Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
IMPERIAL INSANITY
Bribes? Booty jokes?
Bunga bunga
parties? Spare a thought for the ancient Romans, who suffered
their fair share of eccentric leaders. We salute some of the Empire's wackiest, weirdest and downright
kinkiest rulers.
Tiberius (14-37)
- A steady governing hand but prone to depression, Tiberius had a difficult relation-
ship with the Senate and withdrew in his later years to Capri, where, they say, he devoted himself to
drinking, orgies and fits of paranoia.
Gaius (Caligula) (37-41)
- 'Little Shoes' made grand-uncle Tiberius look tame. Sex (including with
his sisters) and gratuitous, cruel violence were high on his agenda. He emptied the state's coffers and
suggested making a horse consul, before being assassinated.
Claudius (41-54)
- Apparently timid as a child, he proved ruthless with his enemies (among them 35
senators), whose executions he greatly enjoyed watching. According to English historian Edward Gib-
bon, he was the only one of the first 15 emperors not to take male lovers (unusual at the time).
Nero (54-68)
- Augustus' last descendant, Nero had his pushy stage mum murdered, his first wife's
veins slashed, his second wife kicked to death and his third wife's ex-husband killed. The people ac-
cused him of playing the fiddle while Rome burned to the ground in 64. He blamed the disaster on the
Christians, executed the evangelists Peter and Paul and had others thrown to wild beasts in a grisly
public spectacle.
