Historian Alexander Meddings has spent years studying the most gruesome deaths in history – and he believes there is one that stands out above all others
Historian Alexander Meddings has revealed the most gruesome death in history – and which part of his body was cut off.
Rome’s leaders are renowned for their dramatic final moments but one ruler stands out for his brutal end – Caligula. The tales of Caligula’s demise vary, but they all conclude with the same horrifying detail – his genitals being severed. On 24 January, 41 AD, during the Palatine Games, Caligula met his grisly end at the hands of two men who had sworn to protect him, beneath the theatre. Meddings explained : “Suetonius reports two versions of Caligula’s death.
Alexander says; “In the first, the Praetorian Prefect Cassius Chaerea snuck up behind him while he was talking to a band of Asian boys about to perform onstage and cried out, “take this!”-words traditionally accompanying a sacrifice-before slashing Caligula’s neck while the people’s tribune, Cornelius Sabinus, ran him through from the front.”
Famous for some of the most dramatic final moments in history, Rome’s leaders have certainly met some gruesome ends. There are many stories of how Caligula, who was known to be a brutal, ruler died but one detail is always the same. Meddings said: “The second version involves the same cast, but the performance is far more theatrical.
Here Sabinus asked Caligula for the military password to which the emperor responded, “Jupiter!” Chaerea then approached from behind and cried out, “let it be so” (Jupiter being the god of sudden death), swinging his sword and splitting open the emperor’s jaw.
“Writhing around on the floor, Caligula cried out that he was still alive (Suetonius brushes over how he managed this with his jaw hanging off) but was soon stabbed to death by other conspirators.”.
The brutal finale saw Caligula’s genitals severed. The conspirators then murdered both his wife and baby daughter, claiming the child had inherited her father’s violent nature, reports The Express.
Yet many believed Caligula deserved his fate – particularly given the suspected circumstances surrounding Tiberius’ death. Despite Tiberius’ turbulent reign and his nephew Caligula’s sinister intentions, he became the longest-living emperor, possibly reaching 78 years old.
Whilst Tiberius initially fell ill in a coastal settlement between Rome and Naples, something else ultimately killed him. Determined to conceal his condition, he continued travelling until reaching his friend Lucullus’ residence, where he died shortly afterwards.
However, many suspected his illness wasn’t natural, believing Caligula had been gradually poisoning him. Others reckon he was suffocated with a pillow on Caligula’s orders.
