AD 37-41
Rule of Caligula

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Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus – known as Caligula or 'Little Boots', by which name he was christened by soldiers on the Rhine during a mutiny when he was just two years old – comes to power on a wave of popularity among citizens who are glad to see the back of the reclusive Tiberius. Yet in less than four years he is dead – murdered at the Capitoline Games after a dreadful tyranny during which he establishes, for all time, his reputation as a crazed, cruel and capricious ruler. Caligula's antics include seeking to make his favourite racehorse Incitatus a consul; drinking pearls dissolved in vinegar; and lining up merchant vessels to make a two-mile-long bridge across the Bay of Naples for one of his lavish spectacles. On one occasion, he assembles an invasion force ready to cross the English Channel, but no invasion takes place. Instead, he orders his troops to collect seashells as 'bounty' before returning to Rome. Towards the end of his reign, Caligula declares himself to be a 'living god', although his mortality is evident as he dies quickly after being struck by more than 30 blows from his assassins' knives and swords on 24 January AD 41.

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