Caligula opened with popular reforms—amnesties, tax relief, transparency—but after a severe illness turned to theatrical provocations, fiscal exactions, and ritual self‑cult, alienating elites and Praetorians and prompting his assassination: coercive strategy over madness.
From Augustus to Constantine, the Praetorian Guard evolved from imperial protectors into kingmakers—policing Rome and wielding military force to decide succession.
How Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus transformed the late Roman Republic: agrarian reform, grain laws, rise of populares, and the turn to political violence.
Discover the forgotten constitutional mechanisms that powered Rome's 500-year republic and continue to influence modern governance. Learn how the balance between patricians and plebeians created a remarkable system of checks and balances that modern democracies still emulate today.
