5 of ancient Rome’s most eccentric leaders
- Written by: Peter Edwell, Associate Professor in Ancient History, Macquarie University
Ancient Roman political leaders could be violent and cruel. Some had odd tastes and were out of touch. Others had wildly eccentric habits that might seem amusing today.
But eccentric behaviour combined with almost unlimited power, made some Roman leaders dangerous and unpredictable.
Hortensius
One oddball was the orator and politician Hortensius (114–50 BCE) of the late Roman republic.
He loved the plane trees on his estate so much he watered them with wine. Receiving news that one of them was dying, Hortensius hastily adjourned a legal case to be by its side.
Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus, a contemporary of Hortensius, was a powerful Roman general and politician who kept pet eels in an expensive fishpond.
He adorned his favourite eel with jewellery. When the eel died, Crassus held a funeral and mourned it for three days.
Ancient accounts of eccentric behaviour weren’t just for entertainment. Crassus’ intense devotion to his favourite eel satirised his aristocratic vanity.
Crassus later died in Mesopotamia (southern Turkey) in a disastrous battle against the Parthians (rulers of ancient Iran) in 53 BCE. The Parthian generals lured Crassus into a hot and waterless plain where they destroyed his army. Due to Crassus’ impetuosity, 20,000 men died along with him and his son.
The orator and statesman, Cicero, lampooned the piscanarii (fishpond lovers), of whom Hortensius was also one, for their obscure indulgences. They should have focused more on affairs of state, he believed.
Caligula
The eccentricities of Roman leaders continued under the emperors, after the era of the republic ended. Now, however, almost unlimited power meant eccentricities could easily devolve into violence and cruelty.
The notorious emperor Caligula (ruled 37–41 CE) toyed with appointing his horse as consul. The horse, named Incitatus, was lavished with splendidly appointed stables and its own slaves.
Caligula was known for other unique tastes. He often dressed in the garb of four different divinities, including Venus. Sometimes he wore a beard of gold and held a thunderbolt in his hand to emulate Jupiter.
Increasingly paranoid, perhaps after a breakdown, Caligula held treason trials. Senators and at least one potential imperial rival were executed on trumped up charges. Some claimed he even sexually abused his sisters.
But reports of Caligula’s personal excesses were probably exaggerated. His strong disagreements with the senate got him offside with the class that often wrote the histories.
Caligula’s reputation for eccentric leadership and paranoia saw his assassination in 41 CE.
Nero
Nero is perhaps the most (in)famous Roman politician of all. The nephew of Caligula, Nero’s reign (54–68 CE) was known for brutality, excess and indulgence.
The legend of Nero singing and playing the fiddle (probably a stringed instrument called a cithara) while Rome burned in 64 CE remains strong.
Many doubt this actually happened but what we do know is that after the fire Nero built a 300-room palace – the Golden House (Domus Aurea) – on land cleared of buildings by the fire.
Nero’s penchant for singing and playing the cithara on stage was mocked during and after his reign. He even established a festival called the Neronia and competed on stage as a singer.
In 59 CE, Nero hatched a plan to murder his mother, Agrippina. At first he sent her to sea on a pleasure cruise in a collapsible boat. She survived and swam ashore but was killed soon after by one of Nero’s agents.
For these reasons, and many more, Nero was declared a public enemy in 68 CE and took his own life. He discovered there was a limit to what political elites and the public would accept.
Commodus
Over a century later, emperor Commodus expressed some wildly eccentric behaviour. Known to many of us from the Gladiator movies, Commodus actually did appear in the Colosseum. One (likely exaggerated) ancient source claimed he appeared in the arena 735 times.
Commodus liked to dress up as Hercules, his favourite mythological hero. A famous sculpture in Rome depicts him as such.
Commodus’ reputation for cruelty and erratic behaviour was widespread. The murder of his sister Lucilla in 182 CE on suspicion of involvement in a coup struck fear into many. Commodus was eventually strangled in the bath after all his allies abandoned him.
Elagabalus
Perhaps the most eccentric of all Roman emperors came to power a few decades later. Elagabalus, only 14 on becoming emperor in 218 CE, scandalised Rome with his religious and personal life.
Elagabalus broke time-honoured Roman customs. He married one of the Vestal Virgins, traditionally sacred in Roman religious traditions.
He built a temple in Rome to the god Elagabal whom he was named after. A black stone (probably a meteorite) was central to the god’s worship. Elagabalus brought the stone to Rome from Emesa (modern Homs), his family’s home town in Syria.
The historian Cassius Dio claimed Elagabalus’ fifth spouse was a man named Hierocles – an ex-slave and charioteer – and that Elagabalus liked to be called “wife, mistress, and queen.”
The emperor reportedly played some of the traditional roles of women in this marriage, including spinning wool. It is possible that Elagabalus was transgender but the bias of ancient sources makes this difficult to judge.
Ultimate power
Depictions of the eccentricities of Roman leaders were (and remain) interesting. But such leaders were often also dangerous, unpredictable and out of touch.
With the power of life and death often in their hands, a reign of terror was possible. In some cases, it was a frightening reality.
Authors: Peter Edwell, Associate Professor in Ancient History, Macquarie University
