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Emperor Caligula: Difference between revisions
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[[File:EmperorCaligula_1910.jpg|frame|Is this the face of a monster?<ref>Considering how handsome the bust is, it's probably the [[Adaptational Attractiveness|the face of the sculptor's nephew]].</ref>]]
{{quote|''"Caligula [[Understatement|was no boy scout]],''
''He did [[Never Say "Die"|things that we can't even talk about]].''
''The Romans knew he'd lost his head,''
''When he [[Caligula's Horse|filled a vacant senate seat with Mr Ed]].''
|''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'', [http://youtu.be/Yjs7NL-YnfU A Meticulous Analysis of History]}}
{{quote|''Ita feri ut se mori sentiat.'' ([[Death of a Thousand Cuts|"Strike so that he feels he is dying."]])}}
The infamous [[The Roman Empire|Roman emperor]], reigned between AD 37 and AD 41. His actual name was '''Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus'''; '''Caligula''' is a [[Only Known by Their Nickname|nickname]], meaning "little boot", that he got in his childhood, because he liked to dress up as a soldier. The popular image about him is of an insane tyrant. It's hard to find out how much of this is true, since hardly any contemporary sources survived about him. The outrageous tales about him committing incest with his sisters, sending his army against the sea and having them collect shells as booty, and wanting to make his favorite horse a consul come from Suetonius, who wrote a biography about him 80 years after his death (and was in the employ of an another dynasty of Emperors who had interest in demonizing their predecessors). It's certain that he wanted to increase his authority, which made him unpopular with the Senate. There were several conspiracies against him, and he was eventually stabbed to death by [[Praetorian Guard|his own bodyguards]].
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Caligula's Horse]]
{{creatortropes}}
* [[A God Am I]]: Reportedly, he referred to himself as a god, and had the people worship him. Also promoted beloved sister Drusilla to godhood. Most emperors were deified after death, so this alone wasn't unusual, but he was the first to want this while he was still alive.▼
* [[Ax Crazy]]: [[Historical Villain Upgrade|Regardless of how exaggerated this is]], there's a reason why he's the trope name of [[The Caligula]]. It was bad enough for his bodyguards to kill him.
* [[Bald of Evil]]
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* [[Bodyguard Betrayal]]: Eventually his guards snapped and killed his ''entire family''. His successor, his uncle Claudius, was spared because they thought he was too stupid to be a danger. [[Obfuscating Stupidity|They fell for it.]]
* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: He was accused of this with all three sisters.
* [[Carpet of Virility]]: Suetonius claimed that Caligula was so self-conscious of his exuberant body hair that he made it a crime to mention the word "goat" in his presence.
* [[Cool Boat]]: His massive pleasure boats. Jeweled sterns, onboard baths, and even fruit trees and vines.
* [[Daddy's Little Villain]] and [[Enfante Terrible]]: According to Suetonius, when he heard that his daughter, Julia attacked her playmates and tried to scratch their eyes out, he bragged that there was no dispute of who her father was. This portrayal of Julia may have been exaggerated to justify her murder after Caligula's assassination.
* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: A favored execution method.
* [[Defiant to the End]]: As he was being murdered by his own soldiers, Caligula reportedly exclaimed: ''Vivo!'' (I live!)
* [[Depraved Bisexual]], [[Casanova]], and [[Villainous Crossdresser]]: More or less standard Roman invective, but [[Throw It In]].
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* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: "Caligula" translates as "Little Boot", or "Bootsie". [[Kneel Before Zod|Kneel Before Bootsie, plebians!]]
* [[Forced Prize Fight]]: He forced a man who had vowed to fight as a gladiator if the emperor recovered from a serious illness to fulfill his vow. It took a lot of begging to convince Caligula to let him go after winning.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Given the lack of reliable historical sources, there's a lot of speculation as to what exactly made Caligula as crazy as he was. If sources are to be believed, his personality changed very suddenly, going from [[Troubled but Cute]] to [[Ax Crazy]] after surviving a bout of a serious, unspecified illness. Theories as to what actually happened to him range from a stroke, to brain damage brought on by lead poisoning, to syphilis or some other sexually-transmitted disease.
▲* [[A God Am I]]: Reportedly, he referred to himself as a god, and had the people worship him. Also promoted beloved sister Drusilla to godhood. Most emperors were deified after death, so this alone wasn't unusual, but he was the first to want this while he was still alive.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Favorite target of Roman assassins, it seems. Domitian was also stabbed there.
* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: There has been much scholarly debate on just how many of his evil deeds are real. Although it was common for writers to slander previous rulers, most historians still think that he was pretty unstable.
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* [[Written by the Winners]]
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== Comic Books ==
* Robert Graves in his novel, ''[[I, Claudius]]'' (closely following Suetonius) portrays him as evil and completely insane. In the TV [[I, Claudius|adaptation]] he's played by [[John Hurt]]. [[Large Ham|Awesomely]].▼
* The 2011 [[Avatar Press]] miniseries ''Caligula'' begins with Emperor Caligula and his cronies raping the protagonist's family to death as part of their drunken revelry, then follows the protagonist's infiltration of the Emperor's inner circle in a plot to assassinate him.▼
== Film ==
* He's the subject of the infamous [[Gorn]] movie ''[[Caligula]]'', where he's played by [[Malcolm McDowell]].
* He's portrayed by Jay Robinson (in [[Large Ham]] style) in the 1953 film ''[[The Robe]]'' and its sequel, ''[[Demetrius and
* Albert Camus wrote a play about him entitled ''Caligula''.▼
== Literature ==
* John Simm played him in a TV miniseries about Nero, and his performance is pretty much a first draft for his portrayal of [[The Master]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]''.▼
▲* Robert Graves in his novel, ''[[I, Claudius]]'' (closely following Suetonius) portrays him as evil and completely insane. In the TV [[I, Claudius|adaptation]] he's played by [[John Hurt]]. [[Large Ham|Awesomely]].
* He's mentioned in ''[[America (The Book)]]'', in the section "The 5 Greatest Moments in Negative Advertising", where it's said that he was nearly undone by a smear campaign that depicted him as a "pretty nice guy". He went into "damage control" by publicly sodomizing a puppy.
== Live-Action TV ==
▲* John Simm played him in a TV miniseries about Nero, and his performance is pretty much a first draft for his portrayal of [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]''.
== Theatre ==
▲* Albert Camus wrote a play about him entitled ''Caligula''.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'', it's stated that it was a member of the Assassins that finally put down Caligula.
* Is the star of the [[Adult Swim]] online game Viva Caligula! and its sequel, Viva Caligula! in Hell. The goal? [[Kill'Em All]], using various weapons.
* The indie fighting game ''E's Laf'' features a character named Caligula. True to his namesake, he's quite crazy in every respect, from his personality to his fighting style.
== Western Animation ==
* Appears in "Escape to the House of Mummies Part Two!", an [[The Venture Brothers]] episode involving time travel. He appears to be attracted to [[The Pollyanna|Hank]].
▲* The 2011 [[Avatar Press]] miniseries ''Caligula'' begins with Emperor Caligula and his cronies raping the protagonist's family to death as part of their drunken revelry, then follows the protagonist's infiltration of the Emperor's inner circle in a plot to assassinate him.
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[[Category:Murder victims]]
[[Category:Monarchs]]
[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
▲[[Category:Emperor Caligula]]
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