Caligula, Asprenas, and the bloodied robe

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Date
2018-09-01
Authors
Woods, David
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Brill Academic Publishers
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Abstract
The ultimate source of the descriptions by Josephus and Suetonius of the portents occurring immediately before the death of Caligula had originally described how Caligula had misinterpreted the significance of the splattering of sacrificial blood upon Asprenas in conformity with the normal interpretation of such an occurrence, that it pointed to the death of the one whose clothing was bloodied. However, the author of this account had probably signalled to the reader that it was also an omen pointing to the death of Caligula himself, and had explained this in more detail at the appropriate point later in his narrative.
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Caligula , Suetonius , Josephus , Omen , Blood , Flamingo
Citation
Woods, D. (2018) 'Caligula, Asprenas, and the bloodied robe', Mnemosyne, 71(5), pp. 873-880. doi:10.1163/1568525X-12342491
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© 2018, Koninklijke Brill NV. All rights reserved.