Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1132925 in Books
• Published on: 1991-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 184 pages

Synopsis
Traces the life and brief reign of the tyrannical Emperor Caligula, describing how the dynastic intrigues and constant upheavals of his youth resulted in his unbalanced mental state as an adult.

Customer Reviews

“Let them hate me as long as they fear me”
When one hears the name of Caligula, the most common reaction is to associate him with the notions of craziness and evil. I believe this partly accurate, but to go from that to saying that nothing he did was based on reason is a bit farfetched. This is what Ferrill does, and the main problem with his book is that even though he says in the introduction that he will prove his point, the only proof he provides is of the type “I believe these historians and not these others”.

It seems to me that it is very hard to find a balanced view of the life of Caligula, since other historians, like Barrett, are on the other side of the spectrum, and may give the controversial figure too much “merit”. So I guess the process for really understanding “Little Boots” involves reading different sources and drawing your own conclusions. And this is one of the aspects in which this book can help, since even though the author fails in proving his point, he presents a brief description of what different authors believe about various important episodes in the life of the emperor. This can certainly help the reader in her quest for further enlightenment.

It is obvious that some works require reading if one is interested in the life of Caligula, and I am in the process of doing that. I am currently working on “The Twelve Caesars” by Suetonius, who is the author Ferrill refers too most often in search for support; arguing that since he lived at the time (which is not entirely true, since he was born three decades after the reign of Caligula) he knows better. The main source on the other side of the issue seems to be Barrett, whose work I have browsed but need to reread more thoroughly.

Even though Ferrill does not deliver what he promises, his book does add some value to the discussion and therefore I rated it as an OK read.