Episode 35: Gaius returns to Rome for a double triumph

After 'victories' in Germania and Britannia, Gaius returned to Rome on Aug 31, 40 CE to celebrate a double triumph. Gaius orders Lepidus executed and then banished his own two sisters to the island of Pontus, where Agrippina becomes a proficient swimmer. Herod Agrippa returns to Rome and hosts Gaius at a fabulous dinner. Gaius is so impressed he grants Herod Agrippa a special wish. Agrippa only asks Gaius not to install his statue in the Jerusalem Temple. Gaius agrees, but ultimately is so incensed at Petronius, governor of Syria, that he orders him to commit suicide. The head of the praetorian guard gets the idea to rid the empire of the princeps.     SHOWNOTES Gaius and Petronius (Philo, Embassy to Gaius, §§ 278–289; Jos. Ant 18.8.2–9). Gaius' excess and cruelty in killing a father and his son (Seneca, De Ira 3.18; Cassius Dio 59.25.6). Gaius toying with the crowds while Cassius Charea gets an idea (Dio 59.25.5; Jos. Ant. 19.11 [70]).