Quick questions on Gaius (Caligula) AD 37 to 41: HSC Ancient History Section IV

Tiberius died on 16 March AD 37. His will named Gaius and his young grandson Tiberius Gemellus as joint heirs, but the Praetorian Prefect Naevius Sutorius Macro secured the Senate's endorsement of Gaius alone, and the will was set aside on the pretext of Tiberius's supposed insanity when he wrote it.

On 24 January AD 41, Gaius was killed in a palace passageway (accounts vary on the exact location, some placing it near a theatre entrance on the Palatine) by Cassius Chaerea, a Praetorian tribune whom Gaius had reportedly mocked for effeminacy, acting with fellow tribune Cornelius Sabinus and other guardsmen and senators. His wife Caesonia and their infant daughter Julia Drusilla were also killed in the aftermath.

In the chaos after the assassination, a Praetorian soldier named Gratus reportedly found Gaius's uncle, Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus (Claudius), hiding behind a curtain in the palace, fearing he too would be killed. The Guard escorted him to their camp (the Castra Praetoria) and acclaimed him emperor, securing his acceptance with a donative of 15,000 sesterces per soldier, the first time an emperor's accession was purchased so explicitly from the army.