v55_0117 - CALIGULA and GERMANICUS Unité

CALIGULA and GERMANICUS

(37-41)

Caligula is very attached to his parents. His father Germanicus is the son of Drusus senior, brother of Tiberius and Antonia minore, daughter of Marc Antoine and Octavie. At the age of seven, Caligula lost his father, Germanicus (October 10, 19). His mother Agrippina, daughter of Julie and Agrippa, brought him up in memory of this deceased father. As time passes, she pits her children against Tibere, her stepfather, because the latter was Julie's third husband. She accuses him of having poisoned her husband through Pison, governor of Syria. Tiberius ends up taking a dislike to his daughter-in-law and finally has her exiled. Then, he executes or relegates the other children of the descendants of Germanicus: Nero and Drusus are successively eliminated, young Agrippina and Drusilla are exiled, Agrippina mother lets herself die. Tiberius keeps with him only Caligula who ends up succeeding him after having stifled his protector, as reported by the testimony of Suetonius.