Publisher's Synopsis
Caligula, by C. Suetonious Tranquillus, is an amazing Roman emperor biography of a madman, the Roman emperor, Caligula. One finds it hard to believe that such a man existed, even in Rome. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant. Caligula (Latin: Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 31 August 12 - 24 January 41 AD), was Roman emperor from AD 37 to AD 41. The son of Germanicus, a popular Roman general, and Agrippina the Elder, the granddaughter of Augustus, Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Two years after Caligula's birth, Germanicus' uncle and adoptive father, Tiberius, succeeded Augustus as emperor of Rome in AD 14. Although he was born Gaius Caesar, after Julius Caesar, he acquired the nickname "Caligula" (meaning "little soldier's boot", the diminutive form of caliga) from his father's soldiers during their campaign in Germania
