Italy: Icon of Caligula Caesar (12-41 CE), 3rd Roman emperor, from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors), Antwerp, c. 1645

Born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, Caligula was the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, making him part of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He earned the nickname 'Caligula' (little solder's boot) while accompanying his father, Germanicus, during his campaigns in Germania.

His mother, Agrippina the Elder, became entangled in a deadly feud with Emperor Tiberius that resulted in the destruction of her family and leaving Caligula the sole male survivor. After Tiberius' death in 37 CE, Caligula succeeded his grand uncle as emperor. Surviving sources of his reign are few and far between, but he is often described as initially being a noble and moderate ruler before descending into tyranny, cruelty, sadism, extravagance and sexual perversity.

Caligula was eventually assassinated in 41 CE by a conspiracy of courtiers, senators and officers within his own Praetorian Guard, who murdered him and his family. Attempts by some of the conspirators to re-establish the Roman Republic were thwarted when the Praetorian Guard immediately decalared Caligula's uncle, Claudius, the new emperor.

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