Caligula

Born Gaius Caesar in Antium, Italy. His father Germanicus is Rome's most popular general. The soldiers dress the toddler in a tiny military uniform with miniature boots. They call him Caligula. "Little boot." The nickname sticks for life.

Germanicus dies in Antioch, probably poisoned. Caligula is seven. His mother Agrippina takes the children back to Rome and feuds with Emperor Tiberius. It goes badly. By the time Caligula is a teenager, his mother and two brothers are dead. Tiberius has destroyed his family. He alone survives.

Tiberius dies. Caligula becomes emperor at 24. Rome goes wild with joy. He frees political prisoners, recalls exiles, burns Tiberius's treason files in the Forum. For six months, the Senate adores him.

Falls gravely ill. When he recovers, something has shifted. The ancient sources say he becomes cruel, erratic, sexually monstrous. He allegedly demands worship as a living god and threatens to make his horse Incitatus a consul. Modern historians debate how much is fact, how much is senatorial propaganda. The truth is buried under centuries of gossip.

Orders an invasion of Britain. The army marches to the Channel, then he tells the soldiers to gather seashells as "spoils of the sea." The invasion never happens. He builds two enormous ships on Lake Nemi, floating palaces with marble floors and running water.

Assassinated by officers of the Praetorian Guard in a passageway beneath the Palatine. He's 28. Four years as emperor. The guards find his uncle Claudius hiding behind a curtain and make him emperor on the spot.