Assassination of Caligula

After nearly four years of increasingly unstable rule, Emperor Caligula is stabbed to death by a conspiracy of Praetorian Guards led by Cassius Chaerea. The Senate briefly debates restoring the Republic, but the Praetorians find Claudius hiding behind a curtain in the palace and declare him emperor instead. For the Jewish world, Caligula's death is a relief — his Temple statue order had been the most serious religious crisis since the Maccabean revolt.