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[[
▲[[caption-width-right:219: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 [[
|''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'', [http://youtu.be/Yjs7NL-YnfU A Meticulous Analysis of History]}}
{{quote|
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
{{tropenamer}}
* [[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.▼
* [[Caligula's Horse]]
{{creatortropes}}
* [[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]]
* [[Big Fancy House]]: To the point of trying to incorporate ''temples'' into it.
* [[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
* [[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.
* [[
* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: A favored execution method.
* [[Defiant to
* [[Depraved Bisexual]], [[Casanova]], and [[Villainous Crossdresser]]: More or less standard Roman invective, but [[Throw It In]].
* [[Dirty Coward]]: His conduct during his only military campaign is best described as this trope mixed with sheer insanity.
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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.
* [[Love Potion]]: Caligula may have been driven (more) insane by an aphrodisiac given by his wife Caesonia.
* [[Money Fetish]]: Always avaricious, he eventually started piling up coins to walk on them or to [[Pooled Funds|wallow in]].
* [[My Sister Is Off
* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: Exaggerated or not, this was one guy you did not want to meet in a back alley.
* [[Only Known
* [[Prince Charming]]: Based on his father Germanicus' reputation, the Romans ''thought'' he would be one after Tiberius' purges. And he almost was, for a little while.
* [[The Purge]], by means of [[Kangaroo Court|Kangaroo Courts]]: Coupled with his utter contempt for the senatorial order, a big part of why he got such a horrendous write-up from Roman historians.
* [[Royally Screwed
* [[Start of Darkness]]: Most likely began with the death of his father Germanicus under, ahem, mysterious circumstances. Seven-year-old Gaius was then bounced around from relative to relative until finally coming to live with his [[Evil Uncle]] Tiberius, who may have been the one who had the more popular Germanicus killed so that he could not conspire against him. Tiberius was also rumored to be just as twisted as Caligula turned out to be, if not just a little smarter about keeping his craziness out of the public eye. Fourteen years later, Tiberius, in turn, dies under "mysterious circumstances," and Caligula takes the throne. Nobody bats an eye over the subsequent rumors.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Some accounts claim that this trope was literal and that Caligula had this habit of insulting members of his own [[Praetorian Guard]] and forcing himself on some of their wives. Turns out, that's not such a smart thing to do to the people tasked with keeping you alive.
* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: He started losing his hair at a young age, which the Romans culturally regarded as a deformity, but most balding Romans went with wigs (his own great-uncle [[Gaius Julius Caesar|Gaius]] was notable for mostly leaving it alone). Caligula, on the other hand, would go around having men with the audacity to have thick heads of hair in his presence arrested and shaven bald in public.
* [[Villainous Glutton]] and [[The Alcoholic]]: Again, standard Roman invective, but there's probably something to it.
* [[
{{featuredin}}
* 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 ==
* 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 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 ''[[
== Literature ==
▲* 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
== 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 ''[[
== Theatre ==
* Albert Camus wrote a play about him entitled ''Caligula''.
▲* 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 (TV)|Doctor Who]]''.
== Video Games ==
▲* 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.
* In ''[[
* Is the star of the [[Adult Swim]] online game Viva Caligula! and its sequel, Viva Caligula! in Hell. The goal? [[Kill
* 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.
* Appears in "Escape to the House of Mummies Part Two!", an [[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|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.
== Western Animation ==
▲* Appears in "Escape to the House of Mummies Part Two!", an [[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Murder victims]]
[[Category:Monarchs]]
[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
▲[[Category:Emperor Caligula]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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