Before I opened this blog, I wanted to do the "Crazy King Series".
In world history, there are brilliant virtuosos and incredible idiot kings. I wanted to write an article about such idiot kings.
Actually, the first one was the second emperor "Tiberius", but after investigating various things, it turned out that he was actually a pretty excellent person rather than a crazy king.
I'm a little disappointed.
But Caligula, the third emperor, does not disappoint us. He is such an emperor.
Its popularity was the highest among all Roman politicians
Caligula, who later received the lowest rating in Rome, was the most popular of all Roman politicians when he became emperor.
There are several reasons for his popularity, one is that Tiberius wasn't that popular, the other was that he was the real child of the hero Germanicus, and that he was directly drawn to Augustus' blood. And there are four points that he was young and handsome.
Of course, the first emperor Augustus was popular, but his father, Germanicus, was also quite popular.
I don't think many people know about Germanicus, so I'd be happy if you could refer to the following articles. It took me a long time to write over 5000 characters. ..
The name "Caligula" is a nickname, and the official name is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.
It sounds like the Roman name All-Star, but it's perfect because it also has the blood of the prestigious aristocratic Claudius family.
He is a man who should stand in Rome, and he is a handsome man. Caligula is 24 years old at this time. Due to the unpopularity of Tiberius and the mythical popularity of Germanicus, Caligula was a festive moment when he became emperor.
Shortly after Tiberius died, the Senate entrusted Caligula with full authority over the rule of the Roman Empire.
There was no rebellion like when Tiberius was enthroned. Rather, almost all Roman citizens were pleased with Caligula's coronation. Rather, the people of the provinces were pleased. The Roman army in Germania was particularly pleased.
Caligula is a nickname, not an official name. As mentioned in the Germanicus section linked above, when Germanicus was still in Germania, soldiers were toddlers and familiarly called Gaius wearing military boots called Caligula.
Germanicus was also popular, but his family was also popular. Germanicus' father was also a Germanic man, and his son was also popular.
Thanks to Tiberius, the financial condition is good, it is popular, it is young, and the neighboring countries do not wage war. In such a state, Caligula became the emperor.
Caligula's popular policy
Caligula made several policies when it came to the emperor.
One is to sponsor the circus part.
Roman citizens were hungry for entertainment. In the days of Caesar and Augustus, they offered spectacles to win the hearts of the citizens, but Tiberius did not do that at all. Caligula once again sponsored such a circus and provided entertainment to Roman citizens.
Furthermore, the whistleblower system called Delator, which was active during the reign of Tiberius, was abolished.
Tiberius, who later retired to Capri and was in politics, made it possible with a whistleblower system called Delator. In Persia, it was the eyes of the king, the ears of the king, and it was like the Mossad, KGB, and CIA in modern society. Because of this, Tiberius was able to grasp the situation in Rome with great accuracy, but from the perspective of Roman citizens, it was not a collection.
Those exiled by Tiberius also returned to Rome.
Tiberius was a fairly solid man, expelling actors and the intellectual class. He was just a terrorist politics, but he lifted it.
He even implemented tax cuts. He has abolished the tax of sales tax, which is what we now call the consumption tax.
And he said he would definitely attend the Senate.
His predecessor, Tiberius, did not attend the Senate for 10 years.
Caligula adopted the opposite policy of Tiberius, and both Roman citizens and the Senate welcomed it.
But going the opposite of the solid Tiberius also means doing something that isn't really meaningful just because it's popular. Even if it is hated, it is the opposite of Tiberius who did politics for Rome ...
Waste next to waste
There is a movie called Ben-Hur. The film, set in Roman times, is also known for its extraordinary production costs. The amount is said to be 15 million dollars, and it was an era of 360 yen per dollar ...
It was especially expensive for chariot racing, and of course it was expensive during Roman times. Caligula begins spending money like hot water, building a temple dedicated to Augustus, building the Claudio aqueduct, the Aqua Anio Novus, and setting up the Pompeus Theater.
Caligula was too generous in both good and bad ways.
Caligula is 24 years old at this time. In modern times, baseball players, soccer players, rock stars, etc. suddenly have a lot of money and use it strangely, but in the case of Caligula, that is the difference.
Moreover, Caligula didn't make the money herself, so she doesn't know how hard it is to make money.
Tiberius was over 50 when he was crowned. Therefore, he had a good sense of money and was sensible.
The crazy behavior that Caligula is said to have done
It's no secret that world-famous rock star Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury had an orgy at his home, but Caligula seems to have done it on an order of magnitude.
As for Caligula, I don't know the truth because there aren't many objective materials, but the eccentricities that Caligula is said to have done are as follows.
・ I told all human beings to worship myself as a god
・ I told them to make and worship their own statues in various places
・ I told them to worship at the Jewish Great Temple in Jerusalem He told me to worship him (the statue was delayed due to the plan of Petronius, the governor of Syria, and was not actually built). After recovering, I pushed him off the cliff. He also deified his sister
・ He executed one after another
・ When financial difficulties occurred, he made up an innocent human sin and confiscated his property
・ Assassination of himself
Even just arranging the facts that seem to be relatively credible is this. Some history books also have the following description.
・ I worshiped my horse as a god
・ I enjoyed incest with my sisters
・ I made a brothel in the palace and made my sisters prostitute
・ Naples Bay I lined up the ships for several kilometers and paraded on them.
As expected, the credibility of this area is low, but it seems certain that he was a very crazy person.
It's a completely stupid translation, but Caligula once became ill shortly after becoming emperor and worried all over Rome. There is also a claim that people have changed since then.
Others argue that it may have been epilepsy.
There are many historical figures who have been suffering from epilepsy since ancient times. Napoleon and Dostoevsky were also suffering from epilepsy.
It's true that Caligula had some illness, but it's not known what it was.
It can be said that the tragedy was that there was no way to retire the Roman emperor at that time and no one had the idea.
Any mad king is an emperor. The order was absolute.
The end of Caligula
It would not have been one or two who thought of Caligula's assassination. Still, no one was able to do it because the guards, the guards that protected him, were powerful.
Caesar was assassinated by a senator.
Therefore, his successor, Augustus, was keen to protect himself and gathered the best of the corps to form the Guards Corps (Praetorian Guard).
The Guards Corps consisted of nine units, numbering 9,000.
Moreover, the Germanic Garrison Army, which is called the strongest corps in Rome, supported Caligula to the extent that it could be called the Germanicus faith.
No one seemed to be able to kill Caligula, but Caligula was killed. He was killed by Casius Kerea, a Germanicus subordinate who knew Caligula from an early age, the commander of the Guards Corps.
Not much is known about Casius Kerea. It is said that he once followed the Germanicus capture under Germanicus, followed the destination of Germanicus, and probably always defended Caligula.
It is unknown why such a person assassinated Caligula.
Kerea protected Caligula's uncle Claudis and made him his next emperor.
He pleads guilty to the murder of the emperor and accepts the death penalty.
Caligula's personal evaluation
Little is known about Caligula. Almost all historians say Caligula was completely mentally ill.
No matter who thinks it is.
I don't know what the cause is.
Was it because of epilepsy, or was it an innate temperament, or was the emperor's position making it so?
Later Roman emperors and Chinese emperors often perform eccentricities that are unthinkable in general.
The overwhelming concentration of power may drive people crazy.
From then on, the Roman emperor will run completely crazy until the Five Good Emperors appear. It may be the fate that Rome has become the strongest empire in the world and is always being sought after by those who seek its power.
As for Caligula, the domestic affairs have unnecessarily increased spending, and the expedition has failed.
Even so, he may be better than a Chinese tyrant, as he orders the construction of buildings that will remain in posterity, such as infrastructure development.
If Caligula's eccentricity is due to illness, it's a pity.
He was killed by Kelea, who was the last guard and protected him from an early age, but Kerea may have wanted to make it easier.
If the emperor had a retirement system, Caligula might have wished he had retired and lived somewhere away.
The tragedy would have been the fact that he was the child of a hero named Germanicus and had the blood of Augustus, a rare masterpiece in world history.
He was not an emperor's vessel at all.