Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, nicknamed Caligula, was the third Roman emperor after Augustus and Tiberius.
His name meant “Little Boots” in Latin.
Like so many parents since, his parents thought he looked cute as a child dressed in a soldier’s uniform, and his nickname stuck. His reign was short—only 3 years, 10 months.
Following a brief and unknown illness early in his reign, Caligula went insane, killing most of his relatives, having people tortured while he dined, and naming his horse a consul.
The Praetorian Guard secretly plotted and assassinated him in 41 A.D., when he was 28 years old.
