Caligula Assassinated: Praetorians End Tyrant's Reign
He was assassinated by his own bodyguard in a corridor under the Palatine Hill. Caligula had been emperor for less than four years. He started well — popular, generous, sensible — and then, eight months in, fell gravely ill. He recovered. He was a different person afterward. He had senators humiliated, relatives executed, and reportedly made his horse a consul. The Praetorian Guard killed him, his wife, and his infant daughter on January 24, 41 AD. He was 28. The whole family murdered in the same afternoon.
January 24, 41
1985 years ago
What Else Happened on January 24
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