All language subtitles for Killer.Kings.S01E02.Caligula.1080p.NOW.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

- He was a terroristic ruler.

NARRATOR: History remembers him
by the nickname he hated:

Caligula or "Little Boots".

- There are several unusual rumours
about Caligula's conduct as emperor.

He seems to have enjoyed watching
the execution of his victims,

having them executed in the
most torturous way possible.

- There's a casual cruelty
to everything that he does.

- We know Caligula
is reported to say,

"Let them hate me,
so long as they fear me."

NARRATOR: He ruled
the world's greatest empire.

But behind the crown
was a mind unravelling -

and a reign soaked in blood.

- Even Tiberius,
the archetypal debauched emperor,

is shocked at how willingly he
participates in the most shocking

forms of torture
and sexual immorality.

NARRATOR:
Using groundbreaking AI imagery

to show his world as never before,

we examine the myths
that launched the mystery...

Will new evidence help re-evaluate
Caligula's brutal reputation?

- The fact that he can't distinguish
between the inappropriateness

of what he's doing tells me we've
got a psychopath on our hands.

NARRATOR: Rulers come and go,

but what legacy
will the sands of time leave behind?

Caligula - was he truly...
a killer king?

Caligula reputedly Rome's most
tyrannical and erratic emperor.

But before he was emperor,
before he was feared, he was adored.

- He comes from the royal family.

His father was Germanicus,

who was, for a time, the leading
general in Rome under Tiberius,

and his mother was Agrippina.

Agrippina was the granddaughter
of the first Roman emperor Augustus.

- His father, Germanicus, was a
great hero of the Roman Empire

to the extent that he is mentioned

in the same breath
as Alexander the Great.

He's almost superhuman
in his heroics.

And it's clear that Caligula's
relationship with Germanicus

led to him being very popular
with the people.

NARRATOR: Rome is at war.

Germanicus is leading
campaigns in Germania

to avenge the devastating
loss of three Roman legions

in the Teutoburger Forest.

(battle clamour)

NARRATOR:
With him is his youngest son.

Just a child but already
a presence in the camp.

- The son was adored by the troops.

- He was taken under the wing
of his father's soldiers

and adopted the young Caligula
as a mascot for the legions.

They used to dress
the son of their general up

in a kind of a miniature soldier's
uniform.

The Roman soldiers
wore boots called caliga,

which were hobnail boots
issued to all soldiers,

and the diminutive form of caliga
is caligula, meaning "little boots."

- He obviously endeared himself to
the soldiers to get this pet name,

but spending time with his father
at such a young age,

directly on the front line, right
there in the heat of the battle,

learning about all the strategies,

seeing all the horrific physical
injuries...

(battle clamour)

...the sorts of things that people
wouldn't be exposed to,

let alone as a tiny child.

(battle clamour)

NARRATOR: Gaius marched with
one of Rome's greatest generals

across a volatile frontier.

His presence wasn't
purely ceremonial,

he was used as a talisman

to steady the ranks of restless
soldiers on the brink of mutiny.

- When Germanicus felt that the
troops were going to turn upon him

and might kill him and his family,

he dispatched the women
of the camp and Caligula

to the local Gallic city.

The troops saw that matters
had reached a level of severity

that civil war was going
to break out in the camp.

There was also an emotional
attachment to Caligula,

possibly to his mother, and at that
point, the mutiny came to an end.

- This will have shaped Caligula
absolutely fundamentally.

It will have desensitised him
to extreme violence of course.

I think it will have sown
the seeds for the development

of a really hyper-masculine
personality.

He bonded in this context
of violence, of being a man,

of been involved in war.

NARRATOR: Germanicus
is recalled to Rome a hero.

But the glory was short-lived.

- At the end of that campaign,
he was brought back to Rome

and then he was almost
immediately sent off to Syria.

NARRATOR: Officially sent
to assert Roman authority

over the Empire's client kingdoms.

Many believed it was a political
move by the Emperor Tiberius.

A wildly popular general,
Germanicus was sent far from Rome

into a region known
for its volatile politics.

- And the reason for this is

supposedly because
of Tiberius's jealousy.

- He was given sweeping powers
in the east, but very quickly,

he fell out with
the governor of Syria -

a man named Gnaeus Piso.

- While in the province that
Piso was the governor of,

Germanicus falls very ill.

And he is convinced that he is ill
because Piso is poisoning him.

- All sorts of accusations then flew
that Piso was using witchcraft,

that he was trying to
poison Germanicus.

NARRATOR: Germanicus' health
continues to deteriorate... and then,

aged just 33, he dies... in agony.

- Germanicus died
under circumstances

which were regarded as suspicious.

NARRATOR: The Empire mourned.

But for Caligula, then only 7 years
of age, the loss was shattering.

Dr Donna Youngs is an investigative
psychologist who has been

looking at the life of Caligula.

- Having bonded so profoundly to
his father to then lose his father,

both at such a young age
and in circumstances that

he probably didn't understand
will have set the stage for Caligula

to become very suspicious,
very paranoid, very fearful.

NARRATOR: The adored son
of Rome's brightest star

became a child shadowed
by grief, betrayal, and silence.

- Caligula's mother makes a big show
of returning to Rome with his ashes.

And she is rapturously received
by the populace of Rome

because Germanicus was so popular.

And she arrives
very kind of dramatically

clutching her husband's ashes
and her infant son, Caligula.

NARRATOR: But this triumphal return
goes down badly

with the increasingly
paranoid Tiberius.

- Tiberius had Agrippina
arrested and sent into exile.

Her two older sons, were
also arrested and exiled.

And eventually Tiberias
had all three of them killed.

Agrippina probably by
being starved to death.

NARRATOR: Caligula is the only
survivor of the purge of his family

and only then because Tiberius
needs a successor with royal blood

running through his veins.

- We see Caligula, when he turns 19,

joining Tiberius, the emperor,
on Capri.

This is where Caligula is kind
of brought under Tiberius's wing.

NARRATOR:
Tiberius, Rome's second emperor,

had once ruled with
discipline and caution.

But by the time Caligula joined him
on the island of Capri,

the ageing ruler had withdrawn
from Rome and from restraint.

- Capri was a pleasure palace.

Tiberian culture was luxurious

and to a large extent immoral.

There are astonishing stories
of Tiberius bringing young men

and women to the palace
and sexually exploiting them.

- Tiberius uses his retreat on Capri
to indulge all of his worst vices,

and he lives a life of excess,
of gluttony and sexual immorality.

NARRATOR:
The island became Gaius's classroom.

But what was Tiberius
teaching his young apprentice?

- Caligula was incredibly
vulnerable.

He was a blank page
ready for Tiberias

and all his exploits
to be written on.

He was absolutely defenceless,
psychologically, emotionally,

to what he would be exposed to.

NARRATOR:
To survive, Caligula must adapt.

He learned how power truly worked,

how fear could rule men
more effectively than law.

- He had learnt that
to be a man's man,

to fit in, to get Tiberius' love
and support in the same way

that he'd got his father's,
one thing was crucial -

and that was his participation
in the activities.

- Even the debauched
Emperor Tiberius

is shocked at the extreme
nature of Caligula's personality.

He's almost a little bit scared by
the savagery that Caligula displays.

NARRATOR: Caligula did more
than fit in. He played the game,

cementing his position as the heir
presumptive to Tiberius' throne.

- Tiberius complained that
people were turning to Gaius

as the rising sun
and worshipping him,

whereas the setting sun,
Tiberius himself,

was slipping away
from their attention.

- The Empire is still in
its infancy in this period.

Tiberius is only the second
Roman emperor.

And so there is no
kind of constitutional

basis for the transfer of power.

NARRATOR:
When Tiberius dies suddenly,

Caligula is perfectly positioned
to take power.

Some say, too perfectly.

- Tiberius dies in 37 AD,

and the events surrounding his death
are kind of shrouded in mystery.

- There are always rumours
around deaths of emperors.

- Our sources do not agree
on the specific circumstances.

In one version of events, Tiberius
is starved to death by Caligula.

In another, he is poisoned
by Caligula,

and in a third, he is smothered and
suffocated to death with a pillow.

NARRATOR: He survived war, purges,

and the twisted mentorship
of a dying tyrant.

Now, Rome waited for him,

and no one not even Tiberius could
predict what Caligula would become.

Tiberius is dead.

The Empire turns to 24-year-old
Caligula, the great grandson

of Augustus Caesar and the son
of one of Rome's greatest generals.

And for a moment, Rome rejoices.

- So the first months
of Caligula's reign

are received very well
by the Roman populace.

Tiberius was a hated emperor.

By the end of his reign, there
had been what the historians

describe as a reign of terror.

He was so hated that the people
gathered in the streets

and chanted,
"To the Tiber with Tiberius,"

demanding that his body be
thrown into the River Tiber.

And so the people of Rome
and the Senate

see Caligula's rise to power

as freeing them from
the tyranny of Tiberius.

(bells tolling)

- Tiberius' death was celebrated,

and the accession of Gaius was
welcomed as a new golden age.

He was seen as a new man, a man
who would change the oppressive

and violent age of Tiberius

and bring a new and
golden age to Rome.

NARRATOR: In his first weeks,
he pardons prisoners.

He gives out bonuses to the army.

He buries Tiberius with respect,

and promises the Senate
a new era of peaceful collaboration.

- We're seeing all the honour
and leadership capabilities

of his father, the great Roman
general coming out through Caligula.

We're seeing Little Boots
coming into his manhood as emperor.

- (crowd cheering)

- One of his first acts is to
end the practice of Maestas,

which is the practice
of treason trials,

that were very prominent
under Tiberius.

He makes a big public
display of not only taking

the law of Maestas off the books,

but publicly burning all of the
court records of people previously

convicted of Maestas and people
who were currently under suspicion.

- What he seems to have been very
anxious to do in this early stage

was to represent himself
as a fresh start,

a new model emperor for Rome,

and to bring together the various
factions in Roman society

and especially amongst
the Roman aristocracy.

- This is a new time where
the people are going to be free

and prosperous and not living under
the reign of terror of Tiberius.

NARRATOR: For six months,
Rome lives in a dream.

But the dream is about to shatter.

- The key turning point,
according to our sources,

is Caligula becomes ill
six months into 37 AD.

- We don't know what it is,
we don't how serious it was,

but there was at least some
thought that he would die.

- This illness seems to have changed
his personality significantly.

He starts to exhibit
certain behaviours

that signal to the Senate and
to the people that all is not well,

and that Caligula perhaps
isn't the saviour

from the tyranny of Tiberius
that they had initially hoped for.

- Caligula suffers
some kind of severe seizure,

some kind of rare form of epilepsy.

We hear reports
of bizarre behaviour.

Him laughing without motivation.

We heard reports of severe insomnia,

of all sorts of emotional
incontinence

contrasting so sharply with the
regimented, disciplined, powerful,

potent, virile Caligula
up to this point.

NARRATOR:
The city is frozen with concern.

Their golden boy - hailed as a new
beginning - is slipping away.

- Caligula's illness seems to have
caused massive concern among

the populace of Rome.

In fact, several prominent Romans
vowed their lives to the gods

as human sacrifices
if Caligula could recover.

There was a massive outpouring
of grief among the populace of Rome

who see Caligula as their saviour
after the tyrannies of Tiberius.

NARRATOR: Caligula makes a recovery,

but Rome soon realises
the man who emerged

is not the one they had crowned.

Ancient sources tell us
he became erratic, paranoid, cruel.

- Several historians have debated
the nature of the illness

that afflicted Caligula,
whether it was physical in nature

or whether it was more mental.

However,
what is clear from the sources

is that things change
after his illness.

- So, we see emerging

a very different person
from the young, bold and strong

charismatic leader before this.

Instead, we see somebody
who seems to have,

rather than a disciplined,
organised military mind,

we see someone who seems
very little control of his emotions.

NARRATOR: The man who once promised
peace, now ruled with violence.

Rome had placed
its hopes in Caligula,

but public affection
quickly turned to fear.

And even those closest to him
were not safe...

...as one of his most loyal
supporters was about to find out.

- Macro had been one of Caligula's
earliest supporters.

He had been instrumental in bringing
the army over to Caligula's side

to support his claim to the throne.

And yet, by early 38, it's clear
that Macro has fallen from favour.

NARRATOR: Macro, the powerful
Praetorian prefect,

had been instrumental
in securing Caligula's rise.

But shortly after his illness, the
emperor begins to see his old friend

as a threat too influential,
too close to the throne.

- The events surrounding
Macro's death

are not clear at all
from our sources.

He is potentially implicated
in some kind of conspiracy

against the emperor.
Again, whether this is based in fact

or whether this is Caligula's
paranoia is up for debate.

However, by 38 AD, he has
been forced to take his own life.

- Macro was ordered
to commit suicide.

It was a rather brutal realignment
of the politics of the moment.

NARRATOR: Caligula shows
himself willing to eliminate

even his closest allies.

After Macro,
no one around Caligula was safe.

- The fall of Macro was
a really significant change

in political activity.

It comes at the same time as a
realignment of the imperial family.

NARRATOR: Next to get caught in
the young emperor's crosshairs

his cousin, Gemellus, the grandson
of former emperor Tiberius,

whom Caligula has sworn to protect.

- Gemellus' death comes about
in late 37.

Caligula having recovered
from his illness is convinced that

Gemellus is plotting against him.

Whether Gemellus was involved
in a conspiracy against Caligula

or whether this is Caligula's
paranoia is lost to history.

During Caligula's illness,
Gemellus had also stepped up

into a more public role
to take the place of his cousin

and had perhaps been received
quite well by the populace,

and this had perhaps signalled to
Caligula that there was someone else

waiting in the wings who could
potentially challenge him for power.

- He perceived him
as being a threat as he grew older.

Gaias used that as an excuse, and
he sent his soldiers to kill him.

- In quite a poignant scene,
Gemellus is handed a sword

with which to take his own life.

Because Gemellus is
very young and naive,

he doesn't really know how
to actually do the act itself,

and he has to be helped
to take his own life,

because he's never
held a sword before.

NARRATOR: The early optimism
of Caligula's reign

shifted to a darker,
more paranoid time.

Rome becomes a political minefield.

In public, he had once burned
the records of treason trials

against members of the Senate.

But now, the old laws returned.

- By 39 AD, relations with
the Senate have soured

and he's addressing the Senate

to rebuke them for their criticism
of Tiberius.

He feels that their open criticism
of the previous emperor

should not be permitted,

and that they should
actually bear in mind

that many of Tiberius' treason
trials that he had been holding

were perfectly legitimate.

And it's at this point
that Caligula reveals

that the records of the treason
trials which he had burned publicly

in a great show of departure
from the reign of Tiberius

early in his reign,
he actually had kept copies.

He tells the Senate that he is
reintroducing the law of Maestas,

the law of treason, and from now
on the Senate will live in fear.

NARRATOR: The trials were
more than legal proceedings,

they were tools for eliminating
rivals, seizing wealth,

and asserting absolute control.

Charges could be based on rumours,

or even symbolic dreams
and gestures.

- We see Caligula,
with no hesitation,

murdering political rivals.

For Caligula, his way of
doing politics is reflecting

those early days of training
on the front line.

Going about politics
as if war, no hesitation,

not just to remove political rivals,
but to have them murdered

NARRATOR:
It's not enough for Caligula

to lay waste to his enemies.

He wishes to be anointed as
a living god while he does it.

- One of the biggest controversies
of Caligula's reign seems to have

been his desire to be
worshipped as a god.

Roman emperors could
be deified after their death.

It was, however, a big no-no
for an emperor to be worshipped

as a god during his lifetime.

The controversy in Caligula's reign

is that he seems to have explicitly
desired to be worshipped as Jupiter.

And to have set up temples to him
in Rome during his lifetime.

This is a significant violation
of Roman religious norms.

- This is all, for the Romans,
difficult behaviour.

NARRATOR: Caligula, the man
who promised peace, now insists

that he wasn't just favoured by the
gods, but was a living god himself.

- So progressively, Caligula
associates himself with the divine.

He had temples and altars
built in his honour,

with priests dedicated to his cult.

And demanded sacrifices to
Divus Caligula - "divine Caligula."

- It's one thing to erect a statue
of yourself, to be celebrated,

but to have the...

It's not even audacity,
it is the lack of judgement,

the insanity to insist that you be
worshipped as a god by your people,

it's a clear indication of
somebody who is insane.

NARRATOR:
Roman relationship with deities

was much closer than
we understand today.

But this was a step further than

even the hated Tiberius
had dared to take.

- Dressing up as the divine
seems to be something that

members of the Roman aristocracy
did from time to time.

What was different was that
he seems to have demanded

a level of worship of himself
while he was a living being.

In later traditions, this is seen
as evidence of an unstable mind.

At the time,
it was certainly extreme,

but doesn't seem, in itself,
to have been regarded as madness.

Nevertheless,
living with a god was probably hard.

NARRATOR:
When a man is worshipped as a god,

who is left to hold him accountable?

With no limits left, Caligula's
cruelty became something more

than policy, it became power, performance.

- He throws his uncle into the river
for some imagined slight.

He makes a senator beg for his life

because he'd put up
a statue to Gaius

which was interpreted as being
not quite praising him enough.

Caligula liked to put people to
death via many, many small wounds

that would cause the most pain
over the longest period of time

before they actually
succumbed to death.

He seems to have enjoyed watching
the execution of his victims,

and not only executing his victims,

but having them executed
in the most torturous way possible.

NARRATOR: Mixed with the brutality,
there were power games.

- He holds a dinner party
and at the dinner party,

he starts to laugh, and everybody
wonders what he is laughing at.

The most powerful person
in the room starts to laugh,

do you laugh along?

And he tells them,
"It's just occurred to me

that I can have any of you killed."

Now that's fun, obviously, for Gaius
it is not fun for everyone else.

- He forces a man to watch
the execution of his family,

and then forces that man to attend
a dinner party with the emperor,

at which the emperor is very jovial
and tries to engage his victim

in light-hearted conversation
and make him kind of laugh

and joke about the brutal murder
of his family.

- And he dined and he ate,
and he played along.

And when he was asked
why he did so,

he said, "I have another son."

NARRATOR: These games
were not just for private pleasure.

Caligula was keen to extend
his bloodlust for public pleasure.

- One thing that Caligula is
accused of is feeding criminals

to the wild beasts that are kept
for beast hunts in the arena.

Upon being told that feeding cattle
to these wild beasts

is quite expensive
and these animals are needed

for displays in the arena,

Caligula points out that
it would be much cheaper

to feed criminals to them.

This is not a punishment, this
is a steady diet for the animals

to replace the costly expense
of buying cattle to feed to them.

- Now one of the things
that marks out somebody

whose brain has become psychopathic

is the complete inability to what
we call emotionally calibrate.

To distinguish, to differentiate
between what's an appropriate

behaviour and what's
a non-appropriate behaviour.

The inappropriateness
of what he's doing

in turning criminals into
the food of wild beasts

tells me we've got a psychopath
on our hands.

NARRATOR:
But how much of this is true?

There is a hysteria to the stories

which begin to sound like
just good stories.

- Caligula is one of the better-
attested of the Roman emperors.

We have a whole range
of sources about him,

some of which are contemporary
or near contemporary.

The most influential accounts
on Caligula

come from the historian Cassius Dio,

who was writing
in the third century,

so more or less 200 years
after Caligula's death.

And Suetonius, the biographer,

who was writing about
eight years after his death.

- Suetonius essentially lists a long
list of various shocking deeds

that Caligula did.

He starts his biography
narrating Caligula's early life

and when he gets to the point
after his illness when Caligula

seems to have made
a turn for the worse,

Suetonius says he's finished

narrating the history
of Caligula the emperor,

now he's turning to tell the story
of Caligula the monster.

NARRATOR: The near contemporary
histories written of Caligula

are sensationalist, salacious,
morally outraged.

- Roman emperors attracted gossip,
and this was in an age before you

had libel laws or you had
any journalistic integrity.

Stories circulated
and stories circulated

whether they were true or not.

They might have been
believed by some.

The stories might have
just been too good

to miss out of the
historical accounts.

- Suetonius tells us that Caligula
condemned a man to death,

had him thrown to wild beasts
in the arena,

and as the man was
screaming for his life,

Caligula has him brought forth
out of the arena.

The man thinks he has been rescued
by the emperor.

At which point, Caligula
complains about his screaming,

has his tongue cut out and has him
thrown back to the wild beasts.

- Women would come along
to dinner parties.

He would decide which one
was the prettiest, or which

of the husbands he would wish to
offend, and then he'd carry them off

into a side room before returning
and discussing the sexual prowess.

A basic level of humiliation
of members of the Roman aristocracy.

- One of the other most famous
stories about Caligula

is the story that he supposedly
made his horse a consul.

- Again, that's a story
that has been treated

to an extreme interpretation

- Caligula was very fond
of his horse, Incitatus.

And this horse
lived a life of luxury.

(horse neighing)

Its stable was made from marble;
it ate from an ivory manger,

it had its own house.

This, according to Suetonius,
culminates in Caligula deciding

that this horse is going to
be made a consul of Rome.

- Maybe that's true,
maybe that's not.

NARRATOR: But perhaps the most
notorious story about Caligula

is the claim that he had
an incestuous relationship

with his sisters
and one in particular, Drusilla.

- His sisters are a really
interesting case.

He puts them front and centre.

He presents them

as if they were graces
or muses or certainly divinities.

This gives rise to
various accusations,

that he has had sexual relations
with all three of his sisters,

that he pimps out his sisters.

- I think we have to
view these rumours

with a great deal of scepticism.

This probably stems from the fact,
that early in his reign,

he changes the oath of allegiance
that is sworn to the emperor to also

include Caligula's sisters.

This seems to have been
an unprecedented honour

for members of the imperial family.

And this is perhaps the root
of some of the stories of incest

that are preserved by writers
like Suetonius and Cassius Dio.

- But it seems clear he doesn't
mind those stories circulating.

Those stories seem to increase
his status as being someone who

is able to break all
social conventions,

including deeply-held moral
conventions.

The only other people who
can do that are the gods.

NARRATOR: Caligula's
belief in his own divinity

fuelled an unwavering
self-confidence

that no one could touch him.

A confidence enforced
by his ever present

and utterly ruthless
Praetorian Guard.

- There's a part of him I think
that thinks he is invincible.

- Whatever he did, he was immune.

The Guard were there,
the Guard would protect him.

He could make fun of people,
but there would always be those

who would stand at his side.

He didn't think that they would
even dare to take him on.

He didn't think that
they would kill him.

NARRATOR: Caligula is confident,
untouchable, worshipped.

In just four years, he has reduced
the Senate to spectators

in their own government.

He's mocked them, ignored protocol,

and forced them to treat him
as a god.

His private guard the Pretorian
Guard is insulted, bypassed

and cruelly punished.

Rome is simmering with
anger and humiliation.

- The very randomness of this
violence made everybody afraid.

The fact that he was also
erratic in his personal behaviour,

that he was sexually rapacious,

that he seized women and subjected
them to sexual violence and rape,

that he pretended to be
associated with the gods,

he used random violence
as an act of terror

against the Roman aristocracy.

They were terrified.

NARRATOR: A plan is hatched
to bring Caligula down.

But the stakes were incredibly high.

Failure meant torture, execution

and the destruction
of your entire family.

- Moving against a Roman emperor
was an extremely dangerous activity.

If they found out, you'd get killed.

If your attempted assassination
was unsuccessful, you'd get killed,

if your attempted assassination
was successful,

but you didn't have the kind of
political support, you'd get killed.

NARRATOR: The risk was massive,

but so was the fear of what
might happen if no one stopped him.

And so the planning begins.

Slowly... in secret.

- It's not clear exactly how
many people were involved

and how many of them were senators.

- They took six months to find
the right opportunity to kill him

NARRATOR: January 24th.

A corridor beneath
the imperial palace

is the place they identify
for the hit.

- What happens is that
during a celebration games

in the imperial palace...

- They found moment
when he would leave the theatre,

he would progress down a corridor,
and there they would meet him.

NARRATOR: Masterminding
the assassination attempt -

the Praetorian Guard,
the elite team of soldiers

assigned as the emperor's
personal protection.

Normally, these soldiers
were loyal unto death.

But Caligula had made the mistake of
even mocking and undermining them.

- The Praetorian Guard
were the people responsible

for looking after,
for protecting Gaius.

NARRATOR: Leading the group -
Cassius Chaerea.

And it's believed that for Chaerea,
this was personal.

- Chaerea, as part of his service
on the Praetorian Guard,

was often mocked by Caligula
for being effeminate.

And when Caligula would hold
out his hand for Chaerea to kiss it,

he would then pull it back and make
an obscene gesture mocking Chaerea.

- Gaius would always give
the Praetorian Guard the watchword,

so he was always giving Chaerea
watchwords which would be

embarrassing for him
to transmit to the troops.

Chaerea met Caligula
in this corridor.

He asked for the watchword.
He was given a watchword,

at which point, he
pulls out his sword,

and he strikes Caligula
across the face.

Caligula fell down

and the fellow conspirators
then plunged in their swords.

Blood everywhere.

And then they fled.

The historian Cassius Dio provides
us with almost the one funny line.

He says that after three years,
nine months, and 28 days,

Gaius Caligula discovered
that he was not a god.

NARRATOR: Little Boots,
raised on a battlefield,

anointed as a god,

dies violently, in a squalid
hallway beneath the imperial palace.

But even in death,
he appears to have the last laugh.

- The aftermath of Caligula's
assassination is quite interesting,

because it kind of reveals
the lack of a clear aim

on the part of the conspirators.

The Praetorian Guard,
having killed Caligula,

they then go throughout
the imperial household,

finding his relatives
and putting them to death as well.

But they realise that if they kill
off the entire imperial family,

their role as the Praetorian Guard,

the elite bodyguards of the emperor,
becomes obsolete.

And actually,
it's a much cushier job

being stationed in Rome
protecting the emperor

than it is being out on the
front lines in the provinces.

And so as they are roaming
through the imperial palace,

they come across
Caligula's uncle Claudius.

He thinks he's about to be killed,
so he's hiding behind a curtain.

And the Praetorian Guard find him,
they pull the curtain back,

and instead of killing him,
they proclaim him emperor.

NARRATOR: A reputation as one of the
most infamous tyrants in history,

a byword for madness,
cruelty, and excess.

Written off by ancient historians
as insane, monstrous and perverse,

with stories so wild
they sound like mythology.

But was he in fact
just damaged goods,

shaped as all are, by experiences
and traumas early in life

and raised to a position for which
he was completely unqualified?

- We know that Caligula
was exposed to a lot.

As a very young boy,

he was exposed to extreme
violence on the front line.

We know that then,
as a sexualised teenager,

he was exposed to all sorts of vices
and depraved sexual activity.

His illness meant that his ability
to keep these experiences that

he's been exposed to throughout
his life at bay, was eradicated.

And that's what we see manifesting
in all these acts of madness.

NARRATOR: A legacy shaped by fear,
betrayal, and failure.

- There's a very famous phrase
that Caligula was fond of quoting.

It's a quotation from the Roman
tragic playwright Achaeus.

And the quote is, "Let them hate me
so long as they fear me."

- This totally encapsulates
the psychology of this man,

the way he thought.

And that's all that matters to him,
that they fear me.

NARRATOR:
They feared him, and they hated him.

But in the end, that fear
wasn't enough to protect him.

How will the sands of time
judge his legacy?

- There is nothing you can point to
which will suggest that this man

was anything but a monster
and that seems to have been how

he was received, discussed from
within a generation of his life.

Is that fair to him?

- Does Caligula deserve the title,
Killer King?

He's definitely implicated
in a lot of deaths.

- He was living in a brutal time.

He had seen many
of his family murdered.

This was the way in which
Roman dynastic politics worked.

There was no sympathy for the dead,

there was no compunction
about killing those people

who were close to you.

NARRATOR:
Caligula ascends the imperial throne

on a wave of optimism and hope.

He dies a hated autocrat

who ruled through fear, violence,

and personal whim.

- He was a terroristic ruler
who ruled by hatred,

who ruled through fear.

He wanted to be known as
somebody who killed others

with an arbitrary,
almost random violence.

Without doubt, a killer king.

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