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Caligula: A Biography by Aloys Winterling
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Caligula: A Biography (edition 2011)

by Aloys Winterling, Deborah Lucas Schneider (Translator), Glenn W. Most (Translator), Paul Psoinos (Translator)

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1215224,107 (3.52)None
The infamous emperor Caligula ruled Rome from A.D. 37 to 41 as a tyrant who ultimately became a monster. An exceptionally smart and cruelly witty man, Caligula made his contemporaries worship him as a god. He drank pearls dissolved in vinegar and ate food covered in gold leaf. He forced men and women of high rank to have sex with him, turned part of his palace into a brothel, and committed incest with his sisters. He wanted to make his horse a consul. Torture and executions were the order of the day. Both modern and ancient interpretations have concluded from this alleged evidence that Caligula was insane. But was he? This biography tells a different story of the well-known emperor. In a deft account written for a general audience, Aloys Winterling opens a new perspective on the man and his times. Basing Caligula on a thorough new assessment of the ancient sources, he sets the emperor's story into the context of the political system and the changing relations between the senate and the emperor during Caligula's time and finds a new rationality explaining his notorious brutality.… (more)
Member:SunUp
Title:Caligula: A Biography
Authors:Aloys Winterling
Other authors:Deborah Lucas Schneider (Translator), Glenn W. Most (Translator), Paul Psoinos (Translator)
Info:University of California Press (2011), Edition: 1, Kindle Edition, 240 pages
Collections:eBooks, Your library
Rating:**1/2
Tags:None

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Caligula: A Biography by Aloys Winterling

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Not a very engaging book. It does get repetitive at times. A pity since it does present a different look at Caligula looking back at the source material. In brief, the thesis is that Caligula was not "crazy" or "insane" per se. It is more a matter of being insane as when someone is a tyrant, you call them insane, but they are not insane because they suffer from a mental defect. It is a distinction the author makes after looking at his life, the challenges he faced as a youth trying to stay alive in the court of an emperor who killed his family and then survive the plots end events of his reign. In terms of reading, it is an ok work, but the repetitiveness does wear on you. You may find yourself skimming quite a bit. ( )
  bloodravenlib | Aug 17, 2020 |
A well researched theory on the smear job done to Caligula's reputation. ( )
  ShelleyAlberta | Jun 4, 2016 |
A revisionist biography advocating persuasively that Caligula was not insane, only portrayed as mad because the aristocracy so hated him. ( )
  NLytle | Jul 3, 2015 |
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The infamous emperor Caligula ruled Rome from A.D. 37 to 41 as a tyrant who ultimately became a monster. An exceptionally smart and cruelly witty man, Caligula made his contemporaries worship him as a god. He drank pearls dissolved in vinegar and ate food covered in gold leaf. He forced men and women of high rank to have sex with him, turned part of his palace into a brothel, and committed incest with his sisters. He wanted to make his horse a consul. Torture and executions were the order of the day. Both modern and ancient interpretations have concluded from this alleged evidence that Caligula was insane. But was he? This biography tells a different story of the well-known emperor. In a deft account written for a general audience, Aloys Winterling opens a new perspective on the man and his times. Basing Caligula on a thorough new assessment of the ancient sources, he sets the emperor's story into the context of the political system and the changing relations between the senate and the emperor during Caligula's time and finds a new rationality explaining his notorious brutality.

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