- [Narrator] So you think you know all about
the rotten Roman Caesars and why these evil emperors
are so infamous to us, even to this day.
Think again.
You're going to find out in this video.
We all know the Roman Empire for war and conquest
and at the heart of its power stood,
after the Republic fell, the emperor as its head.
Many of them are easily recognizable today
for their achievements, be those conquests,
building programs or feeding the poor.
However some of the Caesars were tyrants
and we associate them with cruelty
or for the madness of their rule.
Power can be powerful and intoxicating
so is it any wonder that those who achieved
the ultimate position became so despotic.
We find out in 10 Most Evil Emperors in History.
Rotten Roman Caesars.
Caligula.
Caligula became emperor after Tiberius
and ruled from 37 to 41 AD.
He was the great nephew of Tiberius
and the son of Germanicus.
His real name was Gaius but he earned the nickname Caligula
from his father's legions which is a form of the Latin word
for a military boot.
Caligula survived the purges of Sejanus
and was the sole male survivor,
his brothers having died in suspicious circumstances.
This left Caligula and his sisters
under virtual imprisonment by Tiberius.
He later joined Tiberius on Capri.
These events, the terror and immorality that are said
to have revolved around Tiberius in his final years
cannot have been a good influence.
Tiberius, for whatever reason,
decided to spare Caligula from harm,
perhaps being able to act well
and hide his resentment towards Tiberius.
This led to people saying the following about Caligula.
Never was there a better servant or a worse master.
The ancient writer Suetonius tells us
that Caligula was allowed to live because Tiberius,
in his malice, sought to release a cruel and vicious viper
on the world.
Whilst heavily debated it seems this may have began with
Caligula having Tiberius smothered with a pillow
to end his life.
Whatever the truth here Tiberius's will
was altered by Caligula to remove Tiberius's own grandson
from any inheritance.
Caligula's rule was short but certainly eventful.
Apparently because he was the son of the popular Germanicus
his rise to power was welcomed and began with
much reconciliation and gladiatorial games for the public.
However it is said to have descended
into extravagance and cruelty.
The likes of which are recounted
in stories and movies today.
In October 37 AD Caligula became seriously ill,
perhaps even poisoned.
He recovered but many believe this may have been
the turning point that truly made him wicked.
Political rivals were made to vanish without full trial
as well as much of his family,
including Tiberius's grandson.
His uncle, the future emperor Claudius, was spared,
merely because he was viewed as a joke of a man.
Someone to laugh at.
After his favorite sister Julia Drusilla died
he had the remaining two sisters exiled.
One of these was Agrippina,
the mother of the future emperor Nero.
Caligula's political payments for support, generosity
and extravagance had exhausted the state's treasury.
It is said that Caligula began falsely accusing, fining
and even killing individuals to seize their estates.
In order to gain funds Caligula asked the public
to lend the state money
and levied taxes on everyday events.
Caligula began auctioning
the lives of the gladiators at shows.
The inheritance of Tiberius's grandson
was given to Caligula.
Centurions who had acquired property by plunder
were forced to give this to the state.
Caligula's relationship with the senate deteriorated
and he had many senators removed, killed
or merely degraded by having them act as waiters to him
on his chariot.
In 40 AD Caligula began implementing
very controversial policies that introduced religion
into his political role and began appearing in public
dressed as various gods and demigods
such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo.
Reportedly he began referring to himself as a god
when meeting with politicians and he was referred to
as Jupiter on occasion in public documents.
He would present himself as a god to the public.
Caligula had the heads removed
from various statues of gods and replaced with his own
in some temples.
He was represented as a sun god on Egyptian coins.
This culminated with him having the public and senators
worship him as a god.
Caligula is described by contemporary historians
as an insane emperor who was self-absorbed, angry,
killed on a whim
and indulged in too much spending and promiscuity.
He is accused of sleeping with other men's wives
and bragging about it,
killing for mere amusement,
deliberately wasting money on his bridge,
causing starvation and wanting a statue of himself
erected in the Temple of Jerusalem for his worship.
Once, at some games at which he was presiding,
he ordered his guards to throw
an entire section of the audience into the arena
during the intermission to be eaten by the wild beasts
because there were no prisoners to be used and he was bored.
The later sources of Suetonius and Cassius Dio
provide additional tales of insanity.
They accuse Caligula of sleeping with his sisters
Agrippina the Younger,
Drusilla and Livilla and say he sold them to other men.
They state he sent troops on illogical military exercises,
turned the palace into a brothel and most famously
planned or promised to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul.
And actually appointed him a priest.
These are debatable.
In Roman political culture insanity and debauchery
were often presented hand in hand with poor government.
Caligula's actions as emperor were especially harsh
to the senate, the nobility and to the equestrian order.
According to Josephus these actions led to
several failed conspiracies against Caligula.
Eventually officers within the Praetorian Guard
led by Cassius Chaerea succeeded in ending his life.
Many people from the senate, army
and equestrian order were said to have been involved in it.
The situation had escalated when, in 40 AD,
Caligula announced to the senate
that he planned to leave Rome permanently
and to move to Alexandria in Egypt
where he hoped to be worshiped as a living god.
The prospect of Rome losing its emperor
and thus its political power was intolerable for many.
Such a move would have left both the senate
and the Praetorian Guard powerless
to stop Caligula's repression and debauchery.
With this in mind Chaerea convinced his fellow conspirators
to put their plot into action quickly.
According to Josephus, Chaerea had political motivations
for the assassination.
Suetonius sees the motive
in Caligula calling Chaerea derogatory names.
Caligula considered Chaerea effeminate
because of a weak voice and for not being firm
with tax collection.
On either 22nd or 24th of January 41 AD
Cassius Chaerea and other guardsmen accosted Caligula
as he addressed an acting troop of young men
during a series of games and dramatics
held for the divine Augustus.
Details recorded of the events vary somewhat
from source to source
but they agree that Chaerea struck Caligula first
followed by a number of conspirators.
Suetonius records that Caligula's death resembled
that of Julius Caesar.
He states that both Julius Caesar and the younger
Gaius Julius Caesar, Caligula, was struck 30 times
by conspirators led by a man named Cassius.
Cassius Longinus and Cassius Chaerea.
By the time Caligula's loyal Germanic guard responded
the emperor was already dead.
The Germanic guard, stricken with grief and rage,
responded with a rampaging attacking on the assassins,
conspirators, innocent senators and bystanders alike.
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