Episode 33: Caligula visits Germany

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, aka, Caligula, son of Agrippina and Germanicus, decided to go to Germany to attack barbarians as his father had done, and for which he was given the name, Germanicus. Caligula determined that the Roman general of the upper Rhine was too popular and not to be trusted so he executed him and replaced him with Galba. But attacking barbarians was more challenging than it first seemed. So Caligula performed other feats instead, sending letters to Rome chastising the senate while the princeps worked on behalf of the empire. In Syria, Petronius realized that installing a statue of the emperor in the Jerusalem Temple might be more trouble than it was worth. The Christians saw this as an indication of the impending end times, when Jesus would return victorious.    SHOWNOTES   Events leading up to the letter from Caligula to the Senate (Suetonius, Caligula, 43-45). Attack on Jews in Antioch Syria (Malalas, in Downey, History of Antioch in Syria, p. 193).