Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (referred to hereafter as ‘Caligula’), was born on August 31st, 12 in Antium, Italy. He became the 4th Emperor of the Roman Empire in 37, and was killed in 41. He reigned for just 3 years and 10 months (Bio.com ). He came to power when his predecessor Tiberius died, mainly because the primary heir was to young. Caligula’s father, Germanicus’ reputation gave Caligula excellent public approval at first, and was unanimously appointed to Emperor by the Senate. He was killed by several members of the Praetorian Guard due to his corruption, and was succeeded by his uncle, Claudius
This essay is an analyzation of the biography of Gaius Caligula, written by the ancient historian Suetonius. Suetonius was most likely born in the year 70, and began work on The Twelve Caesars, which this biography is a part of, in 122 (Rives, 2007). I will first discuss some historical background on Caligula, and discuss what he is known for, then I will discuss Suetonius’ biography as a summary, and what it means, then I will discuss why this biography is important in understanding Roman history, and finally, I will compare Suetonius biography to Nagle’s description, and analyze the two. The most important thing that Caligula was known for was his incredible corruption. He was erratic, and treated people poorly to say the least. Suetonius spends the better part of the biography discussing this, and a more detailed summary can be found in the next section. Another thing that Caligula was best know for was his nickname ‘Caligula’. This came about as an army joke, and comes from the Latin word caliga meaning soldiers boot. It essentially means ‘little boots’ (Bio.com). Suetonius kicks off the biography with a rather extensive description of Germanicus’ (Caligula’s father) life and career. This is around 3 ½ pages, and describes Germanicus as the perfect character: honest, calm and collected, and well liked by the people. I think that Suetonius does this to show how surprised people were at Caligula’s brutality and corruption. He states that the populace and soldiers were thrilled when Caligula became emperor, thinking he would be like his father. Suetonius moves on to discuss in some detail the confusion regarding Caligula’s birthplace, settling on Antium. He then discusses the nickname ‘Caligula’, and the army’s love of Caligula. He states the various places that Caligula grew up, moving around between his father, mother, and grandmother. After this he moves into discussing “Gaius the Emperor”. He describes the full extent of the decision to appoint him by saying, “the Senate (and a mob of people who had forced their way into the Senate house) immediately and unanimously conferred absolute power upon him.” (Suetonius, 2007) They even disregarded Tiberius’ will to do so. This reinforces the fact that, at first, the public loved him. Past this, Suetonius goes on to quite verbosely discuss the ways that Caligula reinforced his popularity. Suetonius kicks off section 22 with the wonderful quote, “So much for …show more content…
Suetonius describes how Caligula vastly expanded his personal residence as far as the forum, and demanded to be worshipped as a god. Suetonius describes how Caligula discredited his grandmother and great-grandmother, and killed the young Tiberius on the pretext that he had insulted Caligula. Caligula also had ongoing incestuous relationships with his sisters. When discussion his marital history Suetonius states plainly, “It would be hard to say whether the way he got married, the way he dissolved marriages, or the way he behaved as a husband was most disgraceful.” (Suetonius, 2007) From here Suetonius describes the generally awful way he treated those around him, namely his family, and discusses in some depth Caligula’s “brazen impudence”. He gives a great many examples for this. Suetonius describes in depth Caligula’s sexual habits, much of which could be classified as rape. Caligula also had little regard for money, blowing much of Rome’s money on extravagances of the likes of perfume baths, drinking pearls, etc. He supported these habits with vast increases in taxes, and even by opening up what was basically a whore house “stocked with married women and young freeborn boys.” (Suetonius, 2007) Suetonius moves on from here to a detailed description of Caligula’s narcissism and “mental illness”, and ends the biography with a quick description of his
This essay is an analyzation of the biography of Gaius Caligula, written by the ancient historian Suetonius. Suetonius was most likely born in the year 70, and began work on The Twelve Caesars, which this biography is a part of, in 122 (Rives, 2007). I will first discuss some historical background on Caligula, and discuss what he is known for, then I will discuss Suetonius’ biography as a summary, and what it means, then I will discuss why this biography is important in understanding Roman history, and finally, I will compare Suetonius biography to Nagle’s description, and analyze the two. The most important thing that Caligula was known for was his incredible corruption. He was erratic, and treated people poorly to say the least. Suetonius spends the better part of the biography discussing this, and a more detailed summary can be found in the next section. Another thing that Caligula was best know for was his nickname ‘Caligula’. This came about as an army joke, and comes from the Latin word caliga meaning soldiers boot. It essentially means ‘little boots’ (Bio.com). Suetonius kicks off the biography with a rather extensive description of Germanicus’ (Caligula’s father) life and career. This is around 3 ½ pages, and describes Germanicus as the perfect character: honest, calm and collected, and well liked by the people. I think that Suetonius does this to show how surprised people were at Caligula’s brutality and corruption. He states that the populace and soldiers were thrilled when Caligula became emperor, thinking he would be like his father. Suetonius moves on to discuss in some detail the confusion regarding Caligula’s birthplace, settling on Antium. He then discusses the nickname ‘Caligula’, and the army’s love of Caligula. He states the various places that Caligula grew up, moving around between his father, mother, and grandmother. After this he moves into discussing “Gaius the Emperor”. He describes the full extent of the decision to appoint him by saying, “the Senate (and a mob of people who had forced their way into the Senate house) immediately and unanimously conferred absolute power upon him.” (Suetonius, 2007) They even disregarded Tiberius’ will to do so. This reinforces the fact that, at first, the public loved him. Past this, Suetonius goes on to quite verbosely discuss the ways that Caligula reinforced his popularity. Suetonius kicks off section 22 with the wonderful quote, “So much for …show more content…
Suetonius describes how Caligula vastly expanded his personal residence as far as the forum, and demanded to be worshipped as a god. Suetonius describes how Caligula discredited his grandmother and great-grandmother, and killed the young Tiberius on the pretext that he had insulted Caligula. Caligula also had ongoing incestuous relationships with his sisters. When discussion his marital history Suetonius states plainly, “It would be hard to say whether the way he got married, the way he dissolved marriages, or the way he behaved as a husband was most disgraceful.” (Suetonius, 2007) From here Suetonius describes the generally awful way he treated those around him, namely his family, and discusses in some depth Caligula’s “brazen impudence”. He gives a great many examples for this. Suetonius describes in depth Caligula’s sexual habits, much of which could be classified as rape. Caligula also had little regard for money, blowing much of Rome’s money on extravagances of the likes of perfume baths, drinking pearls, etc. He supported these habits with vast increases in taxes, and even by opening up what was basically a whore house “stocked with married women and young freeborn boys.” (Suetonius, 2007) Suetonius moves on from here to a detailed description of Caligula’s narcissism and “mental illness”, and ends the biography with a quick description of his