Another significant sestertius depicts the dedication of the Temple of Augustus (RIC 36). The obverse of this coin shows a seated, veiled Pietas holding a patera in an outstretched hand. Pietas had been venerated since the late Republic and was a familiar idea to the Romans. The reverse presents the dedication of the temple representing the scene with a great deal of detail. We can see that the outermost columns of the temple rest on a raised platform and the pediment has five figures, graduated in size. The middle figure has been suggested as Mars. On the roof, is a quadriga in a frontal position, flanked by two victories and the temple is decorated with a garland. Caligula stands with a patera in the act of sacrificing a bull. His figure is large enough for it to be a likeness of the emperor. A slaughter man, who has great control over the bull, and an acolyte, flanks him. Like the coin depicting his sisters, this is not meant to be a portrait of the emperor as much as propaganda for his pietas.

Perhaps the most familiar and abundant of Caligula’s coins is the As, dated to 37-8 (RIC 38), with a seated Vesta reverse, but it became less common in later issues (RIC 47,54). The goddess sits, veiled, in an elaborate chair holding a scepter and, like the figure of Pietas, holds a patera in her outstretched right hand. By far the most common coin from this reign is the undated As issued for Agrippa (RIC 58). The general is depicted on the obverse with a simple inscription identifying him and a reverse of Neptune, holding a trident and dolphin. The coin recalls his famous victory at Actium and has been commonly found along the Rhine. It was assumed that this coin was issued by Tiberius but its upside-down die configuration is typical of Caligula’s reign than his predecessor whose coin reverse types point up.

A dupondius of Divus Augustus (RIC 56) is usually associated with Caligula’s reign. The obverse depicts a radiate head of Augustus with a reverse of an enthroned figure (possibly a statue of Augustus) holding a globe and branch with the legend CONSENSV SENAT ET EQ ORDIN P. Q. R. (with the consent of the Senate and equestrian order and Roman people).

Quadrans (RIC 39f) were issued by Caligula beginning in his third tribuncia potestas (April 39 – April 40). The coin depicts a pileus on the obverse, between SC, with the legend: C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG. The reverse has a legend with Caligula’s name and titles around RCC. There has been a lot of discussion concerning the meaning of the abbreviation RCC, which is usually taken to mean REMISSA DVCENTESSIMA -- a reference to the remission of the .5 percent sales tax. Augustus introduced a sales tax of 1% to finance the military treasury. It was an unpopular tax, and Tiberius compromised by reducing it only after the revenues from Cappodocia proved lucrative. Caligula abolished the tax during 38 by Dio’s chronology (58.16.2, 59.9.6). It is unusual to commemorate the abolition of this tax a year after the event, and continue to issue the coin. The pileus has been thought to refer to the restoration of popular election in 38, but Caligula eventually returned the elections back to the Senate. It is doubtful Caligula would want to perpetuate the memory of a failed policy. [2]

It is possible to understand this coin as a commemoration of the suppression of the conspiracy of Gaetulicus. The pileus, as a symbol of the victory over the enemy of liberty, can be applied to Gaetulicus’ threat against the principate. The reverse abbreviation RCC may refer to the vote of thanks passed by the Senate or a Restituti Concordia Consensus. The conspiracy was foiled in 39 and coincides with the period the quadrans was first issued. Perhaps more important, this was an event that Caligula would seek to perpetuate. [3]

The city of Caesarea in Cappadocia had a mint established during Tiberius’ reign to strike coins for the military. The mint continued to strike drachmae under Caligula. Didrachmae were struck with Caligula’s portrait, dated to the first year of his reign with T R POT, with a simpulum and lituus depicted on the reverse (RIC 63). Drachmae were struck with the portrait of Germanicus and a reverse recalling his crowning of Zeno Artaxias as king of Armenia in 18 (RIC 59). The type shows Germanicus, on the right, holding a spear and placing a crown on the head of Zeno. The legend, running vertically, identifies the figures as: ARTAXIAS, GERMANICUS. This coin was probably issued to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the coronation rather than the event itself. Another drachmae was issued bearing the obverse portrait of Germanicus has a reverse of Divus Augustus wearing a radiate crown (RIC 60-62).

The number of coins issued by Caligula is relatively small. [4]  Datable coins show the highest number were struck in the first year of Caligula’s reign, then none in his second year followed by a resumption in his third year but with diminishing output. Dio says that the Senate voted to have Caligula’s bronze coinage melted down (60.22.3). It would have been economically undesirable to demonetize his coinage and also contrary to Roman practice; the legionary denarii of Antony, for example, circulated for two hundred years. Coins of Caligula do show signs of damnatio and although some number of coins may have been subjected to destruction it would hardly be feasible to gather more than a token amount.

Conclusion: Echoes of Hatred

A problem in approaching Caligula as a subject is that preconceived notions about him are very strong. Some modern historians have read ancient sources literally, believing every crime recorded, and others have sought to interpret events to favor Caligula; both aims are extreme. Clearly, the hatred felt for Caligula by ancient writers has colored our view of him, and to reach a better understanding of him these authors must be examined with a balanced approach.

The unsettled life of Caligula certainly affected him. The mutiny of the Rhine legions, the early, sudden death of his father, the banishment of his mother, the gruesome deaths of his brothers, and surviving the perils of Tiberius’ reign marked him for his entire life and contributed to his insecure and pessimistic character. [5]  The excesses of Caligula’s reign have been attributed to mental weakness and the traditional view is that he began as a beloved ruler and became a monster only after illness (Cal. 22, 51.1). [6]  In the early 20^th century, Caligula was the subject of Freudian psychoanalysis and was predictably declared to be schizophrenic. [7]  His hyperactivity and mood swings have led some scholars to believe Caligula was the victim of a mania. Another point of view accounts for Caligula’s fickleness as his attempt to establish a Hellenistic monarchy, including sanctioning incestuous relations with his sisters. Evidence for this is inconclusive at best. [8]

Caligula was whimsical and unpredictable. As Philo witnessed, he would take up an issue or problem and drop it when his interest waned. Caligula was polite with the Jewish delegation, at first, then asked seemingly pointless questions, like why Jews refuse to eat pork. All this time, he went from room to room in the palace considering its decoration with his courtiers, while the delegation tried to keep up with him (Leg 352-367). His exercise of autocratic power became habitual until it was impossible for him to act otherwise. As his reign progressed, conspiracies took away his closest friends and family so he became more isolated. He was influenced by unsavory figures like Helicon, Protogenes and Ashlekon, who replaced the moderating influence of Macro. Despite his apparent lack of concern, Caligula was able to judge people shrewdly. He selected Galba as governor of Germany to restore the fighting condition of the German legions and Pollio to replace Flaccus and restore order in Alexandria.

Caligula was fond of stage plays, gladiatorial contests and the circus. He may have owned gladiators and supposedly took part in contests albeit with wooden swords – running his opponent through with a real one. Rather than his fondness for such combats revealing a brutal nature, he once berated spectators following a particularly savage display when five disabled combatants were slaughtered (Cal. 30.3, 32.2, 54.1, 55.2; Dio 54.2.3, 55.31.4, 59.14.1-3).

Caligula constantly sought new forms of entertainment and supposedly invented a new kind of bath where he could soak in perfumed oils. He devised bizarre foods, such as meats of gold, and drank pearls in vinegar. His pastimes were fairly ordinary: gambling, eating and drinking, but there is no indication he drank to excess. Philo only mentioned it because he had abstained from wine before becoming emperor (Cal. 37.1; Leg. 14). He reportedly had enormous sexual passion with men and women, to say nothing of his sisters. However, these stories of sexual pursuits are balanced against his supposed need for an aphrodisiac administered by Caesonia. The only detailed account of his four marriages is his last, and he was an affectionate and monogamous husband to Caesonia (Cal. 16.1, 27.4).

Caligula is often accused of being a spendthrift by going through the sum left by Tiberius (2,700 million sesterces according to Suetonius; 2,300 or 3,300 million by Dio Cal. 37.3; 59.2.6). This surplus is somewhat illusory. There were a number of debts left by Tiberius, such as Livia’s unpaid legacies and a number of unfinished building projects, along with a bequest to the people by the late emperor of 45 million sesterces. The injection of money into the financial system would have given it a boost, and Caligula’s abolition of the sales tax went even further. When ready cash became short, he resorted to auctioning imperial property (as Nerva and Trajan would later do) to help balance the books (Cal. 38.4-39.2; Dio 59.21.5-6). Through legacy hunting and the direct taxes he later created, the spending deficit was redressed so Claudius did not inherit a bankrupt treasury.

In seeking to understand Caligula, the attitudes of his times must be borne in mind. The Roman Senate was a servile body. Augustus had shaped a new form of government in cooperation with the Senate but, as Tacitus bemoaned, the senators had degenerated into flunkeys and shameless opportunists (Ann. 1.2, 3.65). Senators owed their status to the emperor and even the few who resented the power of the principate came to accept the status quo. Caligula’s realization of the sycophantic nature of the Senate set the course of his reign after the death of Macro. Dio quotes the emperor saying: "So long as a person is afraid – does he pay court to the man who is stronger, but when he gains courage, he avenges himself on the man who is weaker" (59.16.7). This could serve as the basis of the final years of Caligula’s reign. His utter contempt of the Senate and its chief magistrates is summed up by his threat to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul. Fear had to be backed up with deeds. The stories of executions are probably not exaggerated by much since Caligula needed to strike hard against conspiracies. However, he could be magnanimous, as with the disfigured Quintilia, and he freed Androclus and his lion after listening to the story of their remarkable friendship (Gell. 5.14). After the death of Caligula, the senators faced the embarrassing fact that the majority of their members had emerged unscathed. Indeed, except for a few members, the Senate had applauded Caligula’s most outrageous acts and some like Vespasian and Lucius Vitellius had prospered, although they tried to cover up their involvement with the emperor.

Caligula clearly had intellectual interests as his skill in rhetoric indicates. He also wrote poetry and spoke Greek fluently. Caligula once wrote an edict on a word of dubious Latin origin and was an expert of both sacred and secular law. Josephus says he had a natural aptitude for learning and contradicts Suetonius who claimed otherwise. His knowledge of literature was deep, and he suggested removing the statues of Virgil from libraries because he plagiarized his work (AJ 19.207-11; Ann. 13.3.6, Cal. 20; Dio 59.16.1-8). His restoration of elections back to the people from the Senate was a symbolic gesture (because Caligula selected the candidates) but was an attempt to restore a privilege that existed until changed by Tiberius. However, the populace showed little interest in this illusory power and the elections were given back to the Senate (Cal. 16.3; Dio 59.96, 20.3).

Many of the hostile anecdotes about Caligula arise from his own grim sense of humor, and his delight in pranks and sarcasm were often cruel, ultimately shaping our perceptions of his brief reign. His wit, with its inherent cruelty, is perhaps the best indication of his view of the world. The austerity of Tiberius’ reign coupled with the legendary name of Germanicus and his blood relationship to Augustus made Caligula the only choice to become emperor. The misfortune of the Romans was that all of the suitable candidates had perished leaving Tiberius little choice in the succession. Tiberius, for whatever reason, did not provide either Caligula or Gemellus with a proper introduction to public life. In confirming the choice of the Praetorians, the Senate handed power to someone who may have appeared malleable but was, unlike Augustus and Tiberius, not about to respect the carefully maintained balance of power between emperor and Senate. When the Romans needed a mature statesman who could be conciliatory about the legacy of Tiberius’ reign and participate with the Senate in ruling the empire, the new emperor ruled with intimidation and was influenced by unscrupulous freedmen. [9]  The all-encompassing powers given to the emperors could not be contained by the fiction of a division of power between the Senate and principate. Caligula was a harbinger of the autocracy that was to mark the principate under Nero, Domitian and Septimius Severus.

© David A. Wend 2001