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Emperor Caligula: Difference between revisions
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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]].
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* [[The Caligula]]
* [[Caligula's Horse]]
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* [[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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* [[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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▲[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
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