Didn't Caligula also have a thing about sea shells?

[thucythucy]

As I recall this was in relation to his war on Poseiden, the spoils of his great "victory."

"Caligula" means "Little Boots" in Latin, a childhood nickname that stuck.

Google Translate says that our own "Little Hands" should be rendered as "Parvae Manus" in Latin.

Doesn't quite have the same ring.

[usonian]

1. Caligula - the Mad Emperor who appointed his horse senator and declared War on the Sea

Last edited Tue May 5, 2026, 04:44 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21207429

Senator Incitatus



And his assault on the sea.



To gather seashells.MMMMMMMMDCXLVII of them (unverified)
Turns out that is 8647.

[yaesu]

2. Yes and I believe he also appointed a horse to the position of consul which reminds me of tRump

appointing people he can lead around like a horse but dumber than a horse. I learned most of my Roman history watching the excellent 1970's series I Claudius ;o)

[some_of_us_are_sane]

4. Well, he definitely

appointed LOTS of HORSES' ASSES, that's for sure!

[rampartd]

3. i looked that up this morning

i could not remember if it was caligula or claudius or possibly cnut.

after the legion returned to rome with their sacks of shells, caligula gave each man 100 silver denarius, said to be a fortune, but who knows the exchange rate?

[CatWoman]

5. Claudius tho disabled, was at least intelligent AND competent

[SocialDemocrat61]

6. Little boots?

[RockRaven]

7. Yes and no. Or perhaps. That's how the story goes, but is the story true?

From Wikipedia:

Britannia

In the spring of 40, Caligula tried to extend Roman rule into Britannia.[4] Two legions had been raised for this purpose, both likely named Primigeniae in honour of Caligula's newborn daughter. Ancient sources depict Caligula as being too cowardly to have attacked or as mad, but stories of his threatening a decimation of his troops indicate mutinies. Broadly, "it is impossible to judge why the army never embarked" on the invasion. Beyond mutinies, it may have simply been that British chieftains acceded to Rome's demands, removing any justification for war.[184][185] Alternatively, it could have been merely a training and scouting mission[186] or a short expedition to accept the surrender of the British chieftain Adminius.[187][188] Suetonius reports that Caligula ordered his men to collect seashells as "spoils of the sea"; this may also be a mistranslation of musculi, meaning siege engines.[185][189] The conquest of Britannia was later achieved during the reign of Caligula's successor, Claudius.

A difference with The Dotard is that nobody was calling him Caligula while he was in power. And if anyone did, it was certainly not to his face and likely not in any public space. He probably wasn't as crazy as portrayed in surviving accounts, but he probably was as vicious.

Also, the single word names we now use for convenience for prominent Romans were not necessarily what anyone would have called them in their daily life. But the names overlap and are reused like crazy, AND elite Romans' names changed throughout their lifetime, so for clarity and brevity we call the guy Caligula now. One reason why: he as born Gaius Julius Caesar (incidentally so was the guy we call Julius Caesar), soon after called Gaius Caesar Germanicus, then his regnal name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. To find a brief identifier, writers had to resort to a childhood nickname (Germanicus already being taken, and earned, by his father).

[thucythucy]

8. I do know something about the ambiguity of this history

and how Tacitus and Suetonius both need to be taken with a grain of salt, and so I appreciate your reply. In truth, I was being rather snarky with this post, all in fun. Centuries from now who knows what the popular imagination will say about Trumpelthinskin?

Are you familiar with the podcast/Youtube channel "The Rest is History"? They go into this history--and the most recent scholarship around all things Roman--in quite a bit of detail. Tom Holland, one of the co-presenters, has translated both Herodotus and Suetonius into English, which I suppose means he's fluent in both ancient Greek and classical Latin, which I for one think is quite an achievement.

Even so, Thucydides remains my favorite classical historian--hence my DU moniker.

Then again, to paraphrase Hunter Thompson, it's hard to tell the real history from the hired bullshit.

Best wishes.