In what ways did he undermine the senate?
After being appointed emperor of the Roman empire, Caligula’s relationship with the senate rapidly deteriorated. In 39 CE, he faced a serious confrontation with the senate, giving a scattering speech to the assembly criticising and attacking them as being traitors to Tiberius, his mother and his brother, Nero Julius Caesar Germanicus. Following this unpredictable speech, he reinstated Tiberius’s treason trials that he had previously abolished, using evidence in which he had claimed to have burnt. He installed extreme fear amongst the senate, as he was able to use these laws against individual members. Renowned modern historian and author, Kim Seabrook, claims that “Caligula was famously unjust in his application of the laws against treason.” [Seabrook: 2013]. According to Suetonius, he would send for men whom he had secretly killed as though they were still alive, and offhandedly remarked after hearing of their death that they must have committed suicide. He also claims that when the two consuls forgot his birthday he dismissed them from office, without consulting the senate and therefore completely undervaluing their authority. [Suetonius: 2001].
Caligula found joy in humiliating individual members of the senate and undermining their authority. With his proposal to make his horse a Consul, he completely challenged the power of the senate by essentially implicating his horse could do their job. Seabrook expressed the popular opinion of his insanity by claiming that “these occurrences naturally alarmed the senate. By now there was no doubt that the emperor of the civilised world was in fact a dangerous mad man.”[Seabrook: 2013]. He was known for expressing the little authority that the senate held under his superiority, with Suetonius claiming that he “made some of the highest officials run for miles beside his chariot, dressed in their gowns; or wait in short linen tunics at the head or foot of his dining couch.” [Suetonius: 2001]. When inviting senators over for dinner parties, he forced them into grovelling at his feet and spectating the sexual orgies in which he forced their wives into. This humiliated the senate to a new extent, as they had to watch their wife engaging in sexual activities and not having any power to stop Caligula if they wished to continue their life. He supposedly opened a wing in his palace dedicated to a brothel in which he forced these senators wives to attend and be hired by others. Caligula practically completely alienated himself from Roman politics, with the previously rich and powerful nobility and politicians fearing him and his presence.
Below: Scene from I, Claudius of Caligula appointing his horse as a senator. (1976)
Caligula found joy in humiliating individual members of the senate and undermining their authority. With his proposal to make his horse a Consul, he completely challenged the power of the senate by essentially implicating his horse could do their job. Seabrook expressed the popular opinion of his insanity by claiming that “these occurrences naturally alarmed the senate. By now there was no doubt that the emperor of the civilised world was in fact a dangerous mad man.”[Seabrook: 2013]. He was known for expressing the little authority that the senate held under his superiority, with Suetonius claiming that he “made some of the highest officials run for miles beside his chariot, dressed in their gowns; or wait in short linen tunics at the head or foot of his dining couch.” [Suetonius: 2001]. When inviting senators over for dinner parties, he forced them into grovelling at his feet and spectating the sexual orgies in which he forced their wives into. This humiliated the senate to a new extent, as they had to watch their wife engaging in sexual activities and not having any power to stop Caligula if they wished to continue their life. He supposedly opened a wing in his palace dedicated to a brothel in which he forced these senators wives to attend and be hired by others. Caligula practically completely alienated himself from Roman politics, with the previously rich and powerful nobility and politicians fearing him and his presence.
Below: Scene from I, Claudius of Caligula appointing his horse as a senator. (1976)