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Historical accounts depict Caligula as a monster, engaging in horrendous and despicable behavior. Yet these accounts originate from [[senator]]s who felt the need to justify his murder. Those who murdered Caligula assumed the senate would regain power upon his death and that the Republic would be restored. But the Praetorians named Claudius, Caligula's uncle, as emperor. Claudius had avoided Caligula's purges by being (or posing as) a halfwit.

Historical accounts depict Caligula as a monster, engaging in horrendous and despicable behavior. Yet these accounts originate from [[senator]]s who felt the need to justify his murder. Those who murdered Caligula assumed the senate would regain power upon his death and that the Republic would be restored. But the Praetorians named Claudius, Caligula's uncle, as emperor. Claudius had avoided Caligula's purges by being (or posing as) a halfwit.

It is possible to detect a certain cynical sense of humor in Caligula's acts of madness and tyranny. For example, it is said that he raised his favorite horse [[Incitatus]] to the office of [[consul]], the highest political office in Rome. This act could have been simply madness, but could also have simply been a way of putting the senate in its place.  

It is possible to detect a certain cynical sense of humor in Caligula's acts of madness and tyranny. For example, it is said that he raised his favorite horse [[Incitatus]] to the office of [[consul]], the highest political office in Rome. This act could have been simply madness, but could also have simply been a way of putting the senate in its place.

 

[[Category:Roman Emperors]]

[[Category:Roman Emperors]]