They twisted every action of an emperor who was in any case young, headstrong and thoughtless, and simply invented other cases. Who were the gladiators of ancient Rome? Plus Spartacus, Crixus and 8 more fighters you should knowĪs for Caligula, the senate seized upon his claim of divinity and interpreted it as madness.In Roman political invective, mud was hurled with gleeful disregard for the truth, just to see what would stick. Here, a comment by the great orator Cicero is revealing: “I call this man a gladiator, not as the usual rhetorical insult, but because he really was one.” In other verbal attacks, Cicero labelled opponents as arsonists, patricides (even those with living fathers), pathics, coprophiliacs and murderers, and even claimed – with no proof whatsoever – that one man killed children to use their organs in necromantic rites. One of the weapons of the senate was propaganda. Then there was Nero, whose orgies and tyrannical excesses were notorious. There was the brutally egotistical Commodus, who moonlighted as a gladiator in the Colosseum, and the bizarre Elagabulus, who dressed in women’s clothing and got about the Palatine in chariots pulled by slave girls. The Roman Empire produced some spectacularly bad emperors over the centuries. Reigned: March AD 37 until his death in January AD 41Ĭause of death: He was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, possibly in collusion with the Senate. Among the most famous incidents of his reign, he allegedly tried to make his horse a consul and was said to have declared war on the god of the sea, Neptune. Earning the nickname Caligula – 'Little Boots' – in childhood, he would be immortalised as one of Rome's cruellest and most erratic leaders, even though he was only emperor for four years. Known for: Though he ruled Rome as Emperor for only four years, Caligula has been immortalised as one of history’s most cruel and erratic leaders. Full name: Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
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