Caligula's Madness

Damnatio ad bestia refers to a form of capital punishment in ancient Rome where criminals, prisoners, or slaves were condemned to be killed by wild animals, typically in spectacles held in an arena. The practice was used both to entertain and to act as a deterrent to potential criminals. In The Deadliest Hate, we learn that when Caligula faced a shortage of condemned criminals, he ordered his soldiers to seize an entire section of spectators and have them thrown to the lions instead.

There’s no shortage of other instances of his madness: He demanded that senators worship him as a god, brazenly took their wives as concubines, named his horse rather than a senator to Rome’s most senior office, and ordered the arbitrary execution of many of those around him. No wonder Caligula, the third emperor of Rome, didn’t last long. After four years and at the age of just twenty-nine, disgruntled senators hacked him to pieces on his way out of the theater.

Today, scholars have been searching for a neuropsychiatric explanation for Caligula’s madness. In next week’s blog, I’ll present the case for a widely used Roman sweetener as contributing to his degeneracy. In the meantime, preserve your own sanity by reading about rather than participating in damnatio ad bestia. Just click here.