Zeus, by Jove! story
Rome, AD 37–38. Tiberius dies (actually smothered to death by Macro with Caligula's connivance), leaving Caligula and Gemellus as his joint heirs. Claudius' life-long friend Herod has returned to Rome in time for Caligula's ascension. Caligula chooses Claudius to be his co-Consul, over Claudius' objections. Caligula displays signs of mental instability and falls into a coma; upon awakening he declares that he has become Zeus. Claudius humors him, hoping that Caligula will reveal his divinity to the Senate and be deposed, restoring the Republic; instead, the Senate accepts Caligula's claims of divinity. Caligula becomes increasingly violent: a Senator who told Macro during Caligula's coma he would give his life if Caligula lived is forced by Caligula to commit suicide; Caligula also has Gemellus killed and declares his sister Drusilla his wife and fellow goddess Hera. Disgusted with the depths of depravity that her family and Rome have sunk to, Antonia commits suicide, leaving Claudius distraught . Fearing that his child will become greater than he, Caligula tries to recreate the birth of Athena: as Zeus reportedly did with Metis, Caligula cuts his unborn child from his sister's belly and eats it.
28 total · 4 choice · 8 major · 16 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| courtly intrigues | choice | The plot turns on people of influence jockeying for power in the imperial court of Tiberius. Notably, Caligula succeeded Tiberius as Roman Emperor. |
| descent into madness | choice | The story turns on Caligula increasingly losing his mind to the point where he became convinced that he was a god. |
| life in Ancient Rome | choice | The drama is mainly set in 37-38 AD within the imperial court of Caligula in Rome. |
| what if I was at the mercy of a mad person | choice | The story centers around the anxieties of various Roman aristocrats as they realized that their emperor was both mad, vindictive and homicidal. Claudius, in particular, worked hard to ameliorate the damage the emperor caused and several times escaped by a hair from being killed for some whimsy or other. |
| Ancient Greek mythology | major | Caligula believed himself to be Zeus, and that his sister, Drusilla, Hera. There was much discussion of the Greek gods and the story about Zeus cutting out his child from its mother's womb and swallowing it whole. |
| Ancient Roman mythology | major | Caligula believed himself to be Zeus, and that his sister, Drusilla, Hera. There was much discussion of the Greek gods and the story about Zeus cutting out his child from its mother's womb and swallowing it whole. |
| brother and sister | major | The siblings Caligula and Drusilla were openly carrying on in a romantic relationship. |
| coping with having a headache | major | Caligula complained of terrible headaches and his sister Drusilla offered, sexily, to soothe them. It was implied that they were the source of his madness. |
| delusion of grandeur | major | Caligula came to believe that he was a god, as alluded to in the title. |
| incest in society | major | Caligula had a not so secret sexual relationship with his sister Drusilla. |