The play is  about a Roman emperor, Gauis "Caligula" Caesar (Emperor AD37 -41) Camus uses the play to develop his philosophical ideas about the conflict between absolute power and individual freedom. Gauis was the youngest of nine children and the only boy to survive his grandfather, the emperor Tiberius. His father Germanicus, his mother Agrippina and all his brothers were either killed or starved to death by Tiberius and his lieutenant Sejanus.

Gauis was given the nickname"Caligula" which means Little Boots by the soldiers because as a child he wore a child size version of army boots.

Caligula devastated by the death of his sister Drusilla with whom he probably had an incestuous relationship, deserts the Roman assembly for three days and three nights. On his return he is determined to understand the meaning of life. He is to push his power to the limits.

His reign will become synonymous with terror, murder, torture, cruelty and sexual excess. "It is finallyunderstood what absolute power is for. It gives the impossible a chance to exist. Freedom has no boundaries any more