Assassination

Abstract By late ad 40 tensions between emperor and senate became severe. A number of prominent Romans were put to death, presumably for conspiracy. The background to the plot that brought an end to the reign is very murky. Several prominent names figure in the narrative, men of the stature of Annius Vinicianus and Valerius Asiaticus, politicians, Marcus Clemens, a commander of the Praetorian guard, and Callistus, probably the most powerful of Caligula’s freedmen, but their actual roles are unclear. The fatal blows were struck in an underground passage of the Palatine during a festival there in late January 41, as Caligula was retiring for lunch, by two tribunes of the Praetorian guard, Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus. In the chaos that followed the assassination Claudius was discovered in part of the imperial residence by members of the Praetorian guard, taken to the Praetorian camp, and acclaimed as emperor.