What did Caligula Really Look Like?
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula was a Roman empire during the 1st century AD, known for his irrationality, cruelty, and unpopularity. At the age of just 24, Caligula succeeded his predecessor, Tiberius, in 37 AD, and was assassinated just a few years later. While much of Caligula’s life is made up of myth and legend (it seemed everyone in the generations after him had their own “Crazy Caligula” story), some of it is true. He was apparently a fair and generous ruler at the start of his reign, and then quickly grew depraved, sadistic, and murderous, leading scholars to speculate what caused this sudden change. For the full video with his history and bonus re-creations, visit our YouTube channel.
Today on the blog, we are talking about what he looked like.
We have a few contemporary images of Caligula, but not as many statues or coins as you might expect - many were destroyed after his tyrannical reign, thrown in the Tiber river or re-carved as the faces of his successors.
Caligula’s statues fall within the Julio-Claudian artistic tradition - combining Greek idealism with Roman realism. Their main goal was to stylistically associate Caligula, a weak emperor, with the stronger emperors of his past, like his great-grandfather Augustus.
Emperor Augustus, portrayed regally in the Julio-Claudian style.
Bust of Caligula from his reign, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Crafted in the Julio-Claudian style.
Even though we can see markers of his cruelty - a frown on his pursed lips for example - we also see the same full head of hair, strong shoulders, symmetrical features, and large, steady eyes as his predecessors.
However, there are different versions of his statues which are less flattering. The National Museum of Rome statue head, for example, shows a strongly asymmetrical jaw and less pleasing features. The Metropolitan Museum’s statue is the most flattering, and then we have some that are kind of in between.
From left to right: National Museum of Rome statue head, Louvre statue head, and Metropolitan Museum statue head, all crafted during his reign.
But all of these are hiding the truth - that according to Suetonius, Caligula was described as having an ill-proportioned large head and skinny neck, sunken eyes and temples, and a receding hairline with baldness on the back of his head. He apparently practiced menacing expressions in the mirror, trying to evoke fear in his subjects.
Now, Suetonius is a source whose reliability is argued. He was writing almost 100 years after Caligula’s life, and may have taken some satirical or inflated accounts of Caligula and written them as fact. However, as it stands, he is the only scholar who described caligula’s appearance.
According to statues where pigments could still be found, he had medium to light brown hair, tan skin, and brown or hazel eyes.
It was reported that Caligula slept very badly, only about three hours a night, and was constantly disturbed by paranoia, so I imagine he looked quite weathered and older than his years.
I’ve used this contemporary bust of Caligula for my re-creation. So, let’s take a look at the face of Caligula, now:
