Roman Portraits - Gaius (Caligula).

Whatever damage Tiberius's later years had done to the carefully crafted political edifice created by Augustus, Gaius multiplied it a hundredfold. When he came to power in A.D. 37 Gaius had no administrative experience beyond his honorary quaestorship, and had spent an unhappy early life far from the public eye. He appears, once in power, to have realized the boundless scope of his authority and acted accordingly. His reign highlighted an inherent weakness in the Augustan Principate, raw monarchy in which only the self-discipline of the incumbent acted as a restraint on his behavior.

Caligula was the only surviving male heir of his popular father, Germanicus, brother of Tiberius.  His nickname means little boots in Latin, after the shoes he used to wear when young in the army camps.  His cruelty was legendary; and after an illness, he thought himself as Zeus on earth.  Legend has it that he cut open one of his wives's stomach to eat the fetus to emulate the birth of Athena.  It was not a surprise to anyone that he was killed in just 4 years.

 

Æ As (28mm, 10.19 gm). Rome mint. Struck 37-38 AD. Bare head left / Vesta seated left, holding patera and sceptre. RIC I 38; Cohen 27. Near VF, dark brown surfaces.