Hugo once said, ‘The madman must die of his own madness.’. Nero, the last emperor of the Roman dynasty of Julia Claudius, was a notorious tyrant in the history of the Roman Empire. Nero is known for his tyranny, but he cannot be considered a true Roman tyrant because his tyrannical name comes more from the usurper’s legitimization of his actions. So who was the real Roman tyrant? This is Caligula, the third emperor of the Roman dynasty of Julia Claudius.
I think many people feel unfamiliar with this name. Yes, it’s just that Nero’s name of ‘tyrant’ is too loud. Not many people know about this true tyrant in the history of the Roman Empire.
If Nero’s atrocities come from the smear of political victors. So Caligula’s era is truly dark and insane, and the period he ruled over is also known as the ‘Dark Age of Ancient Rome’!
Who is Caligula
Rome is a city, it was not built in a day. But every builder of it hopes to achieve eternal life with such a city. They did it, and Rome is still quiet there today. And those builders who are still gone, with the existence of this city, have been recorded by time and have gained eternal life in another sense. At least once the human race exists, they will be forever remembered.
Those former Roman builders, whether good or bad, gave life to the city of Rome. The city of Rome also engraved them in history as a reward.
But there is one exception!
Both the city of Rome and the ancient Roman Empire deliberately erased his existence. No one in the ancient Romans wanted to mention his name, nor did anyone want later generations to know about his actions. All because of his atrocities, it’s just too outrageous.
He is Caligula, the “Mad King” of ancient Rome!
Caligula’s reign was extremely short, only four years. But these four years were referred to as the ‘Dark Ages of Rome’ by the ancient Roman Empire. It can be seen how he went against the tide in these short four years.
With the advancement of science, numerous new disciplines have also incorporated archaeological discoveries. Although the ancient Romans tried their best to cover up this period of history, scholars have already unraveled the general story of Caligula’s life. It is precisely because of knowing his actions that scholars have doubts.
There is an ancient Chinese saying that goes, “At the beginning of a person’s life, their nature is inherently good.” No one is born evil, and Caligula is no exception. Judging from the laws he issued during his first year in office, although they may not be particularly brilliant, they are not bad either.
Starting from the second year, his situation took a sharp turn for the worse. In the fourth year, the entire Roman Empire could no longer tolerate his behavior. What exactly happened that turned Caligula into a pervert, thug, and bloodthirsty person in three years?
All of this needs to start with his background!
Glory from Father
Caliguda had a good father, at least for the Romans. His father is a god like figure, their hero, the lover of a young girl’s dream.
His father’s name was Germanicus, the adopted grandson of Augustus, and also the maternal grandfather of the famous tyrant Nero.
Germanicus has a high reputation in Rome. This is all thanks to his military talent, and the Romans even compared him to the “conqueror” Caesar. Unfortunately, he passed away at a young age, and Caligula was also adopted by his uncle Tiberius. So, when Caligula’s uncle, Roman Emperor Tiberius, announced Caligula as the next emperor. There is no opposition within Rome, on the contrary, everyone is very much looking forward to Caligula.
Because he has another heroic father. People believe that his father’s excellent qualities will definitely be inherited by Caligula. So, when Caligula was brought back to Rome by his uncle Tiberius, he was warmly welcomed by the people of Rome.
Perhaps it was also the Romans who blindly believed that Caligula would inherit his father’s excellent qualities, which ultimately bore the bitter fruit.
It must be mentioned here that the political structure of the Roman Empire at that time. Although Octavian had ended the Roman Republican era, the Senate was preserved. All Roman emperors knew that he needed the Senate to stabilize the situation. And the members of the Senate also know that they need a leader to control the future direction of the empire.
This constitutes a stable political structure, and the emperor needs the approval of the Senate in order to exercise his imperial powers. And the emperor also restricted the power of the Senate. Without the emperor’s approval, the bills produced by the Senate are a pile of waste paper. Under this mutual balance, the political stability of the Roman Empire was ensured.
That is to say, after Caligula became the Roman Emperor, in order to gain power, he needed the approval of the Senate.
Undeniably, Caligula is an excellent speaker, or rather a fraud. He only took a few hours to obtain the power of an emperor from the Senate, which requires ten years of hard work. This was the only time in Roman history that brought an irreversible disaster.
Suddenly awakened devil
Caligula did an excellent job in the first six months under the Roman Emperor. He has gained the support of the people, and the Senate also feels that he has made a successful investment. But after six months in office, Caligula suddenly fell seriously ill.
This serious illness seems like a watershed moment, and when he recovers, it feels like a new person. This is a distortion in personality and habits.
If we cannot understand this change, we can use a popular scene as a metaphor. It’s like the popular time travel in novels nowadays, where an emperor suddenly falls seriously ill and is almost on the brink of death. The person who was supposed to die miraculously survived.
After coming back to life, this former useless wood became a cultivator genius, and the former weak chicken also became a high-precision talent. Caligula’s adventures are like the protagonist of a time travel novel, but the difference is that he has transformed from appearing kind to completely evil.
The example just mentioned is naturally impossible to occur in reality, but Caligula really changed his temperament after recovering from a serious illness.
What exactly made him suddenly become bloodthirsty, crazy, behaving strangely, and debauched, as if he had become another person?
The madness flowing in the blood
After introducing modern psychiatric research, scientists have obtained the answer. The cause of everything must start with Caligula’s illness.
It is speculated that Caligula’s illness is temporal lobe epilepsy. This speculation is based on real evidence, not speculation. Scholars have studied the genealogy of Caligula and found that Julius Caesar suffers from epilepsy, and Caligula’s grandmother and sister also suffer from epilepsy. And Caligula himself must also have a history of epilepsy.
This may also be related to Tiberius imprisoning him on an island for seven years. Because in ancient Rome, suffering from epilepsy was a shameful thing. So, Caligula must have epilepsy, and it is temporal lobe epilepsy that can distort mental thinking.
Afterwards, Caligula’s behavior also proved this speculation, as epilepsy distorted his spirit and thinking. He began to have delusions, naturally thinking that he was a true deity. And he often proposed some absurd and ridiculous plans that the empire had to implement.
Of course, Caligula’s atrocities are not limited to these. However, we only need to know that after his serious illness, he has already become a mental illness, and as for his future killing behavior, it came from the inexplicable death of his father. If it were to be described in detail, it would be a lengthy discourse, so we will not elaborate further on why Caligula’s personality is distorted here.
Everyone just needs to know that Caligula was actually a hidden mental patient who relied on his father’s glory to gain all the rights that Roman emperors never easily obtained. After a temporal lobe epilepsy, his mental illness completely erupted, ultimately earning him the title of “the most brutal ruler” in Rome.
His evil deeds have even reached the point where the ancient Romans were desperate to erase him from history. In the end, he deserved to die in the assassination, it’s really sad and lamentable! After his death, his family members were also brutally slaughtered
