Today's class 5/13/11 and notes about Caligula

Caligula

• the third emperor of Rome
• His real name was Gaius
• Caligula's father, Germanicus, was the nephew and adopted son of Tiberus
• After his father died, his brothers were sentenced to death, one was starved to death and the other committed suicide and was then dragged through the streets. His body parts were so scattered that is was impossible to find them all
• The first two years of his reign, he was a moderate and noble ruler
• Later he became an "insane tyrant" according to sources
• During his reign, he tried to strengthen the authority of the emperor
• He created notoriously luxorius buildings for himself
• In his reign, he annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania and made it into a province
• In early 41, Caligula was assasinated by a conspiracy of the Praetorian Gaurd

today in class we finished the movie and got into group to compare notes and write about the three emperors of Rome.