Caligula: The Roman Emperor Who Threatened To Make His Horse A Consul
Public DomainCaligula’s early rule seemed promising, but his behavior changed after a mysterious bout of illness.
As with Nero, Caligula’s reign started out promising. Caligula — actually named Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, Caligula being a nickname meaning “Little Boots” which his father’s soldiers gave him as a boy — was born in 12 C.E. and became emperor after the death of Tiberius in 37 C.E.
At first, Caligula made a number of popular decisions, like handing out military bonuses and recalling all exiles. But after a bout of illness, his behavior became erratic and violent. “Remember,” he was known to exclaim, “that I have the right to do anything to anybody.”
He made it a capital punishment to compare him to a goat (Caligula had very curly hair), forced senators to run ahead of his chariot, spent copious amounts of money to construct a three-mile bridge across the Bay of Baiae, simply so he could ride his horse across it, and led largely theatrical military campaigns. In 40 C.E., Caligula led an “invasion” of Britain in which he purportedly ordered his soldiers to fight the waves and collect seashells.
Caligula also allegedly threatened to make his favorite horse, Incitatus, consul, used treason trials to eliminate anyone who opposed him, and may have had an incestuous relationship with his sister, Julia Drusilla.
Public DomainCaligula on horseback. One of the most enduring rumors about the Roman emperor was that he made his horse a consul.
Romans were unhappy about Caligula’s unfettered spending and claims that he was a god, and they began plotting against him. In 41 C.E., the emperor was stabbed to death at the Palatine Games by a member of the Praetorian Guard.
Caligula, considered to be one of the worst Roman emperors of all time, was mortal after all. As historian Dio Cassius later noted: Caligula “learned by actual experience that he was not a god.”
