Caligula

Emperors #4

by Allan Massie

Gaius Caligula is known as the mad emperor, the one who made his horse a consul. He was violent and vicious, a murderer and guilty of committing incest with his sisters. Yet, when he succeeded the aged recluse Tiberius, the Romans were delighted and for a few months at least he seemed generous and enlightened. So what went wrong? Why was he murdered after a reign of only four years? Is the conventional picture true or was he mad and evil or the victim of circumstance and rumour? Is it possible to take a sympathetic view of Caligula...and is it possible to make sense of him? In his compelling new novel Allan Massie peels back the mask of the monster of popular myth to expose the young emperor as a real man and explore the truth of his brief but tempestuous reign.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Roman

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Allan Massie is a Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist. Massie is one of Scotland's most prolific and well-known journalists, writing regular columns for The Scotsman, The Sunday Times (Scotland) and the Scottish Daily Mail. He is also the author of nearly 30 books, including 20 novels. He is notable for writing about the distant past.

Reviews

[Eric Pape · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially thought this a poor man's Robert Graves but warned to it and finally appreciated it.
I enjoyed its study in paranoia and the sympathy that Caligula evokes in the biographer.
Worth the time I invested in reading it.

[Ruth Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

History makes Caligula the ultimate 'bogeyman' of Ancient Rome, hated and feared in equal measure, and unmourned by anyone at his death, and the slaying of his child and wife alongside him, at the hands of his bodyguard.
Not quite the truth, even reading Suetonius, the 'News of the World' of the Romans. I know we don't have that paper anymore, so I guess you could call him the 'National Enquirer' of the Romans, that might give you more of an idea of his reputation. Kernals of truth are surrounded by gossip and innuendo after a century of character-assassination. I know that's a harsh evaluation of the most famous of the Roman authors we know, but it has to be said.
When you read this book, if you read this book, a fictional recreation from the eyes of one man, written by one of the greats of historical fiction set in Roman times, your opinion of this much-maligned man may change. In fact, I think when you get to the end, you'll feel glad you read this, and have a more balanced and personally formed opinion. I'm not sure if he could have repaired Nero's rep as well, though of course, we know most of what history records is written by the winners, and those who came after Nero were glad to malign his memory. Caligula had the same issues.
Well-written, this is my favourite of the Emperor series, though 'Anthony' was a great book too, so I do recommend this as a five-star read, as it will help people understand a man and how a reputation can be destroyed if the nobility are disaffected. Pleasing the mob, keeping peace and passing good laws and holding spectacular games is just not enough. Soldiers and Nobility. That's the key to a reputation and a death of old age. Or simply be born poor and no-one will want to kill you!

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

By contrast to many of the other books this one makes links to the other books in the series: both implicitly (the first 1/3rd of the book is effectively a retelling of Tiberius from another viewpoint but with almost all events and interpretations matching that book) and explicitly (one of the characters has discovered "Ceasar" and is reading it).

The book is narrated by Lucius a nobleman and soldier at Caligula’s side throughout most of his life – he struggles between his affection for Gaius (as he knows him) including his knowledge of his better moments (although even here the reader sometimes Lucius is clutching at straws) and realisation of his severe flaws of character and behaviour.

What we are really left with is someone who is in some senses a victim of the system (particularly the rise of the Imperial family and death of the republic) and of his upbringing (especially the vicious clashes between his predecessor Tiberius (and Sejanus) and his mother which led to the death of most of his family, his possible corruption by Tiberius and almost as bad the realisation from reading Tiberius’s secret papers and comparing them to what he knows of reality of how the Emperor can’t really trust any of his sources (a realisation Massie has Tiberius only reaching at the end of his reign).

Further we see someone who unlike his predecessors is prepared to interpret things such as his divine status and the absolute power he has been granted literally and to test them to their limits.

Lucius also sees this in terms of Caligula being one of a rare group of people prepared to similarly take to the limits a worldview that life after death (even posthumous reputation) doesn’t matter.

However we also see someone forever seeking satisfaction in sex and the arbitrary execution of power but never finding it. Lucius is of the view that Caligula’s madness makes him less dangerous than say Caesar as a tyrant without real aim is much less dangerous than one who sacrifices armies and nations to his own focused ambition.

As with all books in the series, short and readable although the amateur reader struggles to know what is “agreed” history, what is a deliberately contrary interpretation of events or characters and what is simply fictional events weaved around the historical accounts (and therefore probably misses out on some of the most striking or deliberate elements of the book).

[Brent Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love historical fiction, and this character is one who is usually portrayed in quite one dimensional fashion. this novel does attempt to at least show a few other sides to his character. Still, he is simply such a spoiled, self centered sociopath that the narrator character got on my nerves many times with his apologist inner speeches. Let's face it, Caligula was a completely horrible human being. It seems that his entire family were the sort of 'dynasty' that would have made the Roman Empire a better place simply by their absence. Agrippina, his sister, was an especially disgusting example of Roman degeneracy and immorality. Makes a person wonder just how so many despicable people have managed to gain power, and then retain it for even a small amount of time. Shows just how much sheeple are capable of enduring before they eventually decide enough is enough? Anyhow, it is at least nice to now have a somewhat more accurate picture of this one Roman leader, with the only version I had so far ever really seen being that abominable mess that Penthouse magazine's Guccionne was responsible for back in the late 70s, which was nothing but an excuse to parade a bunch of his 'Pets' across the screen nude. This at least seemed to have a bit of historical accuracy. But then knowing what history really is, who can say.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something between a novel and a historical retelling. Now, I'm no expert on Caligula and can't say how accurate the book was, though it all sounded pretty balanced and accurate. The problem is, that there is no plot per se - perhaps excusable by the book not being fully a novel - just fabularized retelling of some events until it rather abruptly (and predictably to those who know history) ends.

What I really like is to show how past events influenced the "present" and a great depiction of constant fear and paranoia in Rome, particularly in the court.

[Mark Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now read all of Allan Massie's Roman books except his latest on Nero. In this one the author tackles the maddest Emperor of them all and offers some interesting insights into the man and his brief reign. A beautifully crafted book by an extraordinarily versatile writer. Highly recommended!

[Ewelina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Massie has a very engaging way of writing history. In this book he attempts to be sympathetic to Caligula, from teh perspective of someone who was close to him. That person is never clearly identified, although I tried to guess if it was a real historical figure but never felt satisfied. And this is not explained in the book. I enjoyed the read, but I never felt exactly about the author's attempt to sympathize with Caligula. And based on other histories I've read, he leaves out a lot of the more gruesome facts about Caligula's behavior. If the man was not insane, he was at least sociopathic. But Massie never owns up to this, nor does he give us the details of Caligula's corrupting influences, i.e., his relationship with Tiberius and what went on at Capri. Lots of details were avoided in order to explain Caligula more symptathetically. Still a good read.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

less about his strange sexual habits and more about the environment that he was raised in. i had a good time reading about that tumultuous time.

[Aarti]

False

[Ilana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not realize what was the purpose of writing this book, after all...

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject of Caligula fascinated me after I saw the unfinished 1937 epic I, Claudius (unedited film clips of which are shown in the 1960s documentary The Epic That Never Was, available as a DVD extra at the end of the PBS/BBC I, Claudius miniseries box set), in which he was played by the deliciously wicked, scene-stealing actor/writer Emlyn Williams, who, almost 30 years later, also recounts with his trademark dry wit his experiences on the set; work with the notoriously "difficult" and scapegoated star, Charles Laughton; and the real reasons the original film was never completed. Another of my favorite Welsh actors, Michael Sheen, garnered rave reviews in 2003 for his "unhinged" performance on the London stage in the same juicy role. This led to my wanting to learn the full story of Caligula, who, biographer Anthony A. Barrett claimed in his 1998 reassessment Caligula: The Corruption of Power, had gotten a bad rap from more contemporary Roman historians (Suetonius and Tacitus), whom Barrett characterized as the tabloid journalists of their day. In fact, Barrett corrects the record to say that Caligula (a nickname from his youth the emperor hated; his real name was Gaius) was actually a popular and benevolent ruler for the first several months of his reign until he was struck by a fever and returned to public life a changed man (who, contrary to popular myth) was not quite so mad as to make his horse an senator but, after only four years' reign, was hated enough to be brutally murdered by a member of his own "secret service," The Praetorian Guard, making way for Caligula's handicapped nephew Claudius to take his turn as emperor. Unfortunately, Barrett's re-examination of the historical facts, published by Yale University Press, uses a dry, academic style that fails to bring this more realistic Caligula to life.

Still wanting to learn more of this "reformed" Caligula, I discovered this 2004 fictionalized biography, hoping to see him as a more rounded, understandable human being who seems like a saint compared to Claudius's successor, Nero (whom Michael Sheen also got to ham it up as and recorded for posterity on television). Alas, more disappointment awaited.

The narrator of this book, who never names himself until page 114, and even then it turns out he's not even a recognizable historical character, makes himself the protagonist with his friend Caligula almost an incidental background character. While presenting a more sympathetic side of the long-maligned emperor, Allan Massie never gets into Caligula's head as I had expected from a fictional revision of his biography, and the "facts" of the story that are recounted still don't jibe with Barrett's "new" information.

This book is entertaining if you want a feel for the backdrop of Rome in the 30s A.D. and don't care about the historical accuracy of its title subject, but if you're looking for an updated (and enjoyable) character study of this intriguing historical figure, you won't find it here.