails to stop controversial execution of British admiral - Mar. 14, 1757
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016374271
On This Day: Finland cedes major assets to Soviets as Winter War ends - Mar. 13, 1940
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016374215
