Caligula as Venus (Suet. Calig. 52)

Suetonius and Dio agree that Caligula used to disguise himself as a variety of divinities, including Venus, but Aurelius Victor alone reports that he disguised himself as Venus while with his troops on the sea-shore at the English Channel. It is argued that the latter allegation may result from a misunderstanding of the ovation, or ‘triumph of Venus’, which Caligula celebrated at Rome for his alleged victory at the Channel, where the fact that he wore a crown of myrtle dedicated to Venus may have encouraged the belief that he had dressed as Venus at the Channel itself also.