Caligula

Also known as: Caesar Caligula / Caius Caligula · Family: Roman imperial household · Role: emperor · First appears: Annals I (10)

In Annals I, Germanicus and Agrippina were his parents. Germanicus embraced Agrippina and their little son as they fled, while Agrippina carried and nursed the child born in the camp, whom the legions named Caligula. In the same period, Cassius Cherea was already his enemy, later “famous to posterity for killing Caligula.”

In Annals V and VI, Caligula publicly pronounced the encomium of his grandmother Julia Augusta. He accompanied his grandfather Tiberius to Capreae, concealing his spirit while closely observing and imitating him; their relationship was also that of employer and subordinate, and later of enemies. He was first married to Claudia, daughter of Marcus Silanus, and after her death Macro compelled Ennia to secure him through a promise of marriage. Sextus Paconianus, Cotta Messalinus, and Sejanus were likewise his enemies.

Under Augustus and Tiberius, Caligula’s suspicions of Marcus Silanus led him to withdraw Africa’s legion from Silanus’s command and place it under another legate, creating friction between them. In A.D. 40, he ordered Julius Graecinus to accuse Marcus Silanus; when Graecinus refused, Caligula had him put to death. Titus Vinius was also put in irons by his order.

Relationship record

Life events

Claudia was given in marriage to Caligula.(Annals VI (3))
- With: Claudia
- “About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Silanus, was given in marriage to Caligula”
Macro compelled Ennia to secure Caligula through a promise of marriage.(Annals VI (5))
- With: Macro Ennia
- “he constrained Ennia his own wife to stimulate the affections of Caligula and to secure him by a promise of marriage.”
Caligula withdrew Africa’s legion from Marcus Silanus’s command and assigned it to a legate.(Histories IV.47-50 · 📍 Africa)
- With: Marcus Silanus
- “Caligula, who was restless by nature and harboured suspicions of the then pro-consul, Marcus Silanus, withdrew the legion from his command”
Caligula ordered Julius Graecinus to accuse Marcus Silanus and killed him for refusing.(Agricola (1))
- With: Julius Graecinus Marcus Silanus
- “By these his virtues, he earned the wrath of Caligula. For, he was by him ordered to accuse Marcus Silanus, and put to death for refusing.”

Annals I (10)

enemies with Cassius Cherea “Cassius Cherea (afterwards famous to posterity for killing Caligula), then a young man of undaunted spirit, and one of the Centurions, boldly opened himself a passage with his sword through a crowd of armed foes striving to seize him.”