The Mad Emperor
I watched the third season of the Netflix series Roman Empire, which is about the reign of Caligula, and is rightfully titled “The Mad Emperor.” It is in the form of a documentary, but it is a historical dramatization of the true events of Caligula’s life. It begins with Caligula’s early life which was heavily influenced by his relationship with his father, Germanicus, who was a general. Caligula spent a lot of time around the battlefield with him and began developing leadership skills and a war-like mentality. A scene that really stood out to me was when he was hiding in a cabinet to avoid being taken away by the Roman guards who were after his family for spreading misinformation. Germanicus had just died, and his family suspected that Tiberius had killed him so that he would no longer be the heir to the throne, so they were speaking out against Tiberius. Although I am not sure if he actually hid in a cabinet, the scene was very intense, and really emphasized the trauma that Caligula experienced as a child, which is very important to his later development.
Later in his life, Caligula was taken to Capri to live under Tiberius’ personal care, along with Tiberius’ son, Tiberius Gemmellus. There, Caligula was essentially his servant and had to hide his hard feelings against Tiberius. Surprisingly, right before Tiberius died, he named both his son and Caligula to be Emperors, despite their history. During his first six months, Caligula was a noble, well-respected leader, but after that, he descended into a state of insanity and tyranny. While the part I watched was mainly about his early life, his progression makes sense, based on his highly traumatic childhood.
I really liked watching this TV series, as it gave very good visuals and insight into Caligula’s early life. I had not thought about how his childhood would have influenced his later life and rule. It was very interesting to see how they depicted his life and it gave me a better understanding of how all of the pieces of his life fit together.
