October 9, 2018 ▸ History, People

Episode 337: Caligula: The Sick, Sick, Sick Roman Emperor

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the life, fetishes, mass killings, reign, and assassination of the most infamous of all Roman emperors: Caligula. Caligula was the great-great grandson of Julius Caesar, and his real name was Gaius Caesar Germanicus. Caligula was a term that meant “little boot” and came from his time as a child he spent with his famous father during military campaigns. His father was a politician, and through a hardcore series of Game of Thrones type maneuvers, he was ultimately killed by the emperor Tiberius who eventually took in Caligula and raised him.

But, the raising was mostly torturous treatment, and everyone knew Tiberius killed Caligula’s father, so it wasn’t a good upbringing. In fact, most historians believe this period of his young life is what bred the sadism and perversion that followed him through life. Eventually, Tiberius died, and the inexperienced Caligula was voted by the senate to be emperor.

He did great things for the first half a year or so, and then his predilections for cruelty came to the surface. He started a brutal campaign of murders (he called them executions) of everyone who ever stood in his way, and he started taking money from prominent citizens just to keep himself in the lifestyle he enjoyed.

He was also crazy. How crazy? How about, he built a three mile bridge of boats and rode across it for two days just to prove someone wrong? How about, he killed people who talked about goats in his presence? He once threw an entire section of the coliseum into the pit to be eaten by wild animals because he thought the fights were boring. He slept with his sisters. A lot. He declared war on the sea, declared himself a god, built a mansion for his favorite horse, and so much more.

So what good things did Caligula do for the Roman empire? How was he assassinated and why? What was up with his pleasure barges? How did his wife and child die? Why did he hate goats? What declare himself to be the god of? What made the senate decide to destroy all traces of him and erase him from Roman history? Listen, laugh, learn.