Promotional poster (detail) for Caligula, dir. Tinto Brass, 1979

Image here via: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/caligula

Caligula… it’s quite the name to conjure with, isn’t it? He has become synonymous with the notion of Roman debauchery and decline. And yet the Empire was far from declining during Caligula’s brief reign. 

He was part of the great Julio-Claudian dynasty, so stability under his stewardship was pretty much pre-programmed. So why do we remember him as something so very bad? Well I think we understand the idea of “bad press” today. In Caligula’s case, a prime suspect in our own times is Robert Graves and of course the resulting BBC series, I Claudius. But it goes back far further – to the Roman historian Suetonius. How much is true? Did he really make his horse a consul and marry his disabled uncle to a nymphomaniac? Well join us to find out.

RJW F2419 Online (via Zoom)

A 5-hour short course, delivered via 2 x 2½-hour sessions on consecutive Saturdays (Saturday 1 & Saturday 8 June, 10.30-1.00).

£40 (individual registration); £72 (for two people sharing one screen).