Overview
- Alexander Meddings is quoted in new tabloid coverage asserting Caligula’s murder ranks as the single most gruesome death in history.
- Accounts place the assassination on January 24, 41 AD during the Palatine Games, beneath the theatre on Rome’s Palatine Hill, carried out by men from his own guard.
- Suetonius’ two versions describe either Cassius Chaerea slashing Caligula’s neck as Cornelius Sabinus struck from the front or a staged password exchange ending with the emperor’s jaw split.
- The reports emphasize grisly details including the severing of Caligula’s genitals and the subsequent killing of his wife and infant daughter.
- The latest articles reprise ancient narratives and Meddings’ interpretation without presenting new archaeological or documentary evidence.