As result of the childhood that Tiberius gave Caligula, Caligula wanted revenge, and some historians believe that Caligula murdered Tiberius (Kennedy). Suetonius states that Caligula might have smothered the emperor Tiberius with a pillow, as Tiberius would have been old and frail at that time (Tranquilillius 154). .
After the death of Tiberius, the power hungry Caligula became very popular, and more involved with the people of Rome (Kennedy). Because Caligula's father, Germanicus, was previously a very notable military leader and commanded the armies on the Rhine (Scullard 292), this gave Caligula an even better public image, giving him more power. On the 28th of March, 37 AD, Caligula was given absolute power of the empire by the roman senate. This is a decision that the people of Rome were soon to regret. .
Caligula was arguably the worst Roman emperor in history, and possibly the worst ruler of all time. At the time of his rein, the Roman Empire controlled two million miles of land around the Mediterranean Sea, which at this time was the home of some 55 million people (Kennedy), one fourth of the world's population at this time. The sheer power Caligula had, and how he used it, was completely irresponsible and insane. It can be proven that Caligula was completely unfit as a ruler because of his brutality in and out of the arena, his self-absorption and his irrational and grotesque behavior. .
Books were primarily used, as well as one documentary to research Caligula and to complete this paper on him. The most useful source was The Twelve Caesars by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. Suetonius was born around the year 69 AD. Gaius was a very well educated and important historian. He was most famous for the above-noted book and specifically to be the first person to record Julius Caesar's epileptic seizures. One would find this historian very creditable because of the time period he lived in and how close it was to the reign of Caligula.