Roman Emperor Caligula: The Mad Emperor Who Declared War on the Sea The emperor who declared war on the sea. The ruler who threatened to make his horse a consul. The tyrant who transformed Rome into a theatre of cruelty. On March 16, 37 CE, Rome celebrated the accession of Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, beloved son of the empire's greatest general. Within months, that same emperor was forcing senators into gladiatorial combat, claiming he was a living god, and bankrupting the treasury Tiberius had spent decades accumulating. By January 24, 41 CE, he lay dead in a palace corridor, victim of twenty-nine stab wounds delivered by the guards sworn to protect him. This is the story of Caligula—not the cartoon monster of popular imagination but the complex, damaged young man whose brief reign nearly destroyed the Roman Empire. Drawing on Suetonius, Tacitus, Dio Cassius, and Philo of Alexandria, this meticulously researched biography traces Gaius from his childhood in military camps along the Rhine frontier through his terrifying years on Capri under Tiberius, to his catastrophic rule as emperor. You will witness the mysterious illness of October 37 CE that changed his personality forever. You will follow the disastrous German campaign of 39-40 CE that ended with legions collecting seashells on a beach. You will understand how the death of his sister Drusilla in June 38 CE severed his last connection to sanity. But this is more than a chronicle of madness. It is an investigation into what absolute power does to the human mind, how childhood trauma and political paranoia can combine to produce catastrophe, and why the Roman system that brought stability after civil war was also capable of elevating a man utterly unfit to rule. What you will learn: The real story behind the legendary horse Incitatus and what it reveals about Gaius's contempt for the Senate. How the bridge across the Bay of Baiae in 39 CE became a symbol of imperial excess and engineering triumph turned to farce. Why the urban plebs loved Caligula even as senators plotted his assassination. The true nature of his relationships with his three sisters and the conspiracy that destroyed them. How Cassius Chaerea, a veteran who had served under Germanicus, finally ended the nightmare in the cryptoporticus of the Palatine palace. Written in the tradition of Mary Beard, Tom Holland, Adrian Goldsworthy, and Anthony Everitt, this biography combines rigorous scholarship with compelling narrative. Every claim is supported by ancient sources. Every interpretation is grounded in the latest historical research. Every chapter builds toward the inevitable conclusion while revealing new insights into one of history's most notorious rulers. For readers who loved Dynasty by Tom Holland, SPQR by Mary Beard, and Augustus by Adrian Goldsworthy, this is the definitive account of the mad emperor who declared war on the sea. The shells he collected still serve as symbols of his reign. The stories still shock us two millennia later. But the real Caligula, the man beneath the monster, has never been fully understood—until now. Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to discover the truth about Rome's most infamous emperor.