CALIGULA (GAIUS CAESAR) (A.n. 12-41), Roman emperor 37-41, youngest son of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder, was born on Aug. 31, A.D. 12. He grew up in his father's camp among the soldiers, and was called Caligula from the caligae, or soldiers' boots which he used to wear. He accompanied his father to Syria and after his death returned to Rome. In 32 he was summoned by Tiberius to Capreae, and by skilful flattery man aged to escape the fate of his relatives. After the death of Tibe rius, mysterious no doubt, but by no means certainly a murder, Caligula succeeded to the exclusion of Tiberius Gemellus, son of Drusus. The traditional account shows him received with re joicing, and for eight months delighting everybody by general concessions, and in particular by reversing Tiberius' policy. Then apparently he had a very severe illness, and for the rest of his life was the usual monster of cruelty and vice with whom we become so familiar in the history of the Roman emperors, with a few added extravagances, such as bestowing the consulship on his horse, that seem only explicable on the ground of madness. In the case of a good many emperors there is some material whereby we can discount some of the excesses of senatorial his tory; in Caligula's, very little. This much is clear, Caligula is the earliest of a tradition that eventually prevailed, the pioneer of the oriental type of monarchy. His upbringing tended that way; he was brought up by his grandmother Antonia, and Herod Agrippa was a frequent visitor. Hence his insistence on personal deification, the extravagant honours paid to the imperial family, the increasing importance of the women of the palace. But his anti-Roman tendencies, which made him, perhaps even more than his cruelties, an abomination to the senatorial class which fur nished the histories of the time, produced effects favourable to the provinces. The strictness with which Augustus and Tiberius kept the citizenship closed was relaxed. We find provincial equites growing numerous, provincial senators even. He also reversed the policy of Tiberius towards Eastern religions, and rebuilt the temple of Isis that Tiberius had destroyed.
Caligula's reign was undisturbed externally; there is only the abortive expedition to the coast opposite Britain. He was mur dered by Cassius Chaerea, a tribune in the guard, on Jan. 24, 41. That he was the savage tyrant that he appeared to senatorial Rome seems probable, in spite of attempts at rehabilitation. It is a pity, however, that there is not more to show whether he was not, in other directions, something more.
See Suetonius, Caligula; Tacitus, Annals, vi. 20 sqq.; Dio Cassius lix. See also S. Baring Gould, The Tragedy of the Caesars (3rd ed., 1892) ; J. B. Bury, Student? Hist. of the Roman Empire (1893). Mention may also be made of the pamphlet by L. Quidde, Caligula, Eine Studie iiber romischen C'asarenwahnsinn. and an anonymous supplement, Lot Caligula mit unserer Zeit vergleichbar? (both 5894) and a reply by G. Sommerfeldt, Fin-de-Siecle-Geschichtsschreibung