A few words about the Roman emperor Caligula

Abstract

Much has written about the Julius-Claudius dynasty, which is characterized differently by historiography, but unanimously agrees on one thing - the ambiguity of this dynasty. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was just such an ambiguous person, and by no means an exception. Researchers traditionally evaluate its activities negatively. But while ancient historians have left only disapproving reviews of the emperor, modern scholars are trying to give him more objective assessments. It is necessary to rely on Roman historiography, but understanding their specifics, to give an unbiased description. This is the relevance of this study. The article will consider the coming to power of a young representative of the Julius Claudius dynasty, based on the work of direct witnesses and reports from later times. The methodological basis of the work is a retrospective approach, the principle of historicism, scientific objectivity, a critical and structural-systematic approach to the literary and source base of the work. The specificity of the topic under study involves the use of comparative-historical and historical-system methods.