Caligula

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  • Created by: rosie
  • Created on: 02-11-14 18:32
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  • Caligula
    • Accession and Problems
      • The death of Tiberius probably came as a great relief to many people and Caligula seemed like a welcome change
      • the senate ignored the will of Tiberius which named Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus as joint heirs
      • His father Germanicus had been very popular and he was the great-grandson of Augustus
      • the reason for his decline could have been some form of mental illness but Alston thinks that it is not that simple
      • a lot of myth surrounds Caligula's reign but it is not really possible to separate it from the facts it is essential to understanding the history of Caligula's reign
    • The Family
      • Caligula's claim to power was different from that of both Augustus and Tiberius. He had held no public office and had no military experience. He relied on his family and ancestry
      • he started off quite cautious as Emperor, relying on advise from his Praetorian prefect Macro and deferring to the Senate's authority and experience
      • he treated his family very well at first e.g. granted honours to his grandmother, returned his mother and brothers' ashes to Rome, honoured his sisters and gave Claudius a consulship
        • This emphasized his claim to power
      • at some point he fell out with his family. His sisters (who he was rumoured ti have sexual relations with) were exiled and he had Claudius thrown into a river
        • after this the imperial house was pretty much reduced to Caligula his wife and his daughter
    • Popular Support
      • Caligula inherited the popularity of his family
      • he attempted to maintain his popularity with the people e.g. through displays of generosity and games
      • also he restored popular elections
      • later the people became concerned with the number of killings and demonstrated against his treatment of the senate
        • Caligula responded to this with force e.g he closed the public granaries, he also famously said that he wished the people had one neck to cut
      • he lost popularity when he tried to raise taxes
    • The Divine Emperor
      • worship of the emperor was established during Augustus' reign however there was still a distinction between the mortal human and the immortal divine
      • it is hard to tell much about Caligula's own beliefs
      • Caligula seems to have presented himself as a semi-divine figure and apparently demanded acknowledge-ment of his divinity.
      • Augustus and Tiberius were careful to behave as if they were among equals, Caligula was not.
      • by presenting himself as not human he could ignore social constraints (to an extent)
      • it may not have been madness but just a way of trying to display authority and his claim to it
    • The Senate
      • his policy changed during his reign
      • he at first tried to build a consensus
        • he was respectful to the senate, he followed the advice of people more experienced than him and made the workings of the senate more public
          • However this quickly changed as he started to kill people and deonstarte his macabre sense of humour
            • The Senate
              • his policy changed during his reign
              • he at first tried to build a consensus
                • he was respectful to the senate, he followed the advice of people more experienced than him and made the workings of the senate more public
                  • However this quickly changed as he started to kill people and deonstarte his macabre sense of humour
                    • e.g. holding people to their promises of what they would do if he recovered, and laughing at a dinner with the consuls because he could have them killed right then if he wanted
              • he often humiliated the senate e.g. wanting to make his horse a consul
              • he had many senators killed, some  apparently for trivial reasons
              • he was one of the few emperors to seriously consider abolishing the senate. he didn't abolish it but he made it clear how powerless they were
                • e.g. holding people to their promises of what they would do if he recovered, and laughing at a dinner with the consuls because he could have them killed right then if he wanted
                • he had many senators killed, some  apparently for trivial reasons
              • Caligula's position was paradoxical
              • he was an anomaly within the traditions of Rome so he rejected them
      • he often humiliated the senate e.g. wanting to make his horse a consul
      • he was one of the few emperors to seriously consider abolishing the senate. he didn't abolish it but he made it clear how powerless they were
        • Caligula's position was paradoxical
        • he was an anomaly within the traditions of Rome so he rejected them
      • Administration
        • the finances of the empire were apparently ruined by Caligula
          • e.g.  his reign began with a full treasury and ended in bankruptcy. Dio and Suetonius give various estimates of between 2,300,000,000 - 3,300,000,000 sesterces in the treasury and by the ned he was apparently selling heirlooms to the Gauls to gain wealth
            • However we cant be sure on the truth of this account
        • he tended to rely on client kings to govern roman territoris in the east
        • there was a lot of violence towards Jews during Caligula's reign partly because they  refused to worship Caligula as a god
      • War and Alexander
        • many roman aristocrats admired Alexander
        • Caligula demonstrated this fixation on Alexander when he built a bridge across the bay of Naples (this was actually based on an amalgamation of two myths)
        • Caligula's only military campaign was in Gaul
        • he also possiby planned a british campaign
        • maybe his military policy has been underestimated lot of the campaigns from early in Claudius' reign could have originated with claudius
      • Assassination
        • the conspiracy to kill Caligula involved quite a few people and probably a lot of people had an idea that it was going to happen
    • Caligula's claim to power was different from that of both Augustus and Tiberius. He had held no public office and had no military experience. He relied on his family and ancestry

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