The Roman Empire produced a series of extraordinary Emperors who were remembered for their excesses. One of most extraordinary was Caligula, who is remembered for his depraved and debauched behaviour, but the author looks at his military experience – Highly Recommended
NAME: An Unexpected General, Caligula FILE: R2745 AUTHOR: Lee Fratantuono PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 262 PRICE: £25.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Rome, Roman Empire, Emperor, general, Gaul Rhine, Germania, campaigns, military life
IMAGE: B2745.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y8agmej2 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The Roman Empire produced a series of extraordinary Emperors who were remembered for their excesses. One of most extraordinary was Caligula, who is remembered for his depraved and debauched behaviour, but the author looks at his military experience - Highly Recommended The Romans as a whole followed a life that today we might consider depraved but for them was normal behaviour. Even by those standards Caligula stood out and so much space has been devoted to this aspect of his life. Whether he was mad or bad may be debated. Considering the superstitious beliefs of the time some of his most extreme actions may not have been clinically mad. However, his behaviour has fascinated historians and the result is that virtually no attention has been turned to his military career, or to the military aspects of his short reign. The author has provided an engrossing study of Caligula the soldier, the general. In doing this he has shown Caligula to be significantly more competent than history has previously suggested. The Emperors were taken from a relatively small number of aristocratic families and that family background was very colourful and extreme by modern standards. It is very easy to think of the Empire as providing Emperors by family origins but in almost every case they were soldiers first and many were highly competent generals. Caligula's background was no different. Like many Romans of his social background, he was born into military life and was raised in marching camps, a child of the Legions. It might be considered the military college of Rome and the development into manhood was also a development into the warrior. Those who did not make the grade did not survive long. Those who survived moved up the ranks of the Legions to command. Good generals survived and provided a pool of talent from which to create new Emperors. Some generals tried very hard to avoid becoming an Emperor because the life could be short and demanding. Caligula survived and rose to the top. That demanded a level of competence in the military. He forged his experience in Gaul and on the Rhine but also in the East and planned invasion of Britain, although it was to be his uncle and successor Claudius who executed the plans. Claudius was also remembered most for his reputation as a fool, when in fact he was a shrewd survivor and successful military commander in addition to being something of a scholar and guardian of the family skeletons. This is a book primarily of text, readable and based on original research. It sheds much new light on a controversial Emperor with fresh and original insights. There is a colour plate section providing modern images of locations related to the study of Caligula. A very interesting read.