Michael1942's Blog

Everybody is talking about authoritarian leaders these days.

But no one was quite like Caligula.

Although he ruled only four years, the Roman emperor left a mark, Nat Geo’s History magazine reports. He taxed. He extorted. He confiscated. He humiliated. He spread fear and chaos, and nothing exceeded like his excess.

“Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody,” the biographer Suetonius quoted him as saying.

What made Caligula stand out was his outrageousness. He openly squired the wives of Roman senators. He gave his favorite horse a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar, and even a house, (Fact check: There is no evidence that Caligula appointed the horse a Roman consul.)

Consequently, enemies abounded. Plots thickened. When the all-powerful emperor met a swift end, did an emboldened Rome return to a more representative republic? Alas, the army moved in, and picked another emperor.