Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Germans: Josephos characterizes Caligula’s bodyguard as savage (late first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified June 13, 2025, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=22143.

Ancient author: Josephos, Judean Antiquities 19.119-153 (link).

Comments: Josephos’ account of the death of emperor Gaius Caligula is aimed at demonstrating the power of Josephos’ Judean god even over foreign rulers.  But in the process of relating details, Josephos includes a somewhat detailed episode involving the reaction of the so-called German bodyguard. Josephos’ description shows the continuing ambiguity in categorizing northerners as either “Germans” or “Celts,” but more importantly it reveals some of Josephos’ stereotypes of such northerners. Such northerners are pictured as controlled by their strong emotions (or “spirit”) in a way that leads them to act in irrational and “savage” ways. The Germans’ supposed savage rampage continues as they move to the theatre, terrifying those gathered there before being calmed by Arruntius’ actions. Interestingly, this very negative overall portrayal of Germans is either intentionally or accidentally framed by the story of a German fellow-prisoner of Herod Agrippa who wisely uses his ancestral customs of divination to accurately predict the ultimate end of that Judean client king (link).

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[Germans characterized as powerful and controlled by “spirit” or strong emotion]

The Germans (Germanoi) were the first to discover the death of Gaius [Caligula, the emperor]. They were bodyguards that shared the name of the people from which they were chosen, and they made up the Celtic contingent. One of their ancestral traits (patrion) is to attack with spirit (thymos) in a way that is rarely, if ever, encountered among other barbarians, because the Germans pause less for determining the consequences of their actions. They are also physically powerful and, initially, very successful whenever they engage any whom they consider enemies.

[German bodyguard’s irrational and savage actions]

So, when these men learned about the murder of Gaius, they were full of resentment, because they did not decide issues on their merits according to the whole community, but according to their own advantage. Gaius was especially popular with them because of the gifts of money by which he acquired their goodwill. With swords drawn, they burst out from the palace in search of Caesar’s murderers. They were led by Sabinus, a military tribune who owed his command over such men not to the services and nobility of his ancestors, for he was a gladiator, but to his physical strength. Asprenas was the first person they encountered, and that was good reason to cut him to pieces. Asprenas was the one whose robe had been soiled by the blood of the victims, as I have mentioned above, which was a bad omen. The second to fall in their way was Norbanus, one of the noblest of the citizens, who could boast about having many generals among his ancestors. When the Germans showed no respect for his rank, his superior strength enabled him, on grappling with the first of his attackers, to grab the German’s sword. He made it clear that he would not let them kill him easily, but in the end he was enclosed in a circle of attackers and succumbed to their many blows. The third victim was Anteius, one of the most distinguished senators. Anteius did not, like the preceding people, fall foul of the Germans accidentally, but was attracted by the love of a spectacle and by the pleasure of seeing the dead body of Gaius with his own eyes in order to gratify his hatred for Gaius. For Gaius had driven Anteius’ father, who bore the same name, into exile. Not content with that, Gaius had sent a body of soldiers after him to put him to death. For these reasons, Anteius had to rejoice as he stood there looking on. But when chaos began in the palace, and the need to hide became urgent, Anteius did not escape the vigilant search of the Germans, nor their savageness in killing both the guilty and the innocent. And so these three men died in this way.

[Reaction of others gathered in the theatre to the death of Gaius]

When the news of the death of Gaius reached the theatre, there was consternation and incredulity. Some, who ethusiastically welcomed Gaius’ assassination and would have regarded it long since as a blessing to themselves, were incredulous from fear. There were others to whom the news was quite contrary to their hopes because they had no desire that such a thing would happen Gaius. They did not believe it, because it seemed to them impossible for any human being to be courageous enough to kill Gaius. Among the latter were silly women, children, all the slaves, and some of the army. The last named thought this way because they were mercenaries [i.e. foreigners hired as soldiers], and no less than partners in Gaius’ tyranny. By playing the lackey to his insolence, they gained both honour and profit, for the noblest citizens were in terror of them. . . [omitted further discussion of the two views].

[Roman crowds’ perception of Germans as savage]

But when a troop of Germans with drawn swords actually surrounded the theatre, all the spectators expected a massacre. They cringed when anyone entered the theatre, no matter who it was, convinced that they would be instantly cut to pieces. So they were at a loss of what to do, for on the one hand they were unable to build up the courage to leave, but on the other hand they had no confidence that it was safe to stay in the theatre. When the troops now streamed in, the people in the theatre cried out, turning in supplication to the soldiers and pleading that they had had no knowledge of anything, neither of the plans of the rebels, supposing that a rebellion had occurred, nor of actual events. They therefore begged the soldiers to spare them and not to make innocent men pay the penalty for the rashness of others, and to abandon the idea of instituting a search for those who had done whatever it was that had actually been done. Such were their words and more, as they wept and beat their faces, conjuring them to listen with agonized appeals such as the danger that hovered near taught them to repeat. Each man spoke as a man must speak when life hangs on his eloquence.

The anger of the [German] soldiers gave way under the impact of these words, and they repented of their intended attack on the spectators, which would have been cruel and even appeared cruel to the Germans, even though they were savage. But first the soldiers fixed the heads of Asprenas and their other victims upon the altar. At this sight, the spectators were still more deeply moved both by consideration of the rank of the deceased men and by pity for their fate. As a result, they themselves were almost equally daunted by close contact with the threatened fate, since it was still uncertain whether they would ultimately be able to escape. And so even those who really hated Gaius, and for good reason, were left with no chance to rejoice at his death, because they were on tenterhooks for fear of perishing with him and they had not yet even then had any trustworthy assurance that they would survive.

[Germans calmed]

Now Euarestus Arruntius was a professional auctioneer and therefore possessed a powerful voice. Arruntius had accumulated money until he had as much as the wealthiest of the Romans, and was able both then and later to do just as he liked throughout the city. This man composed himself with the deepest possible mourning because, even though he hated Gaius as much as anyone, the discipline of fear and the strategy required to secure his survival still outweighed any pleasure of the moment. He therefore dressed himself with all the detail that would have been employed in mourning the most honoured dead, and passed into the theatre, where he announced the death of Gaius. In this way, Arruntius put an end to any further activity on the part of the people that was due to misinformation as to what had happened. By now Arruntius had gained control and accompanied the tribunes recalling the Germans, calling on them to put away their swords and giving a full account of the death of Gaius.

This was certainly the thing that saved those who were assembled in the theatre and all who in any way came in contact with the Germans, because if the Germans had been given any hope that Gaius still laying there breathing, there are no crimes (kakoi) from which they would have refrained. So great was their loyalty to him that they would even have risked their own lives to secure for him immunity from plots and avoidance of so great a disaster. But their furious quest for vengeance was stopped once they had been fully informed about the death of Gaius, because there was no use in displaying their strong devotion now that the one who would have rewarded them had perished. Overall, the Germans feared, that, if they proceeded further in their uncontrolled violence (hybris), they might attract attention from the senate, supposing that it should succeed to power, or from the imperial ruler who gained control. Anyways, even though this was a narrow escape, the Germans did stop the frenzy that overcame them at the death of Gaius.

Chaerea was very alarmed on behalf of Vinicianus in the event that he would be encountered and killed by the frenzy (mania) of the Germans. He went among the soldiers one by one, begging them to take precautions for Vinicianus’ safety and, through much questioning, satisfying himself through much questioning that Vinicianus had not lost his life. . . [remainder of account omitted].

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Source of the translation: Louis H. Feldman, Jewish Antiquities: Books XVIII-XIX (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1965), adapted by Harland.