Caligula
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, was Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter.
- "In politics, Suetonius describes Caligula as vicious, cruel, and self-absorbed throughout his life to both those of the senatorial class and his close allies alike. While this was true about others like Domitian Suetonius did display a biases sympathy to the Senatorial elite. "
Moral breakdown
Suetonius could see the worst of the political corruption and authoritarian abuses of the most powerful but also wrote about Agrippina's incestuous activities with her brother Caligula during his reign (Suet. Calig. 24.1) and Nero's desire for his own mother. But seeing the subtle alterations in cultures is often more difficult to recognize as the thinking of the people changes."
- "The Roman government under Augustus Caesar had already been issuing (inscribed) Tesserae (tiles) as proof of entitlement to the periodic grain doles.[1]"[2]
The epulones [3] arranged feasts and public banquets at festivals and games and constituted one of the four religious corporations[4] of ancient Roman priests. They were tasked with attending and managing public banquets known as epulum. Previously these banquets were managed by the pontiffs.
In the time of Caligula, there is a record of the people providing what would be called in Greek a charagma. A charagma was required, by the time of Nero, to do business in the market place, but before him, we know that Claudius had exiled many Jews because of their lack of cooperation and trouble making. A marked Tessarae could be required as a passport to even enter the city.
Gods:
These socialist provisions of free bread by the government of Rome was counted as covetous practices by Christians because they were legal charity and seen as the antithesis of the teaching of John the Baptist, Jesus the Christ and the Apostles.
Once the divine office of Principate was sanctioned by the Senate and occupied by a man subsequent successors like Caligula exposed the legal and moral contradictions of the Augustan "Republic" which was not a republic at all. The Senate was compelled to constitutionally define his role, but the rites and sacrifices to the living genius of the emperor as the Son of God of Rome already acknowledged his constitutionally of unlimited powers as the paterfamilias or Father of the Roman people. <//blockquote>
- ↑ Suetonius, Aug. 40.2 42.3
- ↑ The First Christians in the Roman World: Augustan and New Testament Essays, Page 425, By E. A. Judge. Mohr Siebeck, Jan 1, 2008 - Religion - 786 pages.
- ↑ Latin for "feasters"; sing. epulo
- ↑ quattuor amplissima collegia. Legal collegia were legal entities and possessed rights, such as common property, a common treasury, and legal right to an attorney.