Cassius Chaerea (tribune of the Guard, d. AD 41)

Cassius Chaerea was a tribune of a Praetorian cohort, no longer young. According to Suetonius the emperor mocked him, giving him “Priapus” or “Venus” as the watchword of the day and holding out his hand to be kissed in an obscene gesture (Caligula 56). Dio records similarly: the watchwords “Love” and “Venus” (59.29).

Chaerea volunteered to strike the main blow in the assassination of January 24, AD 41. Josephus writes that after the assassination the consuls gave him the watchword “Liberty.” The new emperor Claudius had him executed (Dio 60.3).