Caligula grew up in a military camp as a favorite of his father’s soldiers. These soldiers nicknamed him Caligula, which means “little boot” in Latin; precisely because of the little boots he wore. Caligula was the youngest son of the Roman general Germanicus Caesar and the grandnephew of the Roman emperor Tiberius. His famous father Germanicus (15 BC - 19 AD), his mother Agrippina the elder (14 BC-33 AD) and all his brothers were either killed or starved to death by order of the suspicious Emperor Tiberius. (The Emperor Gaius) On March 16 37 AD, when Caligula was 26 and Tiberius was 79, it is said that Tiberius was smothered while being looked after by Caligula or one of his aids. Tiberius named his grandson, Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula joint heirs to the throne to the dismay of Caligula. Caligula adopted Gemmellus as his son but soon after, early in 38 AD, had him murdered.

The surviving ancient accounts of Gauis’s short reign are focused primarily on his stories of madness. (www.encarta.com) Being the son of the well remembered

Finally an officer of the praetorians finally summoned up the courage to assassinate Caligula, with the aid of a few companions, in the fifth year of his crazed reign. Some accounts say that Caligula was stabbed to death while leaving the Palatine Games, yet others say that he was drowned in his own bathtub. This debate has yet to be resolved.

Caligula lavished himself in the pleasures of the world. He was self-indulgent, and because of his appetite for food, he grew fat. In appearance he was ugly and bald. Sometimes he ordered those with a fine head of hair to be shaved. He made up for lack of hair on his head by an abundance of body-hair. About this too he could be equally sensitive. Even the mention of "hairy goats" in conversation was hazardous.

Caligula did much damage during his short rule. The emperors to follow him would have to work terribly hard to fix all of the things that Caligula spoiled. Although Rome had seen bad emperors, none of them were as uncontrollable and demented as Gaius Caligula.

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