Emperor Caligula: Difference between revisions

''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]}}

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]].