Gaius (Caligula). A.D. 37-41. Æ as. 10.85 gm. 27 mm. Rome mint. Struck A.D. 37-38. His bare head left; C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT / Vesta seated left on ornamental throne, holding patera and scepter; VESTA S C. RIC I 38. Good Very Fine; handsome dark brown and green (almost black) patina; some light smoothing. Bold good style portrait and particularly sharp reverse.

Son of the popular war hero Germanicus and the grandson of Augustus, Caligula nevertheless has gone down in history as the most debauched, cruel and tyrannical of the Roman emperors. His mother Agrippa the Elder blamed Tiberius for the death of her husband Germanicus, and he responded by imprisoning and executing her and her two children, Nero and Drusus Caesar. He raised her youngest son Caligula, exposing him to acts of cruelty and debauchery. After Tiberius died, Caligula ruled for just four years, becoming increasingly cruel and erratic, perhaps from an illness, before being assassinated by the Praetorian Guard at age 29.