Two thousand years ago one of history s most notorious individuals was born. Historian Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus better known to us as Caligula. Known as Romes most capricious tyrant, he was said to have made his horse a consul, proclaimed himself a living God, and indulged in scandalous orgies and thats before building vast bridges across land and sea, prostituting senators wives and killing half the Roman elite on a whim. All that in just four short years in power, before a violent and speedy assassination at just 28 years old. Mary explores the real Caligula in an array of unexpected places. From Germany to Capri, from Rome to Lake Nemi, she exposes and analyses historical accounts and assembles tantalising fragments of evidence. Mary reveals an astonishing story of murder, intrigue and dynastic family power. Above all, shell explain why Caligula has ended up with such a reputation and, in the process, reveal a more intriguing portrait of not just the monster, but the man.
