Caligula (AD 12–41)

Roman emperor (AD 37–41), son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, and successor to Tiberius. Caligula was a cruel tyrant and was assassinated by an officer of his guard. He appears to have been mentally unstable.

As a child he spent much time among the legions which his father commanded on the Rhine and was given the nickname, Caligula (‘bootikins’ or ‘little boots’), after the small soldiers' boots caligae he wore. As emperor, Caligula was popular at first, thanks to his liberality and the illustrious reputation of his father. However, following a serious illness AD 37 which seemed to affect his sanity, he declared himself a god and his extravagance was a severe drain on the treasury. He built a temple to himself as Jupiter Latiaris and threatened to erect his own statue in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. In AD 39 he went to Gaul and planned an invasion of Britain, but this was abandoned and he was assassinated, together with his wife and daughter, four months after his return to Italy.