In China, the story of Zhao Gao, the minister of the Qin Dynasty, referring to deer as horses is well known. It is said that Zhao Gao's power is too great to be willful! However, Zhao Gao's willfulness is not ranked at all in the world. The most capricious holder of power in the world is Caligula, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, who is lawless and can do whatever he wants, even wanting his beloved horse to be the consul.
in Caligula
First, suffering casts a twisted mind
The first emperor of the Roman Empire was Octavian, the second emperor was Tiberius, and the third emperor was Caligula, which we are going to talk about today.
Supposedly, Caligula was not emperor, because in front of him were his father and two older brothers. Caligula's father was Germanicus, who was the designated heir to the throne, a man of outstanding military merit, handsomeness, approachability, and much loved by the Roman military and civilians. But he died at the age of thirty-five. Caligula also had two older brothers, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar, but the two sons were also unfortunate. Due to the arbitrariness of Emperor Tiberius, he exiled Caligula's mother, The Great Agrippina, and his two older brothers into exile, imprisoned in prison. Eventually, the backbone mother died of hunger strike on the exiled island, and the two brothers were also killed in exile or imprisonment. In this way, Caligula became the only son of their family.
Of course, Caligula was also imprisoned. At the age of 19, Emperor Tiberius ordered Caligula to accompany him to the Italian island of Capri. This is essentially a form of house arrest and nearby surveillance. Caligula, who had lost his loved ones, already hated Tiberius, and coupled with his own house arrest, he hated it even more. But he did not dare to show it, because Tiberius was too fierce, and if he was not careful, he might lose his life. In this case, Caligula soon learned to be yin and yang, to learn to be inconsistent; he obeyed Tiberius, poured tea and water in front of him, ran forward and ran, tried to make Tiberius happy, and truly became Tiberius's "good grandson".
However, his heart hoped that Tiberius would die sooner. Caligula's mind was thus distorted and deformed.
In 37 AD, Tiberius died, and as a close relative of the royal family, Caligula was grandly enthroned on the throne. At the same time, his wayward time began.
Second, how much power there is, how willful it is
Caligula has always had dreams of becoming an emperor, but before he became an emperor, many people did not look favorably on him. A fortune teller once laughed at him and said, "You, your desire to be emperor is as vague as your horse crossing the bay of Baya...", meaning that it is impossible. Later, Caligula really became emperor, and in order to ridicule the fortune teller, he actually built a pontoon bridge across the Bay of Baya, and then he could easily cross the Bay of Baya on horseback. The famous British painter Joseph Marrod William Turner also created an oil painting specifically for the bridge, titled "Caligula's Palace and Bridge".
Caligula spent a lot of money, and although his predecessor Tiberius was a little cruel, he was very good at saving money, leaving 27 billion Sestes after his death, but this money, Caligula spent it in a year. Caligula was so hot that he struggled with chariot races and gladiatorial races, and he often invested heavily in sponsoring such races, and these races were money-burning holes. Caligula was very engaged while watching the gladiatorial match, and when he saw someone being killed, he got excited and shouted loudly on the stage. Once, when he was watching the game and the gladiators on the field were dead and no one was left, Caligula actually gave the order to let the next part of the audience on the stage go to the gladiatorial arena to fight the beasts, and these spectators were not trained. It's a hoax!
Caligula's father, Germanicus, was brave and warlike and known as the god of war, but Caligula had no record, so he thought of attacking distant Britain to show that he also had a talent for combat. Caligula and his army traveled a long distance to the north of France, south of the English Channel, looking at the vast sea, endless, Caligula suddenly ordered: all the soldiers stopped and collectively collected shells on the sand. After that, he ordered that the expedition would end and the banshi would return to the dynasty...
To those who oppose him, Caligula is as ruthless as the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves. At the beginning of his reign, Tiberius the Younger and Caligula had the right to "jointly govern the country", so Caligula managed to poison Tiberius the Younger and eliminate the troubles forever. His grandmother, Antonia the Younger, was killed by him only for advising him not to kill Tiberius the Younger; soon Kaligula saw that his father-in-law was displeased and forced his father-in-law to commit suicide.
Third, let a horse be the consul
Regarding Caligula's willfulness, in fact, the most widely spread is that he made his beloved horse a consul.
Caligula had a good horse named Insitatus. Caligula liked the horse so much that he looked at the horse as a horse, as a man. It is said that Caligula made a house for Insitatus out of marble, a stable, and made a rice bowl for Insitatus with rare ivory, a manger, and made a collar out of precious jewelry and wore it around Theinsitus's neck... Insitatus also had a large number of slaves.
So, how did Caligula make the horse of Insitatus the consul?
This brings us to Caligula's relationship with the Roman Senate. The Roman Senate had been the supreme organ of power until There was an emperor in Rome, and all matters of the state were subject to the decisions of the Senate. However, after entering the empire and having an emperor, the emperor had too much power and generally did not obey the orders of the senate, so the relationship between the senate and the emperor was tense. Caligula is no exception.
Caligula hated the officials of the Senate, and he had proposed in the Senate that his horse should be the consul, which meant two levels; first, to show his attitude, he would not take the opinion of the Senate seriously, as he would not heed the cries of a horse; and second, he wanted to humiliate the members of the Roman Senate, in his eyes, the senators were no better than a horse.
As for whether Caligula actually sealed the horse, there is a lot of debate in history, some people say that it was sealed, some people say that it was not sealed. Historian Anthony Brande said that Caligula was not really sealed, that was just an angry remark. But this incident still shows caligula's willfulness.
What is the final result of such a wayward Caligula? Or died on the willfulness.
In 40 AD, Caligula demonstrated to the Senate that he would leave Rome forever and go to Alexandria, Egypt, to become a deity. Fearing that Caligula would actually leave Rome and do more ridiculous things, in 41 AD, several Officers of the Roman Guard killed Caligula in the corridors of the court. He could finally be his immortal.