Caligula

Assassinated in January 41 CE in Rome by officers of his own Praetorian Guard led by Cassius Chaerea; his death showed emperors could be made and unmade by the guard.

Overview

Gaius Caesar Germanicus, called Caligula from a childhood nickname, ruled from 37 CE with extravagance and terror; ancient sources describe contempt for the senate, humiliation of officials, and demands to be treated as a living god. A conspiracy of Praetorian officers formed around the tribune Cassius Chaerea, whom the emperor habitually mocked with humiliating watchwords. On the Palatine games the conspirators attacked Caligula in a palace corridor, and he died of multiple wounds; his wife Caesonia and daughter were also killed. The senate briefly debated restoring the Republic until guards found his uncle Claudius hiding behind a curtain and proclaimed him emperor. The precedent that the army, not the senate, made emperors would define the principate.