He started out as the golden boy of Rome. Everyone loved him. When Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus—better known by his childhood nickname "Little Boots"—ascended the throne in 37 AD, the city literally went wild with joy. They sacrificed over 160,000 animals in three months just to celebrate. But then things got weird. Really weird. What we now call Caligula: 1400 Days of Terror wasn’t just a period of random violence; it was a psychological collapse of an entire empire.
Rome was used to stern leaders. Augustus was a statesman. Tiberius was a gloomy recluse. But Caligula? He was a 24-year-old with unlimited power and, quite possibly, a broken brain.
People often ask if he was truly "evil" or just sick. Honestly, it’s probably both. After a near-fatal illness early in his reign, the "pious" prince vanished. In his place stood a man who thought he was a living god. He didn't just want to rule Rome; he wanted to humiliate it.
The Seven-Month Shift
For the first half-year, Caligula was actually great. He lowered taxes. He recalled political exiles. He paid out massive bonuses to the Praetorian Guard. It was a honeymoon period that felt like it would last forever. Then came the fever.
Historians like Philo and Suetonius suggest that after he recovered from a serious collapse in late 37 AD, his personality flipped. He became paranoid. He started seeing enemies in every shadow. This is where the Caligula: 1400 Days of Terror narrative truly begins. He realized that as Emperor, there were no "no" men. Everyone was a "yes" man. If he wanted to execute a senator because he didn't like his face, he could. And he did.
It wasn't just the killing, though. It was the psychological warfare. He would invite senators to dinner and then spend the whole night making fun of their wives or describing how easily he could have their throats slit. Imagine sitting at a formal gala knowing the guy at the head of the table could kill you between bites of pheasant just because he felt like it. That’s the atmosphere he cultivated.
Incitatus and the Myth of the Horse
You’ve heard the story about the horse. Everyone has. The tale goes that Caligula was so crazy he made his horse, Incitatus, a consul.
👉 See also: Questions From Black Card Revoked: The Culture Test That Might Just Get You Roasted
But here’s the thing: most modern historians, including Mary Beard, argue this was likely a massive joke at the expense of the Senate. He wasn't necessarily "crazy" enough to think a horse could legislate. He was mean enough to tell the Senate, "My horse could do your job better than you." It was the ultimate insult. He gave the horse a marble stall, an ivory manger, and purple blankets. He even invited people to dinner in the horse's name. It was performance art designed to show the elite that they were worthless.
This kind of "madness" was actually a calculated tool of absolute autocracy. By acting unpredictable, he kept everyone in a state of constant, vibrating fear.
Spending Rome into a Hole
Caligula inherited a massive fortune from Tiberius—roughly 2.7 billion sesterces. It was a staggering amount of money. He blew it all. Every single cent.
How do you spend that much in 1,400 days? You build a bridge of ships across the Bay of Baiae just so you can ride your horse across the water like a god. You build massive "pleasure barges" on Lake Nemi that featured heated plumbing and mosaic floors. You throw gold coins to the masses from the tops of buildings.
When the money ran out, the Caligula: 1400 Days of Terror took a darker, more desperate turn. He started inventing crimes so he could seize the estates of wealthy Romans. He opened a brothel in the imperial palace and forced the daughters of noble families to work there to raise "taxes." He basically turned the Roman government into a giant extortion racket.
The War with Neptune
Perhaps the most famous example of his "insanity" was the campaign against Britain that never happened. He marched his legions to the English Channel, but instead of crossing, he reportedly ordered them to gather seashells.
✨ Don't miss: The Reality of Sex Movies From Africa: Censorship, Nollywood, and the Digital Underground
"The spoils of the ocean," he called them.
To a modern reader, this sounds like a man who has completely lost his grip on reality. Some scholars, however, think the troops mutinied and refused to cross the water. Caligula, stuck with a massive army and no victory, might have staged the seashell gathering as a way to humiliate his soldiers. "You won't fight? Fine. Pick up shells like children." It was petty. It was weird. It was classic Caligula.
Living as a God
Most Roman Emperors were deified after they died. Caligula couldn't wait that long.
He started appearing in public dressed as Hercules, Venus, or Apollo. He reportedly had the heads removed from statues of gods across Rome and replaced them with his own likeness. He even had a bridge built from his palace to the Temple of Jupiter so he could go chat with his "fellow god" whenever he felt like it.
This wasn't just ego. It was a total dismantling of the Roman "Principate" system. Augustus had tried to maintain the illusion that the Emperor was just the "First Citizen." Caligula tore that mask off and set it on fire. He wanted the world to know he was an absolute autocrat.
The terror wasn't just in the blood he spilled; it was in the way he broke the Roman identity. He forced senators to run for miles alongside his chariot while they wore their formal robes. He made them kiss his feet. He broke the dignity of the Roman state, and that's something the traditionalists could never forgive.
🔗 Read more: Alfonso Cuarón: Why the Harry Potter 3 Director Changed the Wizarding World Forever
The End of the 1400 Days
Four years. That’s all it took. By January 41 AD, everyone had had enough. The Praetorian Guard, the very people paid to protect him, led the conspiracy.
Cassius Chaerea, a man Caligula had constantly mocked for being "effeminate," was the one who struck the first blow. During the Palatine Games, in a narrow underground corridor, the conspirators cornered him. It wasn't a clean assassination. It was a frenzy. They stabbed him over 30 times.
The Caligula: 1400 Days of Terror ended in the dirt of a palace hallway. The Senate immediately tried to restore the Republic, but they were too late. The military found Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, hiding behind a curtain, and they declared him Emperor on the spot. The cycle simply started over.
Why We Are Still Obsessed
Why do we keep talking about a guy who died almost 2,000 years ago? Because Caligula represents our deepest fear about power. He is the ultimate "what if" scenario. What if you gave a spoiled, traumatized, possibly sociopathic young man the keys to the entire civilized world?
The result is a cautionary tale that never gets old. He wasn't just a monster; he was a mirror. He showed Rome exactly how fragile their "stable" system actually was. One man's bad mood could mean the death of a thousand people.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you're looking to dig deeper into this era, don't just stick to the sensationalist Hollywood versions. Here is how to actually understand the "Terror":
- Read the Primary Sources with a Grain of Salt: Suetonius (The Twelve Caesars) and Tacitus are the go-to sources, but remember they were writing for the Senate. They had every reason to make Caligula look like a freak.
- Look at the Archeology: The Nemi Ships (before they were destroyed in WWII) proved that Caligula's "insane" engineering projects were actually real. He was a master of excess, but also a patron of incredible technology.
- Evaluate the "Madness" Hypothesis: Check out modern psychological profiles of Roman leaders. Many historians now believe Caligula may have suffered from hyperthyroidism or even lead poisoning, which can cause irritability and delusions.
- Visit the Sites: If you ever go to Rome, visit the Palatine Hill. Standing in the ruins of the imperial palaces gives you a visceral sense of the scale he lived on—and the claustrophobia of the corridors where he finally died.
The story of Caligula is a reminder that history isn't just about dates and battles. It's about people. Sometimes, those people are broken, and when they have an empire at their disposal, the world breaks with them.