This essay was written for a Classical Studies course on the Roman Empire. It is a persuasive essay supported by research.

 

 

Caligula, Method or Madness

 

            In March of 37 AD, Gaius Caesar (Caligula) came to power, as a man of the people. In October of that same year, the Emperor fell ill and all of Rome was distraught. People offered to the Gods their own lives, in exchange for their prince’s.  “…Everyone around the palatine watched through the night, and there were even some who vowed to fight as gladiators to secure the sick man’s recovery” (Edwards, 2008/117-138, p. 142). Caligula had the love and devotion of his people. But, he was never the same following his recovery. It is speculated that a brain fever led to his erratic behavior and caused his mind to deteriorate (Boatwright, Gargola, Lenski, & Talbert, 2014, p. 196). Despite this, some would argue that Caligula was not actually mad.

            Some people would say that Caligula was instead “mad like a fox” – that he was faking his madness to provide an excuse for his behavior. But to what end? Caligula was not using this madness to do things that benefited him. There is no evident advantage to acting the way that he did, or treating his people as he was known to. Before his illness, Caligula had the love of Romans and foreigners alike. After his illness, he alienated himself and was hated by all. There were four areas where Caligula’s madness showed itself very clearly; his regard to his own divinity, and the insult to the senate, the army in 39CE and the public. The acts that he committed regarding these areas did not benefit him as an emperor.

            Perhaps his most minor offense was the treatment of the army in 39CE. Caligula grew up in the presence of the army and until his rise to power, they loved him. The soldiers revered their emperor, as the army had with the previous emperors before him. This had always played to the Caesar’s advantage. So why, in 39CE, would Caligula purposefully insult them other than if he had been mad? “… He suddenly gave the order that they were to gather sea shells, filling their helmets and the folds of their tunics. These were that he termed spoils owed by the Ocean to the Capitol and Palatine.” (Edwards, 2008/117-138, p. 160). In doing this, Caligula made a mockery of his army.

           The Roman army was made up of trained soldiers, seasoned and ready for battle, and Caligula sent them to collect sea shells and fight the waves. What was the purpose of this? What kind of rational was there? This man was mad, and that is shown very clearly through this act. His army would have resented him for this ridiculous action, something that no sane man would intentionally orchestrate.

In Rome, emperors had been regarded as gods before this time. When Julius Caesar died, the people proclaimed him a god upon seeing a comet on the day of his funeral. From then on, the Julio-Claudian line was believed to have divine blood. This would mean that Caligula, too, had divine blood. But, unlike the emperors before him, Gaius took things too far. He believed he had more power and higher status than all other kings and princes and began to claim outright that he possessed divine power. “He gave orders that statues of gods noted for their artistic and religious importance… were brought from Greece in order that their heads might be removed and replaced with copies of his own.” (Edwards, 2008/117-138, p. 146). Along with this, he would often appear in public, in the dress of various gods (Boatwright et all, 2014, p. 196). He also extended the Palace to the Forum and turned the Temple of Castor and Pollux into a meeting room. He would present himself to the populace there, standing between the statues (Edwards, 2008/117-138). But soon, being worshipped among other goods was not enough. Caligula wanted to be worshipped alone, as he was.

           He set up a shrine to himself as a god, with priests and the best sacrificial victims, as well as a life-sized golden statue of himself, which was dressed to match his own clothing each day (Edwards, 2008/117-138). Aside from being worshipped in Rome, he wanted recognition elsewhere as well. He insisted that his own statue be installed in the Temple in Jerusalem and other synagogues (Boatwright et all, 2014, p. 196). There was no logical reason for Caligula to do any of this. It did not win him points with the public, or with the senators. These were the acts of a mad man, with no sensibility or purpose behind them.

            When looking at the lives of the previous Emperors of Rome, one will find that in most cases, these powerful men did everything they could to win over the love of either the senate or the public, oftentimes both. But for Caligula, this was not the case. He treated both his senators and his people with cruelty and hate, for no clear reason. He would, on occasion, force various senators to wait on him dressed as slaves and at other times he would make the seniors run behind his chariot for miles, dressed in their togas. He would invite high ranking women to dinner with their husbands, and then have them walk past his couch as he examined them slowly. “Then, as often as he felt like it, he would leave the dining-room, having called to him whichever woman he found most attractive. Not long afterward he would return, making no attempt to conceal the signs of his recent sexual activity, and would offer criticism or praise of his partner, listing in detail the good or bad features of her body and her sexual performance.” (Edwards, 2008/117-138, p. 155). How would these acts make Caligula a more powerful emperor? Everyone already knew he could do whatever he wanted – that’s what it means to be emperor. So why exploit these women and brag about it to their husbands? Why alienate himself from the people who posed the most threat to him?

            In some ways you could almost justify Caligula’s actions towards the senators, or at least his reasons behind them. He wanted to remind them who was in charge, perhaps, or what would happen to them if they tried to overthrow him. But there really is no reasoning behind his treatment of the public. They posed no political threat to him, and had always loved and supported him. So why change that? Why would he purposely lose their support, unless he was actually crazy?

            One night when Caligula was disturbed by a noisy crowd waiting to attend the Circus, the Emperor had them driven away with clubs, resulting in the death of multiple people. At gladiatorial shows, if the sun was particularly hot, Gaius would have the canopies drawn back and allow no one to leave, so they were forced to sit in the sun for hours. He held mock duels between innocent disabled people and would feed criminals to the wild beasts of his shows when the price of cattle rose too high. There were even times when he would shut the granaries, so that people would starve (Edwards, 2008/117-138).

            It is evident that Caligula was truly mad. There is simply no other way to explain his actions. He made a mockery of his army, tortured his senators, abused his people and then claimed he was a god! Why would a sane man do this, to an Empire that originally loved him? He had no reason to convince the people that he was powerful and important – they were offering to lay down their lives for him before he even came into his full power. None of the actions he took would foster any love for him and they would not gain the support of the people he was ruling. So what would be his motives for doing it? If not insanity, what was his reasoning?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Boatwright, M. T., Gargola, D. J., Lenski, N., & Talbert, R. J. (2014). The early principate. A brief history of the Romans (Second ed., pp. 195-196). New York: Oxford University Press.

Edwards, C. (2008). Caligula. Lives of the Caesars (Suetonius, Trans.) (pp. 137-167). New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 117-138)