Caligula And Alexander's Breastplate

 

As noted by LL with admirable historical accuracy, Alexander the Great was precisely that, great, conquering most of the then known world. A remarkable, heroic, man and general, hailed as divine in his lifetime and admired ever since, not least by the infamous Caligula.

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, fondly nicknamed Caligula by Roman soldiers as a child, meaning little boots or "bootsy," became Rome's third Emperor in 37 AD. Not one to waste time, the youthful Emperor constructed a pontoon bridge in 39 AD across the Bay of Naples and rode across it in Alexander the Great's breastplate, which he had removed from the hero's tomb in Alexandria. According to Lacus Curtius (59:17):

Gaius, however, did not care at all for that kind of triumph, as he did not consider it any great achievement to drive a chariot on dry land; on the other hand, he was eager to drive his chariot through the sea, as it were, by bridging the waters between Puteoli and Bauli. (The latter place lies directly across the bay from the city of Puteoli, at a distance of twenty-six stades.)...

 When all was ready, he put on the breastplate of Alexander (or so he claimed), and over it a purple silk chlamys, adorned with much gold and many precious stones from India; moreover he girt on a sword, too a shield, and donned a garland of oak leaves.

 

The following day Caligula charged back across the bridge on a chariot, presumably in the same breastplate, accompanied as before by a military guard. Gaius, of questionable sanity, clearly sought to emulate the martial prowess of his martial forebear. He was also a transvestite, witness Suetonius:

Gaius paid no attention to traditional or current fashions in his dress; ignoring male conventions and even the human decencies. Often he made public appearances in a cloak covered with embroidery and encrusted with precious stones, a long-sleeved tunic and bracelets; or in silk (which men were forbidden by law to wear) or even in a woman's robe; and came shod sometimes with slippers, sometimes with buskins, sometimes with military boots, sometimes with women's shoes. Often he affected a golden beard and carried a thunderbolt, trident, or serpent-twined staff in his hand. He even dressed up as Venus and, even before his expedition, wore the uniform of a triumphant general, including sometimes the breastplate which he had stolen from Alexander the Great's tomb at Alexandria.

 

We can imagine him, the most powerful man in the world, walking the colonnades of the Palatine, golden beard affixed to imperial chin, armed with emblems of divine omnipotence and an all too real power over life and death. He was killed on his way from the Theater on January 24, AD 41 by senior Centurions who stabbed him to death. He was 29 years old.

There's a moral here if you care to draw it.

SPQR,

LSP