Caligulaism is the ideology of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter. Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
due to aspects of his reign and thought, he could be considered a revolutionary and totalitarian progressive
Beliefs
Politics
Caligula's first acts were said to be generous in spirit, though many were political in nature. Overriding Tiberius' will, which left a legacy of 500 sesterces to each praetorian, he instead doubled it; further bonuses were granted to the city troops and the army outside Italy., which meant in practice that aediles had incentives to spend money to put on lavish spectacles to win popularity. Building projects on the Palatine hill and elsewhere were also announced, which would have been the largest of these expenditures.
Caligula also took action to win the support of the aristocracy. He made a public show of burning Tiberius' secret papers, falsely claiming that he had not read them. On coinage, he advertised that he had restored the rule of law; to that end, he lifted a backlog on court cases in Rome by adding more jurors and lifting the need for imperial confirmation of sentences, Refusing the title pater patriae on the grounds of his youth
Public reform and financial crisis
In the year 38, Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform. He published the accounts of public funds, which had not been made public during the reign of Tiberius. He aided those who lost property in fires, abolished certain taxes, and gave out prizes to the public at gymnastic events. He allowed new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders.[41] Perhaps most significantly, he restored the practice of elections. Cassius Dio said that this act "though delighting the rabble, grieved the sensible, who stopped to reflect, that if the offices should fall once more into the hands of the many... many disasters would result".[41] During the same year, though, Caligula was criticized for executing people without full trials and for forcing the Praetorian prefect, Macro, to commit suicide.
According to Cassius Dio, a financial crisis emerged in 39. Suetonius places the beginning of this crisis in 38. Caligula's political payments for support, generosity and extravagance had exhausted the state's treasury. Ancient historians state that Caligula began falsely accusing, fining and even killing individuals for the purpose of seizing their estates. Historians describe a number of Caligula's other desperate measures. To gain funds, Caligula asked the public to lend the state money.He levied taxes on lawsuits, weddings and prostitution. Caligula began auctioning the lives of the gladiators at shows. Wills that left items to Tiberius were reinterpreted to leave the items instead to Caligula. Centurions who had acquired property by plunder were forced to turn over spoils to the state. The current and past highway commissioners were accused of incompetence and embezzlement and forced to repay money.
According to Suetonius, in the first year of Caligula's reign he squandered 2.7 billion sesterces that Tiberius had amassed. His nephew Nero both envied and admired the fact that Caligula had run through the vast wealth Tiberius had left him in so short a time. However, some historians have shown scepticism towards the large number of sesterces quoted by Suetonius and Dio. According to Wilkinson, Caligula's use of precious metals to mint coins throughout his principate indicates that the treasury most likely never fell into bankruptcy. He does point out, however, that it is difficult to ascertain whether the purported 'squandered wealth' was from the treasury alone due to the blurring of "the division between the private wealth of the emperor and his income as head of state." Furthermore, Alston points out that Caligula's successor, Claudius, was able to donate 15,000 sesterces to each member of the Praetorian Guard in 41, suggesting the Roman treasury was solvent.A brief famine of unknown extent occurred, perhaps caused by this financial crisis, but Suetonius claims it resulted from Caligula's seizure of public carriages; according to Seneca, grain imports were disrupted because Caligula re-purposed grain boats for a pontoon bridge.
Relations
Friends
Totalitarianism - Let them hate us as long as they fear us.
Autotheism - I have understood that the only way to be equal to the gods is to be as cruel as them.
Autocracy - Power gives an opportunity to the impossible. From today and from now on, my freedom will no longer have limits.
Kleptocracy - Governing and stealing are the same thing. This is in the public domain.
Revolutionary Progressivism - The same weight of future and past accompanies us everywhere. The beings we have killed are with us. And with those it would be easy. But those that we have loved, those that we have not loved and those that loved us, the sorrows, the desire, the bitterness and the sweetness, the prostitutes and the gang of gods.
Frenemies
Humanism - When I don't kill, I feel lonely. The living are not enough to populate the universe and drive away boredom. When you're all here, you make me feel an emptiness beyond measure where I can't look. I'm only okay among my dead.
Enemies
Illegalism - Anyway, fortunately, the penalties are not eternal. Are you capable of suffering for more than a year?
Further Information
Wikipedia
Literature
- Balsdon, JPVD; et al. (2012). "Gaius (1), 'Caligula', Roman emperor, 12–41 CE". In Hornblower, Simon; et al. (eds.). The Oxford classical dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Winterling, Aloys (2011). Caligula: a biography. University of California Press.
- Balsdon, V. D. (1934). The Emperor Gaius. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Hurley, Donna W. (1993). An Historical and Historiographical Commentary on Suetonius' Life of C. Caligula. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
- Sandison, A. T. (1958). "The Madness of the Emperor Caligula". Medical History. 2 (3): 202–209.
- Wilcox, Amanda (2008). "Nature's Monster: Caligula as exemplum in Seneca's Dialogues". In Sluiter, Ineke; Rosen, Ralph M. (eds.). Kakos: Badness and Anti-value in Classical Antiquity. Mnemosyne Supplements. Vol. 307. Leiden: Brill.
