Caligula
Gaius Caesar Germanicus (August 31, 12 - January 15, 41), also known as Gaius Caesar or Caligula, was a Roman emperor who reigned 37-41. Known for his extremely extravagant and sometimes cruel despotism, he was assassinated in 41 by several of his own guards.
He was the son of the popular general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. As a boy, he accompanied his parents on military expeditions and would wear soldier's boots around the camp, hence the nick name Caligula (Latin: "little boots" or "bootsie"). Through his mother he was the great-grandson of the emperor Augustus, through his father the great-grandson of Augustus's wife Livia. See the Julio-Claudian Family Tree.
Most of the information about Caligula comes from sources biased against him, mainly from the historian Suetonius.
After the death of Tiberius in 37, Caligula became emperor. He probably had an incestous relationship with his sister Drusilla. In 38 he had his former supporter and powerful head of the guard Naevius Sutorius Macro executed; he also had the grandson of Tiberius, Gmellus killed. Caligula claimed to be a god. After having squandered the state's finances on generous rewards for the military and pompous games, he extorted money from the Roman aristocracy and established a state brothel. Suetonius also relates his extraordinary fondness of his horse Incitatus.
In 39, Caligula suppressed a revolt among his troops on the Upper Rhine and marched on to the northern coast of France, apparently in order to invade Britain. Instead, he ordered his troops to shoot into the waters and collect seashells.
When he was assassinated, his wife Caesonia and their infant daughter were also killed.
See also Ludwig Quidde's essay Caligula. Eine Studie über römischen Caesarenwahnsinn (Caligula: A Study of Imperial Insanity) (1894), in which Caligula is likened to the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Caligula is the title of a play by Albert Camus, which was the basis for a 1996 Hungarian movie and the 2001 made for TV version.
Caligula is also a controversial movie in 1979 about the emperor starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, and Peter O'Toole, among others, directed by Tinto Brass, and produced by Penthouse magazine. The movie, based on a novel by Gore Vidal, was unrated when shown in theaters because its content was considered pornographic and would almost certainly have received an X rating.