Gaius (Caligula)

The mother Aggripina holding the infant Caligula

A bronze face of Medussa, Found in one of Caligulas warship.

The hull of one of two ships recovered from Lake Nemi during the 1930s.

The Nemi Ships were huge and exceedingly luxurious ships built by the Roman emperor Caligula in the first century CE at Lake Nemi.

One of the ships was designed as a temple that was dedicated to Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis), the larger ship however was essentially an elaborate floating palace, which counted marble and heated, mosaic floors and plumbing such as baths among its amenities, the sole role of which was to satisfy Caligula's increasingly self-indulgent behavior.

It has been stated that the emperor was influenced by the lavish lifestyles of the Hellenistic rulers of Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt.

Between 1927 and 1932, under the orders of the Italian dictator Mussolini, they had been pulled out of the temporarily drained lake. After 19 centuries the hulls were found to still be mostly intact; however the ships were destroyed by the Nazi German army on June 1, 1944.

The arch of Caligula

Ruins of the temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum Romanum. Ancient resources as well as recent archeological evidence suggest that, at one point Caligula had the palace extended to annex this structure.

Senatus Populusque Romanus

Roman Banquets

My interests includes throwing lavish Parties, Banquets and of course orgies

Building towering temples and Statues bearing my likeness. I also love to spending some quality time with my only child and daughter 'Julia Drusilla'

STATUES OF MYSELF

THE IMPERIAL FORUM
The old Roman Forum is the centre of public and justice affairs in the ancient Rome. On the contrary, due to the development of Rome and of the Empire, it soon became too cramped for all the demands of justice or for the meetings of the people.
The Emperors have therefore successively let build a row of forums, so-called the Imperial Forums, which constituted a remarkable complex, composed of porticoes, temples, libraries, and basilicas.
Furthermore, the Emperors did consider it as a matter of prestige

COINS

Much of Caligula's coinage honored his family members and emphasized dynastic continuity. The great-grandson of Augustus, he dedicated the Temple of Divine Augustus begun by Tiberius and he both honored Augustus and drew attention to his relationship to him by placing his portrait on the reverse of these coins

Augustus is depicted as a divinity wearing a crown with rays of the sun god, Sol.

Caligula's portrait on the obverse conforms to the general type of the Julio-Claudian successors of Augustus, inspired by the hairstyle and idealized features of portraits of Augustus. In the case of Caligula, however, the idealization may have been more extreme, since the biographer Suetonius describes him as unattractive and balding

ROMAN DIET
FOOD AND DRINK:

For the majority of persons dining in Ancient Rome, meals were centered around corn (grain), oil and wine, and, for the wealthy, different types of exotic foods. Cereals were the staple food, originally in the form of husked wheat (far) being made into porridge (puls), but later naked wheat (frumentum) was made into bread. Bread was the single most often eaten food in Ancient Rome, and was sometimes sweetened with honey or cheese and eaten along with sausage, domestic fowl, game, eggs, cheese, fish, or shellfish.

Fish and oysters were especially popular; meat, particularly pork, was in high demand as well. Elsewhere in Rome, delicacies, such as snails or dormice, were specially bred. A variety of cakes, pastries, and tarts was baked commercially and at home, often sweetened with honey. Vegetables, such as cabbage, parsnips, lettuce, asparagus, onion, garlic, marrows, radishes, lentils, beans, and beats was imported. Fruits and nuts were also available to the consumer, as was a variety of strongly flavored sauces, spices, and herbs, which became very popular in Roman cuisine.

Our knowledge of Romans' dieting habits comes from literary references, archeological evidence, and paintings. The only true literary source ever devoted to Roman food was a cookbook attributed to Apicus.
Romans loved wine, but they drank it watered down, spiced, and heated. Undiluted wine was considered to be barbaric, and wine concentrate diluted with water was also common.

Pasca was probably popular among the lower classes. It was a drink made from watering down acetum, low quality wine similar to vinegar. Beer and mead were most commonly drunk in the northern provinces. Milk, typically from sheep or goats, was considered to be barbaric and was therefore reserved for making cheese or medicines.

COOKING:

Bread, cakes, and pastries were cooked commercially and at home in Ancient Rome. A circular domed oven was used mainly for bread and pastries.
Most food was cooked over an open hearth, either by means of cauldrons suspended from chains or cooking vessels set on gridirons. Cooking was done in the kitchen, where smoke could escape out a small hole in the ceiling our through a wall vent. Cooking was also known to be done outside, and for those living in tenements, communal ovens may have been available.
Food was often prepared with a mix of fruit, honey, and vinegar, to obtain a sweet-sour flavor, and most meat was broiled. Preservation of foods was difficult, and so popular foods, such as fish and shellfish, were probably shipped live to their destination. Some foods, however, such as meat and fish, could be preserved after a tedious process of pickling, drying, smoking, and salting. Food poisoning was probably a commonplace affair.

MEALS:

Romans generally ate one large meal daily. Breakfast (ientaculum), if taken, was a light meal at best, often nothing more than a piece of bread. This was followed by the main meal of dinner (cena) at midday, and a small supper (vesperna) in the evening. Later, however, it came to pass that dinner was eaten as a large meal in the evening, replacing supper and adding a light lunch, or prandium.
For the poor, meals consisted of porridge or bread with meat and vegetables, if available. For the wealthy, the meal was divided into three courses (ab ovo usque ad mala - from egg to apples). The 1st was an appetizer made of simply eggs, fish, shellfish, and raw vegetables known as gustatio or promulsis. The main course, prima mensa, consisted of cooked vegetables and meats, based on what the family could afford, and was followed by a desert (secunda mensa) of fruit and / or sweet pastries.
The Romans sat upright to eat, but the wealth often reclined on couches at diner parties, or ate outside in gardens, with the weather permitting. For the poor, tableware probably consisted of coarse pottery, but for those willing to spend a slightly prettier penny, tablewares could be purchased in fine pottery, glass, bronze, silver, gold, and pewter.
Food was eaten with the fingers and cut with knives crafted from anter, wood, or bronze with an iron blade. Bronze, silver, and bone spoons existed for eggs and liquids. These spoons had pointed handles that could be used to extract shellfish and snails from their shells.

LEGIONS OF CALIGULA: Legio XV Primigenia: one of the Roman legions. The surname Primigenia is one of the titles of the goddess Fortuna.

This legion was founded by the emperor Caligula in 39, who needed extra forces for his campaign in Germany.

It was called after the favorite goddess of the emperor ('Primigenia' is a title of Fortuna), but the title was almost never used. It is absent from the inscriptions and is only rarely used by authors like Tacitus and Plutarch of Chaeronea.

The number seems to have been suggested by the fact that it was supposed to share a base with XIV Gemina.

In the Autumn of 39, the Fifteenth legion and its twin XXII Primigenia marched across the Alps to the Middle Rhine, where they saw their first action in the neighborhood of Wiesbaden.

Later, XV Primigenia was stationed with the Fourteenth at Mainz in Germania Superior. The tombstone of a mounted legionary suggests that one cavalry sub-unit was at least temporarily based at Worms

THE IMPERIAL ROMAN LEGION: RANK AND FILE

THE LEGIONS (Legio):

The legion was the basic unit of Rome's standing army of career soldiers, the legionaries, who were all Roman citizens and fought primarily as foot-soldiers (infantry). The number of legions under arms varied in different time periods (there were, for example, 28 legions under Augustus in 25 BCE), and each legion had both a number and a title, though some numbers were duplicated (we know, for example, of III Augusta, III Cyrenaica, III Gallica, III Italica, III Parthica).

Though the exact numbers of men in a legion varied, the basic pattern of organization remained the same. The smallest unit was the tent group (contubernium), composed of 8 men who shared a tent, a mule, and eating equipment. These were organized into a disciplinary unit called a century (despite the fact that a century typically had 80 rather than 100 men), under the command of a centurion. The basic fighting unit was a cohort, composed of six centuries (480 men plus 6 centurions).

The legion itself was composed of ten cohorts, and the first cohort had many extra men—the clerks, engineers, and other specialists who did not usually fight and the senior centurion of the legion, the primipilus, or “first spear.”

STANDARDS (Signa)

One of the most striking visual aspects of the Roman army were the standards, tall poles topped with various insignia and symbols, including many types of animals. During the Empire, the image of the emperor was also added to many standards. The standards were not just for show; they served important practical functions as well. Each century, cohort, and legion had its own standard; during battle and other activities, these were held by officers called standardbearers (general term signifer) who were marked out from other soldiers by the animal-head skins they wore on their heads, which can be clearly seen on this relief from Trajan's column. The standards helped to keep the units together, since the soldiers could see them above the action. Standards also helped to preserve the cohesiveness and pride of each unit, as they represented a concrete symbol of that unit's achievements. They were also used in various religious rituals designed to promote unity. The most important standard in each legion was the legionary eagle (also visible in this relief), made of a precious metal (usually silver) and symbol of the power of Rome and the honor of the legion. To lose the legionary eagle in battle was a terrible disgrace, and leaders like Augustus who succeeded in recovering captured legionary eagles capitalized on the propaganda value of the event (for example, Augustus depicted the surrender of the eagle that had been captured by the Parthians on the cuirass of his Prima Porta statue). The eagle standard was carried by a special standard bearer (aquilifer) who wore a lion-skin headdress.

The ROMAN OFFICERS:

General:

Each military campaign was assigned one general (dux), though there was not a single commander-in-chief until imperial times because a number of campaigns could be conducted simultaneously in different geographic areas. Generals were always aristocrats of the senatorial class, usually consuls or ex-consuls, since they had to hold at least praetorian rank in order to be granted imperium (the right to command an army) by the Senate; during the Empire, the emperor was the sole commander-in-chief, though he frequently delegated the actual command duties to generals who were his close associates, often relatives by birth or marriage. Generals and other officers wore Greek style armor over the military tunic—a molded leather breastplate that imitated the musculature of the chest and fringed strips of leather over the thighs and shoulders. Extant depictions of generals (like this relief of the emperor Trajan addressing his troops) do not show generals wearing helmets, but they may of course have worn them in battle. The item of clothing that visually distinguished a general from all other officers was his purple cloak (this was a military style cloak, called a lacerna, that was fastened by a large brooch on one shoulder).
Legates and Military Tribunes:

Generals commanded many legions, but each legion had its own commander (at least after the time of Augustus), called the legionary legate (legatus), who was also of senatorial rank. Under each legionary legate were six military tribunes (tribuni militares), who carried out administrative duties. Young upper-class Roman men used this position as a stepping-stone to a political career, so the tribunes often did not have much military experience or ability.
Centurions:

Chief among the officers who were not of equestrian or senatorial rank were the centurions (centuriones), each of whom commanded an eighty-man century. The centurions were professional soldiers, responsible for maintaining discipline in their units and for supervising the fighting on the field. In other words, they were the officers who kept the army running (and fighting) smoothly. The armor of the centurions was similar to that of other officers, with the exception of their helmets, which were topped with a transverse crest that extended from side to side instead of front to back, the shin protectors ( greaves) they wore on their legs, and the vinewood staff they carried to discipline soldiers. Under each centurion was a standardbearer, a deputy (optio) who took command of the century if the centurion was killed or wounded, and the tesserarius, who was in charge of the sentries.

TROOPS IN ROME:
The Praetorian Guard:

Since the time of Sulla, Roman legions were not allowed to be stationed in Rome or Italy, but in 27 BCE Augustus founded a new, elite organization, the praetorian guard, to serve as a permanent bodyguard for the emperor. There were originally 9 cohorts, 3 of whom were stationed in Rome with the rest in nearby towns. Under Tiberius, all 9 cohorts were garrisoned in one camp in Rome (the castra praetoria), and Caligula increased the number of cohorts to 12. The praetorians were under the command of two prefects (later only one) of equestrian rank and were divided into centuries in the usual manner. Service in the guard was easier and more prestigious than in the legions, and praetorians were paid 2-3 times more than the legionaries. Their armor was similar to the dress uniform of earlier Republican troops, with molded leather breastplates and helmets with visors and crests.

The Urban Cohorts:

When Augustus instituted the office of city prefect (praefectus urbi), he also established 3 cohorts (the cohortes urbanae) to constitute a sort of police force for the city of Rome. These troops were also stationed in the camp of the praetorians in Rome, though they served under the command of the city prefect, a man of senatorial rank. Outstanding service in the urban cohorts could lead to promotion into the more prestigious praetorian guard.

The Vigiles:

The vigiles, also founded by Augustus, served as fire fighters and night watchmen in the city of Rome. They were originally drawn from the ranks of freedmen and were not really soldiers, although they were organized on a quasi-military basis. The commander of the vigiles was a prefect of equestrian rank (the praefectus vigilum). They were divided into seven cohorts led by tribunes; each cohort was responsible for two of the 14 regions of the city.

TYPICAL MARCHING FORMATION:

This listshows the locations of the Roman legions around the year 80:

1-Legio IX Hispana: York
2-Legio XX Valeria Victrix and Legio II Adiutrix: Chester
3-Legio II Augusta: Caerleon
4-Legio XXII Primigenia and Legio X Gemina: Nijmegen
5-Legio VI Victrix: Neuss
6-Legio XXI Rapax: Bonn
7-Legio XIV Gemina: Mainz
8-Legio I Adiutrix: near Mainz
9-Legio VIII Augusta: Strasbourg
10-Legio XI Claudia: Vindonissa (modern Windisch)
11-Legio XV Apollinaris: Carnuntum
12-Legio XIII Gemina: Poetovio
13-Legio VII Claudia: Viminacium
14-Legio V Macedonica: Oescus (modern Gigen)
15-Legio I Italica: Novae (modern Svishtov)
16-Legio V Alaudae: near Danube
17-Legio IV Flavia Felix: Burnum
18-Legio XVI Flavia Firma: Satala
19-Legio XII Fulminata: Melitene
20-Legio VI Ferrata: Samosata
21-Legio IV Scythica: Zeugma
22-Legio III Gallica: near Damascus
23-Legio X Fretensis: Jerusalem
24-Legio XXII Deiotariana: Nicopolis
25-Legio III Cyrenaica: Coptos
26-Legio III Augusta: Lambaesis
27-Legio VII Gemina: Leon