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E23: Caligula - Madness, Monarchy, and a Mare
Episode 23 • 31st March 2026 • The House of Syx • House of Syx
00:00:00 01:09:36

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What happens when a 24-year-old inherits absolute power over the most powerful empire in the ancient world?

In this episode of The House of Syx, Jenn and Jared dive into the chaotic, bizarre, and often unbelievable reign of Caligula—a ruler remembered for excess, cruelty, and behavior so strange that historians are still debating whether he was truly insane… or just dangerously powerful.

From declaring war on the ocean…

to nearly making his horse a senator…

to blurring the line between emperor and god…

This is the story of Rome’s most infamous emperor.

But was Caligula actually mad?

Or has history exaggerated the truth?

🔍 Chapter Timestamps

00:00 Intro & Why Rome Still Matters

01:27 What Was Ancient Rome, Really?

05:11 From Republic to Empire

16:23 Power, Politics, and No Rules

20:07 Caligula’s Early Life & Family Tragedy

31:30 Rise to Power & Sudden Change

38:50 Madness, Excess, and Infamy

53:20 Assassination & Theories Explained

🧠 Why This Story Matters

Caligula’s reign is more than just shocking history.

It’s a case study in:

  • absolute power and its consequences
  • political instability and paranoia
  • how historical narratives are shaped

And how quickly things can spiral when no one can say no.

🗣️ Join the Conversation

Do you think Caligula was truly insane…

or a product of unchecked power and political storytelling?

Let us know your thoughts.

👍 Support the Show

If you enjoyed this episode:

  • Follow or subscribe to The House of Syx
  • Leave a rating and review
  • Share this episode with someone who loves strange history

📬 Episode Suggestions

Have a story you want us to cover?

Email: houseofsyx@gmail.com

🎧 About The Podcast

The House of Syx is where true crime meets strange history—with a side of sarcastic marital commentary.

Jenn does the research.

Jared reacts in real time.

Chaos usually follows.

🎬 Production Credits

  • Researched and Written by Jenn
  • Hosted by Jenn & Jared
  • Edited by Jenn

Transcripts

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In the year 40 ad, the most powerful man in the world marched an army to the edge of the sea. Thousands of Roman soldiers stood waiting for the order. They had their shields, their weapons, their battle formations, everything you'd expect before a war. But the enemy they were about to face was the ocean.

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According to Roman historians, the emperor ordered his men to stab the waves. Then he told him to collect seashells, not as souvenirs, but as spoils of war.

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This same emperor supposedly tried to make his horse a government official built floating palaces for parties and executed people on a whim. But here's the real question. Was he actually insane or did history turn him into a monster? Welcome to the House of six. Tonight we present madness, monarchy, and a mare.

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Welcome to the House of Six. I'm Jen.

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I'm Jared.

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Do you remember that thing that was going around recently that was like asking men, how often do you think about Ancient Rome? And they were like once a week, once a day.

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Do you remember that?

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Somewhat.

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I feel like that's a no.

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Well, no. We talked about it in one of the podcasts.

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How often do you think that, I think about ancient Rome

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too often.

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If you were to give it a number.

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Sorry. Minutes per day or what's,

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or like just

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a number of times per

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how often? Okay. In a week.

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Oh, in a week per day.

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Uh, 13

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times per week.

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Yeah.

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Maybe not that often. Oh,

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okay. Okay.

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Maybe like every other day. Just to be That's a lot. It's a lot. I think about ancient Rome a lot. I think about ancient Egypt. More than that even.

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Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

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Believe it or not. So that should give you a lead in to what we're gonna talk about today.

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Okay. We're going to go back in time to Ancient Rome.

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Okay.

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And I hope that like 75% of our viewers didn't just turn the TV off.

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Let's hope not.

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So, uh, yeah.

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More important. I hope you didn't turn me off,

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but, um, boom.

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We're good.

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Sherlock has joined the podcast.

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Yes.

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Welcome, welcome, Sherlock.

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Hello.

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He, he doesn't know what's happening.

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Yeah.

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He doesn't know what day it is. So anyways, right. 2000 years ago.

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Yeah.

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Rome was ruled by a man whose behavior shocked even the Romans. And that's saying a lot. 'cause those people were extra. Do you know?

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No, don't ask me that. No.

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I think that we should, like, what do you know about Ancient Rome? Cool.

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Your face says a lot,

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actually. I mean, what am I That's an, that's too open of, I mean, like, what do I know about ancient Rome?

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Okay, cool. Uh,

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chariots.

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Yes. Yeah. Cool. All right.

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All cobblestone pathways.

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Cobblestone is an interesting word. Yeah. But Sure,

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sure.

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Okay. That's, that's so, yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. So there were emperors and, uh, we are going to talk about an emperor, that's a hard word for me to say.

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That was remembered for his cruelty, excess, and behavior. So, bizarre. Bizarre that historians are still debating his sanity. Okay. I thought that would be a great way to jump into talking with you about Caligula.

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Okay. I, I, I mean, at least I know the name. Great. It's not like I'm like, who?

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Right, right. I do want to take a pause though, because I feel like before we get into Caligula, we need to talk about Rome because when people hear ancient Rome, they usually imagine a country and it really just, it was not what was happening. Rome started out as a single city, just a settlement built across a few hills in Central Italy, but over centuries, that city got very good at one thing, and that is, uh, conquering its neighbors.

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They were not so nice.

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Assholes.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they just kept conquering those neighbors and the next neighbors, and they just kept going to build out, basically taking over everything in the Mediterranean. It was a big deal. Rome was a big deal. Okay.

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I

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don't know if you know this

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kind of a big deal.

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And at first it was not ruled by emperors. It was a republic, meaning that the government was run by elected officials and a powerful Senate. There were no kings, no dictators, at least not officially. , The problem with republics is that they don't always handle a massively growing empire very well. , By the time that Rome controlled most of the Mediterranean world, its political system was starting to buckle under the pressure and ambitious generals started fighting civil wars amongst themselves.

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The most famous of those generals was Julius Caesar.

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Okay.

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You know the name

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slightly.

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You're like, I give talk, I give speeches about him. Yes, I do. Like once a week.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. Okay. Course. I, I know, I know

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you, I know you,

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I know that, you know that, I know that, you know,

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you had to ask

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that.

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I know

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you had to ask.

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Yeah, I I did. I don't

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blame you.

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I did. I had to ask, so when Caesar took power, the Republic was dying. Let's, let's be clear. , But after his assassination, Rome plunged even into even more chaos until finally one man took control. Caesar's adopted son, a man named Augustus.

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Mm-hmm.

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Okay. Augustus became Rome's first emperor on paper, if you will. 'cause Julius Caesar was not just, he wasn't like, oh, vote on this, vote on this. He was like, no, fucking do it.

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Oh,

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okay. Okay.

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Okay.

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Just let's just be clear. But Augustus was the first official emperor, and from that moment on, Rome is no longer republic.

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Okay.

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There's a new sheriff in town, except he's not a sheriff, he's an emperor because. That was, that's what it was.

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You got

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it right.

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Nice play on words. But

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I, I tried to to go with it. And then Failed. Failed, failed, failed. Play on words. Yeah. Failed. It was failure. It's fine. We've got an empire now.

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Rome itself, still just a city, but it is now the capital of the most powerful empire on earth by this point in time. BFD. Right. Fucking deal. That's what that means. If anybody doesn't know. And by the way, I only had to look that up like Yeah. Six months ago. It's fine.

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Okay.

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Yeah. I didn't know what A, B, FD meant.

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Oh, I hate acronyms. Let's not go there. I, I do. 'cause they're overused. Well, they're overused is my point. Your, Hey, yours is fine. Yours is fine.

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So can I use BFD now?

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It's fine.

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Oh, I can use, I can use it,

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but they're overused in normal, you know, corporate, you and I corporate like. It's, it's too, it's bullshit.

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You know what? I'm not. I'm out of corporate and I'm now in the non-profit sector, so I'm like super better than everybody else.

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Well, I don't know what I'm in, but, so that's just, yeah, I'm with you. But anyway, previous lives,

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you're not in corporate anymore. Congratulations.

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I don't know what I'm in, but you know, you

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broke out of the mold.

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Yeah. So

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I don't know what that means.

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Anyway. BFD,

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what were we talking about?

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B-F-D-B-F-D.

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Yes. So Augustus Rome's first Emperor and , its Army's controlled territory. Stretching from Britain to North Africa to the Middle East. That's a lot,

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lot of territory.

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That's a lot of territory. So that meant that the man sitting on the Roman throne.

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Throne Throne. The man sitting on the Roman throne wasn't just ruling a city. He was ruling 60 million people across three continents.

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I'm pretty sure he didn't have quite control.

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Well, he had like, let's just, let's just move on. Okay. We do need to understand that that world, that this is the world that Caligula inherited. Okay. Right. And that world Rome height of its power. And by the first century ad the Roman Empire was the superpower.

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Its roads stretched thousands of miles and its armies were legendary. I wanna take a moment to talk about Rome's Road. This is a slight tangent, and I went into hyper research mode because by the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had built roughly 250,000 miles of roads and about 50,000 miles paved with stones.

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Uh, this is the first century ad. They did not like have paving equipment out there like we do on the roads today that take 20 years. I would just like to know that, that,

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well, they probably took, you know, I don't know how many years, but maybe they were quicker than the, what we

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did, I'd say because listen to this, this is astonishing.

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These roads stretched across Britain, Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, north Africa and the Middle East. All of, almost all of them ultimately connected back to Rome.

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Okay. All roads lead to Rome. That's the saying for a reason. It's facts.

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Okay.

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Facts.

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I'll give you that one.

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Most people assume Roman roads were built for trade. Obviously that did happen. But the real reason, and this is what made the Roman capital so , mighty, is that it was all about military control.

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Oh, okay. Because if you can move troops faster, you can take control faster. Okay. Right. And they needed to move fast. Roman legions could cover 20 miles a day on these road on foot. I would like to note, , that speed gave them some massive advantage. That's. That's pretty cool.

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Well, I understand. I I guess if you're not going, if you have a, I mean, call it a road, call it a pathway, whatever it may be. Meaning if these are roads, um,

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they were not just dirt paths.

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No, that's what I'm saying.

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They were engineered in layers.

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I, I'm

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with you. Foundation of packed earth, layers of gravel or crushed stone and then large stone paving blocks on top of

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them.

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Yeah, no, my point is what I'm with you, which is insane. So you could, what now? 20 miles a day is still a lot. But I'm saying is that, that versus a having to traverse through, over territories and through the trees or whatever may be, you know, if it's a straight line, it's a lot better than, you know, whatever.

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They knew what they were doing. And what's really cool about this is that they had a slight curve, so rainwater drained off the sides like they were thinkers. Man, these Romans, they weren't messing around. You know what's even crazier is that some of these roads are still used today, 2000 years later.

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That is, yeah, that is crazy.

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What I had to talk about this 'cause that's interesting.

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Yeah. We were just out there in the front porch talking about our, uh, stones that were, you know, 120 years old and we're talking,

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we do have 120 year old stones, and they're not 2000, but they are a 20 are

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from it.

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A hundred.

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Some of the first cinder blocks come on. That's just history people. So yeah, the phrase all roads lead to Rome comes from the fact that the Roman road system was designed like a hub and spokes wheel with Rome being in the, in the middle. Oh, sorry. Got you. And all the spokes all go out to the different provinces.

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Okay. I misunderstood for

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momentarily, so. Right. So if you followed the routes long enough, you would eventually reach the capitol.

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Okay.

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Yeah. Yeah. Other civilizations built roads, but Rome was the first to create a continent scale transportation network.

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Facts. How cool is that? That's, um, that's some history show right there. So Rome was not technically a monarchy, at least not on paper. The Empire still had a senate laws and political traditions that dated back hundreds of years. But by the time Caligula was born, everybody knew that the emperor was in charge.

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Okay. If he wanted someone promoted, they were promoted. If he wanted somebody exiled, they disappeared. , And if he wanted somebody dead. Yeah.

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Oh boy.

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That's what death sounds like, I assume.

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Okay.

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Okay. The first Roman emperors had understood something important that you could not rule the Roman world through fear alone. You also had to look respectable about it. You couldn't just go on being all high and mighty.

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Like some people I know I'm not, I'm not saying it's you 'cause it's not, but there are people in the world that do that, and I don't appreciate it. Okay. But anyways, back to this.

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Hmm.

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Um, the, the Emperor Augustus had mastered that balance. Okay? He's, remember the first emperor, he ruled for over 40 years. He built roads, temples, public buildings, and he presented himself as calm, reasonable, and devoted to the Roman people.

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He didn't care about the money in power, he did. Okay. So after him came a sty that all historians call the Julio Claudine Sty. Now there's a reason for

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that. All right, let's go over this first.

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What,

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let's stop here for a minute.

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We're stopping.

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You're saying Sty Uhhuh. So what's, what's the, I've never heard you say dynasty.

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Well, I said it in the uh, king Tut episode, but that's fine.

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Alright, but so Dynasty versus dynasty.

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I, it's historians use the word dynasty,

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that's why I'm asking.

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And so I like to be super pretentious and stuff, so I'm gonna say dynasty 'cause I'm super smart.

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I like it. I like it. I was calling it out to go, Hey Jared, maybe you should learn something here.

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You shit. So, dynasty. Dynasty, it is.

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That's what

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I will never say it again, but here we

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go. Now, if you are talking about the Hit TV show in the 1980s,

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that's

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different Dynasty. That's different. Then you better get it right.

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Well, 'cause if you were talking to someone that was, that was familiar with the show Dynasty and you call it Dynasty, they'd be

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like, oh,

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what the fuck,

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fuck are you,

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you

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talking about Get outta town.

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It is Dynasty

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like I've never heard that show in my life

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anyway. And I think maybe that TV show was on while I was being born or something. I don't remember now. I was born in 1979, just so you know. It wasn't, it was like a long time ago, but I

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was not. Yeah, it ranked right up there with uh,

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isn't that like where JR got shot?

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Was that Dynasty? No, that's Dallas. See, wow. You were on the same page at Dallas. I was just about to say it was around the same time as Dallas

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was. JR Dallas.

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Yeah. Boy, I hope I'm right. But it was, oh gosh. 'cause people would go this dumb shit. Dallas. Dallas was the show.

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Alexa, the show. Dallas. Is that where JR Ewing got shot?

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Dallas.

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Dallas. It was Dallas, so I don't know. I I never actually watched the show.

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Dynasty or Dallas?

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Yes,

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yes. Right. Dyna said, I just remember a whole lot of bangs.

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Bangs.

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Yeah. Like, oh, sorry. Wings. Wings. You know, wings and bangs. Yeah.

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I was like, bang. Like,

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no, you know, like getting shot. Not well being shot. No, no.

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Well,

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man, JR ing that was like that. I think that, you know, I think that was, we're all on a tangent here, but I think this is a tangent. Seriously, this is where the call, I think that when that happened. At the time, it was one of the, to the, the top, uh, viewed shows of all time.

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Yes. And people were like losing their minds.

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Like it was, the ratings for that show were like, through the roof.

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I'm gonna have to

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call my mother and ask her about, about that. Very interesting. Yeah, very interesting.

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So, going back to the Julio Dynasty, I would just like to talk about that since that's what this episode is

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about. It's sure. It's not about JR or Earring

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No.

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Yeah.

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Facts. So this is basically Rome's first Imperial family, and it is a tangled web of emper, heirs, political marriages, backstabbing. It was serious. Okay. Okay. And here is something important about Roman politics. Power was not inherited cleanly. It's not like the, you know, the royal family in Great Britain.

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Oh, where you're just born into it and congratulations right now. Or you're king,

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right? There's no,

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that is not how it worked. There were no simple rules. That's

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a good comparison. Yeah,

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it is. It's good comparison. That's the only comparison I have right now. But in this situation, there is no guaranteed line of succession.

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In fact, every emperor was surrounded by the same three threats, political rivals and ambitious family members and generals with loyal armies. They could all inherit the throne. Okay. Because Rome never created an official system for choosing the next emperor. Sometimes an emperor adopted an heir that wasn't even their kid.

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They just adopt. Uh, I don't look, this is just what they say. Sometimes the Senate approved the next one in line and sometimes the army just backed whoever their general was. And occasionally someone simply killed the emperor and took the job.

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Oh, that's easier.

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Yeah. I mean, that's how I got my current job.

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So

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shit,

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just look out guys. Sometimes succession looked like Emperor gets murdered. Senate panics. Army supports someone, congratulations. You have an emperor.

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Okay.

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That's like. History. Uh, this instability is why Roman politics are so very dangerous, which meant every ruler in Rome was constantly looking over their shoulder.

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He was this guy over here. He was, he like, really? Your cousin or is he George? Wait,

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Brutus. Anyways, if you wanted to survive as a Roman emperor, you needed to be careful. You needed allies, you needed restraint, and above all, you needed to not look like a fricking tyrant. So you can get stabbed in the back Julie Caesar anyways, right? So because Romans had a long memory. Centuries earlier, they had overthrown their last king.

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They did not like the idea of a king. And we're talking about emperors here. So like, I don't think they understand how things work, but that's fine. The word king still made them very uncomfortable. So emperors had to walk a delicate line officially. They were just the first citizen of Rome. That's what they called the, I didn't make that up unofficially, these guys were the most powerful men in the world, right? Into that complicated, dangerous system. In the year 37, ad stepped a 24-year-old emperor named Gais Caesar history would remember him by a nickname that started out as a childhood joke and would eventually become synonymous with madness, Caligula.

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Did you already forget what he was about? All right. So Gay as Julius Caesar Jamus was born August 31st in the year 12 ad, uh, 2012 years

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ago. Mm-hmm. It

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was a long time ago. I can't do math. It was 2014 years ago. 14.

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I'd already

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done it because this is not 2024. I'd already done. I know what year it is, but

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I was leaving it alone.

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Look, I can add. I can't. So he was born into one of the most powerful families in Rome. The Julio, Claud and Dynasty said Dynasty, the same ruling family that had produced Rome's first Emperor. Do you remember him? His name is Augustus. I'm just reminding everybody. Mostly Jared, 'cause I know you don't remember what I said.

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It's fine. His father, Germanic was a celebrated Roman general and widely loved by both the public and the army. His mother Aana. The elder.

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Aana.

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Aana.

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Holy shit. Holy shit.

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Now, when I used to say this, when I used to read when I was a kid, I would say a grina, but it's Aana sounds a grina. So much

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more appealing.

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I specifically ask chat, GBT to spell this phonetically for me, and it is Aana. Okay?

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Okay.

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The elder, by the way, which makes her sound like an evil witch in the forest, I don't know why. That's where my head goes. Anyways, here's my

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wife,

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AANA a grandpa. She was the granddaughter of Augustus himself. Like this is some serious family background here, which meant Caligula was born directly into the imperial bloodline, which as we have already learned, is not necessarily normal.

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Okay. But despite the wealth and power surrounding his family, Caligula's childhood did not begin in palaces and political halts. It actually began in military camps because his father spent much of his career commanding Roman legions along the northern frontier, particularly in what is now modern Germany.

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And unlike most elite Roman families, German, Manus often brought his wife and children while he was stationed with the Army.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Paul's,

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he's just having the time

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he was licking, and I'm hoping that you don't end up going back on your thing and going. All I hear is the dog licking.

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So if you hear some very aggressive and, uh, frankly, graphic licking on the sound, it's, it's Sherlock, it's not Jared.

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I just want you to know that. So anyways, back to the story. 'cause this is really interesting. Yeah. So yeah,

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yeah,

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yeah, yeah. This means that Gaius grew up surrounded by soldiers. He played in the camps, watched military drills, and wore miniature versions of a Roman soldier's uniform. And the soldier saw this was so cute, and they just adored him the most, this little boy in this little soldier's outfit.

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Yeah. So they gave him a nickname based on the tiny boots that were a part of the outfit in Latin. Those boots are called kgi. So the soldiers started calling him Caligula, which means little boots.

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Okay.

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So he took that name into adulthood. As an adult he was called Little Boots. I'm just like, that's embarrassing.

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That's, yeah.

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Okay. I might have given it a complex, that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying he had a complex, but I'm saying it in a complex.

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Mm-hmm. Alright.

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So anyways, for a time, the future looked bright for little boots. Okay? He was a young boy with a soldier's nickname. Right. His father, Jim Manus, was one of the most popular men in the empire.

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Okay? He was a big, he was a, B, FD. Many Romans believed he would eventually become emperor, right? But in the year 19 ad, eh. German has died suddenly while serving in the eastern provinces of the empire. I don't know how he died. He's just dead. His death shocked Rome. They were like, what? German has died.

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So anyways, rumors spread quickly that he had been poisoned. 'cause that happens a lot around here. It was a way

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to Yeah, exactly.

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It was a way to go. It was a way to go. Okay. Some even suspected that powerful political figures back in Rome might have been involved.

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We don't know. Results are the same. The most popular general in Rome is dead. Okay. D

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eat.

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Yes. So his family suddenly became very politically dangerous. If you are the rest of the people in this family, you're like, oh shit, we're all about to die. That's what you would say. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh, German's widow, aina, Ana, I forgot her name already.

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Yeah, I was gonna say, come on here. I forgot her name already. Her, his widow. Ana believed that her husband had been the victim of a conspiracy. No, she's probably right. She openly, openly blamed members of the Imperial Court. Does she want to die too? I dunno, this was a long time ago. This is a bold accusation in the world of Roman politics.

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You gotta have, like, you know,

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Kaho knows

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it would have had some consequences. Are you doing okay right now? I, my blood pressure's high. Like, I'm really into this. I love this. Like, I can't even tell you guys like I am like the most excited about this story.

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All right. So at the time of German's death, the Emperor of Rome was Tiberius. He is the do the adopted some of Augustus, who was the first Roman Empire. Okay. Tiberius had always been more distant and suspicious than Augustus had been. He was cautious, secretive, deeply wary of anyone who might threaten his authority.

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And let's be fair, he's, he's probably being smart about this. The family of Germanist was popular, powerful, and openly critical of the emperor. And this is looking increasingly dangerous, like they're not safe. Okay? So over the next several years, members of Caligula's family began to disappear.

Speaker:

From public life. His mother, Ana, was eventually arrested and exiled, and frankly, she should be happy to be alive. At this point. Two of his brothers were accused of treason in prison, and frankly, again, happy to be alive. And by the time that Caligula was a teenager, most of his immediate family had either been killed, imprisoned, or forced into exile.

Speaker:

His family. They're dropping like flies. Okay. You, you with me? Still here?

Speaker:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker:

Okay. This boy who had once been a little cutie mascot of the Roman army, suddenly found him himself surrounded by political purchase, like, whew. In the brutal world of Roman politics, survival often meant staying silent. And K collegial was like, Okie dokie.

Speaker:

You know what I'm saying?

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

Okay. He was like, no, thank you. Not interested, bud. So eventually, okay. The young Caligula was brought to live under the watchful eye of the Emperor himself, Tiberius. He was sent to the of Capri, where Tiberius had largely withdrawn from public life and governed the empire from a secluded palace overlooking the sea.

Speaker:

That sounds terrible. Can we go? I'm just saying, but I could see as like, if you were Tiberius and like all these things are going around you, I'd be like, uh, let's go over here and just let's, like, let's hide in the, let's, let's hide on the sea in a, in a palace by the sea. Yes. Thank you. I like that. Do you have anything to say?

Speaker:

I'm like, sorry. I know I'm dominating this entire thing.

Speaker:

You're on fire. You're on fire.

Speaker:

I'm really excited about this.

Speaker:

You're on fire.

Speaker:

This is fun. Now, okay. Living in the household of an emperor who had already exiled and imprisoned members of his own family must have been super complicated. But Kula, he was like, cool, cool, cool.

Speaker:

I got this. It's fine. He kept his head down, avoided political conflicts, avoided all the things. According to later historians, he carefully studied the dangerous world of imperial power that surrounded him. He just kept his head down and it made it seem as if he was uninterested in politics, which is probably pretty smart.

Speaker:

One ancient writer later claimed that Caligula survived this period by mastering a simple rule, never contradict the emperor. And you know, I say that every day. I don't. I've never said that.

Speaker:

I was deep in thought going. Does she say that?

Speaker:

No. Not one time. 'cause you know what? Damn the man. It's what I say.

Speaker:

I've never said that, either me

Speaker:

or the woman, but

Speaker:

it's just, it's the same. Yep. So, whew, going on here. Okay. By the mid thirties ad we're always in ad here, but I'm gonna say it anyways. The aging emperor Tiberius was nearing the end of his life. Okay? He's, he's about to croak. Many of the obvious heirs had already been eliminated by political intrigue, accusations of treason, simple, bad luck, whatever.

Speaker:

This left actually a surprisingly small pool of potential successors. And obviously among them, coag Gil, he's just hanging out. He's enjoying the sea. Uh. The boy once known as Little Boots, had grown into a young man in his early twenties and he carried the prestige of his father's legacy with the Roman people.

Speaker:

He was also obviously connected to the Imperial family through multiple lines of blood. So like he's looking pretty, he's looking pretty good. He is like, that's, that's how Tiber, he's like Tiber. She's like,

Speaker:

okay. Understood.

Speaker:

Okay, so Tiberius died in the year 37 ad, and guess what? The Senate confirmed Caligula just straight out the gate as the new emperor of Rome.

Speaker:

They're like, he looks good. He's 24. He's probably fine. He's also the son of Rome's most beloved general.

Speaker:

True.

Speaker:

Okay. Little boots. This is what he right. He's now the most powerful man in the world. At 24,

Speaker:

good things happen quick.

Speaker:

Holy smokes. So Rome had been living under Tiberius rule for more than two decades.

Speaker:

Okay. Tiberius had become increasingly withdrawn, suspicious in his later years. He was living on the sea governing from an island and leaving much the day-to-day politics to advisors just like, uh, get, get outta here. And the young man, Caligula stepping into power seemed exactly like the change that the empire needed.

Speaker:

They need some, Hm, young blood in here. They need somebody to mix it up, like get him to Rome and like rule like a, you know, that's what I said. He entered the city. As the new emperor crowds were celebrating in the streets, they were like.

Speaker:

They were super excited about this. Okay. Okay. And ancient historians described the early days of his reign, almost like a public celebration. People were like digging it, man. Like a hippie in the seventies. So anyways,

Speaker:

I'm fucking hanging out here.

Speaker:

What?

Speaker:

You are a, you are in rare form.

Speaker:

What? I like the story.

Speaker:

I know.

Speaker:

It's a good story.

Speaker:

Oh yeah, you do.

Speaker:

It's a really good story, guys. Okay. So political prisoners were released, , exiles were allowed to return home. And Kula made a point of honoring the memory of his parents, which made him even more popular with the public. They were like, this kid, he couldn't get enough.

Speaker:

This guy, he could do no wrong.

Speaker:

So it's good 'cause he's charismatic, he's generous, he's eager to win the approval of the people. Until he doesn't. And so now we gotta, we gotta go downhill. 'cause there's, we're at the top of the mountain. We just, there's no way to go down.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Bad news bears only a few months into his reign, something happened that will become one of the most debated turning points in Roman history. Caligula becomes seriously ill. This is, it's a serious situation.

Speaker:

No. Okay. Ancient sources do not agree of what the illness is. We don't know. Some historians suggest it was a severe fever. Others speculate. It may have been a neurological condition or infection, whatever it looked like. The new emperor might die. He's just, he just got into office. He is walked in the door.

Speaker:

He is a young fella.

Speaker:

He is a young fella, and he is about to die. Okay? So the entire city of Rome reportedly prayed for his recovery, and people offered sacrifices to the gods. I don't know what that means. , Senators made public vows in hopes that the young emperor would survive. Now, Caligula eventually recovers, and the celebrations through the street are enormous.

Speaker:

Like the people love this guy. He is beloved. Okay? But something has changed about him. He's not quite the same guy he was before. ? The generous and popular young ruler who had taken power only months earlier, began behaving in ways that were. Shocking the Roman elite. Okay. And from that point forward, the stories about Caligula become more and more strange.

Speaker:

The generous public gestures that had marked his first months as emperor slowly gave way to something else, something far more unpredictable. Members of the Roman elite began to notice that the young ruler , who had once been eager to win their approval now seemed increasingly suspicious of the people surrounding him.

Speaker:

Surrounding him, not around him. They are around him and they're surrounding him, and he's suspicious of them. Okay? Rome is a dangerous place for anyone in power, okay? And Caligula had grown up watching members of his own family in prison, exiled, executed during the reign of Tiberius. Now whether this is because of paranoia trauma, simply the intoxicating effect of absolute power.

Speaker:

Okay?

Speaker:

I wouldn't know how that feels. I have zero power.

Speaker:

You have lots of power

Speaker:

in this household. Not in the real world. I'm like a regular Joe. I'm a regular Jen, so, yeah. But anyways, um, whatever we were talking about. So, okay. Political opponents suddenly were accused of treason, huh? Just outta nowhere.

Speaker:

Okay. Wealthy Romans were executed and their property seized by the state. Just regular powerful men, members of the Senate, men who had once governed the republic, found themselves. Humiliated, threatened and forced to compete for the Emperor's Amusement. Okay, th th Then the story started stories that would eventually define Caligula's reputation for the next 2000 years.

Speaker:

So here's some of the stories that made a famous, right now, ancient historians describe a ruler who seemed increasingly fascinated with testing the limits of his power. Oh my gosh. What? Who could we be? We're talking about Caligula. That's what this whole episode is about. I swear. That's who I'm talking about.

Speaker:

So one story claims that Caligula demanded that members of the Senate run beside his chariot for miles while he just like rode comfortably inside. Those are the horse. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So another, I'm still going. Jared's just fucking done. He has nothing else to say here. Another story claims that he forced high ranking politicians to attend lavish dinners where they were mocked, insulted, or made to perform humiliating tasks.

Speaker:

Good gesture.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now the most famous story involves a horse.

Speaker:

So I set you up for that. It's not You did quite that bad. You did? Yeah.

Speaker:

Good story.

Speaker:

So, I'm gonna tell the whole story on podcast, so it's not that bad, right? Um, I mean it's, it's, it's absurd, but not bad. Just, okay. So, according to several Roman riders, Caligula owned a prized horse named Incite. Okay. And the emperor supposedly planned to appoint that horse as a senator. Yeah. The animal was said to have had his own marble, stable, jeweled collar, and his own servants.

Speaker:

Yeah. Don't do it.

Speaker:

Now, whether the story was meant literally, or a way for the emperor to mock,

Speaker:

sure.

Speaker:

The Senate is still widely debated, but the message is clear. Caligula wanted Rome to understand the old political order no longer mattered. Mm-hmm. No it doesn't. If he wanted a horse as a senator, bitch, please. Horses, Senator aur is what I'm saying. Jesus

Speaker:

Christ.

Speaker:

It's just, I'm slightly,

Speaker:

I was gonna say, you gotta start.

Speaker:

Drinking earlier when we do these podcasts.

Speaker:

Yeah, I should just drink every podcast it's on because this is a blast. I'm having the most fun.

Speaker:

You're on fire.

Speaker:

I'm having so much fun

Speaker:

At one point during his reign, Caligula reportedly marched a Roman army to the coast of Northern France.

Speaker:

The soldiers believed that they were preparing for an invasion of Britain. Instead, the emperor ordered them to line up along the shoreline and attacked the waves. Hmm. Uhhuh, oh, I don't even know. They stabbed at the water with their spears and collected sea shells from the beach. The shells the emperor declared were spoils of war taken from the sea.

Speaker:

He went to war with the sea.

Speaker:

I was gonna say, we got issues.

Speaker:

He, uh, I, we've, we have all the issues.

Speaker:

We've, we've entered issues.

Speaker:

We've got issues coming out of our pockets.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker:

Yes, absolutely. Now, whether this was a bizarre act of madness, a political joke aimed at the army is still debated. But stories like this spread quickly through Rome and with each new tale, the reputation of the young emperor is growing darker and darker.

Speaker:

So, K'S reign continues. The stories about him are just batshit. What had once seemed like arrogance or theatrical displays of power begin to start looking like actual instability. Ancient writers describe an emperor who increasingly blurred the line between Ruler and God. I don't know if he knew the difference between the two.

Speaker:

He reportedly demanded that statues of the gods be altered to resemble his own face. In some cases, the heads of existing statues were removed and replaced with his likeness, and he also began insisting that people address him with divine titles in other Wordsa wasn't just ruling Rome. He was beginning to present himself as something more than human.

Speaker:

At the same time, his finances are collapsing because you can't go to war with sea, make a horse, a senator, start putting your face on every fricking building in the place and not run outta money.

Speaker:

Right. You for free,

Speaker:

like he's just right for free. Throwing money at a horse.

Speaker:

Well, I don't know. Well, true. I, yeah, I was gonna say, the only thing I can see that's potentially somewhat cheap is you go fight with the.

Speaker:

You gotta get your men there. That shit's expensive. Mm. Ramen soldiers are not cheap labor. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They're elite bitch. Anyways, so yeah, no, seriously, he's running out money. This early generosity that man, him popular with the public had been incredibly expensive. He threw lavish games, public festivals, massive construction projects, extravagant palace events.

Speaker:

This is in, this is just draining the treasury.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm. The treasury's in the sewer. Okay. Now to replace the money, Caligula, what do you do? What do you do? You tax the people. Oh, okay. It's gotta come from the people. You gotta, this is, this is where the money comes from.

Speaker:

Shoulda gotten.

Speaker:

So, tax him more so.

Speaker:

Oh, but then, then he, he starts confiscating wealth. From the rich Romans. Now this is where I might have gone awry. I'm just saying that, so, so yeah,

Speaker:

for the record, I was just gonna say, increase the deficit.

Speaker:

Well, well, that's what, that's what we did, right? I'm just saying Right, right. Thought

Speaker:

that

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was the

Speaker:

easy one.

Speaker:

Yeah, yeah,

Speaker:

yeah. Of course. So now executions are becoming more common. Members of the Senate, former allies, political rivals, they're accused of treason, they're put to death. And in many cases, if not most, their properties were seized by the state. Of course, you gotta, you gotta, you got a criminal against the state.

Speaker:

You just take all their shit and they're, they're the wealthy people, so it's like big shit. So for the emperor, this solves two . Problems at once. You get rid of your enemies and you're bringing cash in. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But the more unpredictable Caligula became, the more nervous people are.

Speaker:

They're around him. They're like,

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

Is this,

Speaker:

yeah,

Speaker:

is this okay? Am

Speaker:

I next?

Speaker:

Am I next? Exactly. Now, Roman politics have always been dangerous. Emperors ruled with enormous power. They lived under constant threat from the very people closest to them. So this is not new. But by the fourth year of Caligula's reign, many members of the imperial court had began to quietly wonder whether Rome could survive much longer under this 'cause.

Speaker:

This is how you get a let them eat cake moment. This is let them eat cake, situation

Speaker:

cake or death

Speaker:

cake. Oh, death. Yeah.

Speaker:

You said death.

Speaker:

You said death. Yeah. I mean, this is very much French Revolution, and this is where my mind goes is you've got, uh, Marie Antoinette and Louis the whatever teeth, and they're sitting up high on their thrones and let them meat cake, and we're wearing fancy shoes and I got my wig up to the ceiling.

Speaker:

And, but the, there are actual people literally dying in the streets. And at some point, and this is a lesson for the ages, at some point the people starving in the streets are going to take the rich out off their throne and they're, they're gonna, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker:

Yeah. But this Right. We're gonna run out of cake.

Speaker:

Classic Eddie, Susan, Eddie,

Speaker:

at the time.

Speaker:

Specs, definitely. So let's talk about these imperial displays of excess. As one would say, callate knew how to throw a party. Okay. Many of these performances were spectacularly expensive. Ancient writers describe a series of extravagant displays designed to remind everyone who is in charge. Who is it? It's Ula. We already talked about this.

Speaker:

Okay, so one of the most famous of these displays, it is an enormous floating bridge across the Bay of Bai in southern Italy. According to historians, hundreds of ships were anchored side by side across the water, creating a temporary. Roadway stretching for miles across the bay. Ula then reportedly rode his horse across the bridge wearing armor associated with Alexander the Great as if reenacting a ti a, a triumph.

Speaker:

Uh, this guy's bonkers. I don't know if this political theater spectacle this message is unmistakable. This emperor commands the seize. He's a big deal. He's a, B, FD. Also, like he's wearing armor to emulate Alexander the Great. Yeah, you are. No Alexander the Gray. That guy was, uh, you know what? I should do an episode on him.

Speaker:

Jared is so excited. The look on his face was like, so I

Speaker:

looked at you like.

Speaker:

Hey. Yes.

Speaker:

No, I don't know enough about him, so, yeah.

Speaker:

Oh, exactly.

Speaker:

No, I was saying that's okay.

Speaker:

I, that's what I'm saying. I'm so excited. So buckle up. But we're talking about Kalia. Yeah, yeah. We're on track. So he pulled a, he pulled a Cleopatra too.

Speaker:

He would have parties where he would drop a pearl in vinegar and then knock it back and drink it because he is so rich. He can drink pearls.

Speaker:

That's probably not good for your digestive system.

Speaker:

We take apple cider vinegar, gummies all the time. I figure that's the same thing

Speaker:

as a pearl

Speaker:

in vinegar.

Speaker:

No, I meant the pearl.

Speaker:

It's just what? Like broken up shells. It's fine. Like what's gonna happen?

Speaker:

Shitty.

Speaker:

You die. That

Speaker:

shit

Speaker:

a kidney,

Speaker:

stone, whatever.

Speaker:

Yep. All this to say is that. All these shenanigans, these festivals, the gladiators, the bridges of Alexander of Triumph, whatever they were doing, staggering price tag within a few year, a few years of him being on the throne, much of the enormous treasury that had been left to him.

Speaker:

It's gone. The go it, it's running out.

Speaker:

Easy come, easy go.

Speaker:

Easy go is exactly Zula. It's Caligula, and that's what's up. So anyways, I don't even know. I don't even know. Let's talk a little bit about his personal life, because I, I'm gonna mention a couple things later and you'll be like, where'd she come from?

Speaker:

That's what I said. So Caligula was extremely close to one of his sisters, Julia Dilla. Ancient writers often describe their relationship as unusually intense. Are you getting some vibes? You should

Speaker:

sexual

Speaker:

tension later, rumors would claim, oh gosh,

Speaker:

oh boy.

Speaker:

It crossed into scandal.

Speaker:

Oh, come Sexual tension.

Speaker:

But we don't know for sures whether these accusations were political gossip. We don't know. What is clear is that Dilla held a rare position of influence for a Roman woman when she died. Suddenly in 38 AD one year into his rule, Caligula was devastated beyond the norm. He declared a period of public mourning and went so far as to have her officially deified, making Julia Drusilla the first Roman woman to to be declared a goddess by the state.

Speaker:

A goddess, this guy, budget. So anyways, like many Roman emperors K's, personal life was stated. Ancient sources describe multiple marriage during his short reign. Some lasting, only a brief time before ending in divorce or political fallout. Divorce was a thing, by the way, his final marriage would become the most significant in the final year of his life.

Speaker:

Caligula married a woman named Maloney, SIA.

Speaker:

Oh, I like that.

Speaker:

I like that. That's what I said. Roman historians describe Cuson as strong-willed and fiercely loyal to the emperor. Ancient writers, many of whom dislike Coagula, often portrayed her as

Speaker:

not good. They don't like her. Um, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Speaker:

Maloney Lon. That's good shit.

Speaker:

No.

Speaker:

Oh,

Speaker:

Maloney, Estonia.

Speaker:

Oh, still, still

Speaker:

Meia lon.

Speaker:

Equally, equally. Well, I rhymed it a little bit too much,

Speaker:

but a little. You went too far. That's fine. I go tomorrow

Speaker:

all the time. Latonia. That's still good.

Speaker:

It's still not right.

Speaker:

Shit. Maloney, SIA. Okay.

Speaker:

I thought that's what I said. Nope. Anyway.

Speaker:

Anyhow, uh, not long after their marriage, SIA gave birth to a daughter and they named the child. Of course, Julia Dilla after his sister

Speaker:

Julia Lilia, whatever. I'm sorry.

Speaker:

Pula reportedly adored the infant baby girl and proudly presented her to the public as a member of the Imperial family.

Speaker:

All right, you ready for this? We're getting into the good shit hair.

Speaker:

We are in the year 41 ad. It is January. I don't know what January is in Italy, but it is cold here, so I'm just thinking it's cold. All right. A small group of men decided that the emperor is just a little too dangerous. We gotta handle this. All right. The conspiracy formed within his own inner circle.

Speaker:

That's when you know you have just screwed up.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

In your inner circle. This is not foreign enemies, no rebellious provinces. The people plotting his death were members of his own guard.

Speaker:

Okay. Big

Speaker:

E among them was the commander of the Pretorian Guard. You've heard of the Pretorian Guard? Yeah. They're like elite shit.

Speaker:

They're like the most elite soldiers.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Ever.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

On Earth.

Speaker:

Oh, Ohio six.

Speaker:

And if no, as

Speaker:

as a joke,

Speaker:

they're spies. Yes. Spies were soldiers. That's the Pretorian guard. Yes. Okay. So these are the elite soldiers that are responsible for protecting the emperor himself. Alright. The head guy here is named Caius Korea.

Speaker:

According to ancient sources, Caligula had a habit of publicly humiliating chorea, mocking his voice, forcing him to repeat embarrassing passwords when giving military orders like Kaia is just a dick. Okay? Over time those insults turned into something more dangerous. It's, it's called resentment. Like, fucking enough, you die.

Speaker:

That's what I said.

Speaker:

The men involved knew they only had one chance. If the emperor discovered the plot before it could be carried out. Oh, this is bad news. Bears for them, they'd be dead zone, right? So they're waiting for the right moment. The moment came during a series of public games being held in Rome On January 24th, Kula spent the morning attending theatrical performances.

Speaker:

And events connected to the celebration. As the day went on, the emperor began to make his way through a covered passageway beneath the palace complex. It was there away from the crowds that the conspirators made their move. The first attacker was Cassius Chorea, the Pretorian officer who had endured years of these insults from this guy.

Speaker:

And so he stepped forward and struck. He stabbed him. Okay. And he struck, and then the rest of 'em were like, yeah, and they all got in on it. It was a Julius Caesar situation. That's what it said. Debbie Stab. Stab.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker:

Okay. Ancient accounts say that the emperor was stabbed multiple times as the attacker surrounding him.

Speaker:

The once all powerful ruler of Rome collapsed in a floor of blood dead. He was 28 years old. His reign was just under four years. Yeah. Like now the violence didn't end there. Unfortunately. This is the sad news. Bears part of being an emperor, the members of the Imperial family were, were also targeted.

Speaker:

His wife and young daughter, who was under a year old were Gonzo.

Speaker:

Interesting.

Speaker:

Okay. Um, yeah. They were trying to eliminate any potential heirs.

Speaker:

Geez.

Speaker:

And for a brief moment, it seemed possible that Rome might return to its old Republic system. Some members of the Senate even began discussing the idea of restoring the republic entirely.

Speaker:

But the Pretorian guard is like, no, we, we have other plans, and we're the big boss guys. So right in the immediate aftermath of Caligula's assassination, Rome is thrown into confusion, ? The conspirators believe that they removed a tyrant and hoped in hoping that the Senate would restore the old republic.

Speaker:

It seemed possible. But while the senators debated what to do next, the Pretorian guard. Started searching the Imperial Palace. And this is crazy because they were looking for surviving members of the Imperial family that they had just murdered. But I would like to say they were looking for another emperor.

Speaker:

Like no joke. They were looking behind curtains. Behind a tapestry, inside the palace, they found a man cowering in terror. And this man was Claudius, who was Caligula's uncle. He had spent much of his life on the sidelines of Roman politics. Many people thought he was awkward, frail. Just this little duped over guy.

Speaker:

So Rome has a new emperor. Just, it's just, they were just like, this guy behind a curtain. It's fine.

Speaker:

Wham. Bam.

Speaker:

Thank you,

Speaker:

emperor. Yeah.

Speaker:

Claudius. Yeah.

Speaker:

So what was he doing when he was found

Speaker:

hiding behind a curtain?

Speaker:

No, but what, sorry. Valid.

Speaker:

That's

Speaker:

it. Who, who was he

Speaker:

Al's

Speaker:

uncle? What was he doing? No, but what was he doing? What was his pos, his profession? I should be more.

Speaker:

The emperor's uncle.

Speaker:

That was it.

Speaker:

That was it.

Speaker:

So he was like the janitor slash

Speaker:

No, he wasn't cleaning anything. Oh, he was just like sitting at parties and enjoying it. Care. Take No, no, caretaking. He didn't do shit.

Speaker:

Oh, okay.

Speaker:

No. So, so the thing here is that they were storming the palace and killing,

Speaker:

right.

Speaker:

All of Caligula's family.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

And then they, like, after getting through and killing all these people, they were like, oh shit, we still need an emperor. Go find somebody.

Speaker:

Yeah. So,

Speaker:

and they were like behind, were like Claudia behind the fricking curtain.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

You, I mean, things happen to good people for a reason.

Speaker:

Are we calling this good?

Speaker:

Yeah. I don't know. Because that's just my point is that to your point, is that it's, uh, stupid.

Speaker:

Yeah. Yeah. So I'd like to talk to towards a little bit of the theories about Caligula, about why he was so bonkers. And there are a couple of theories that historians have today, and the traditional view of Caligula is that he was genuinely unstable.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Like there's something wrong with this guy, mentally unstable, but he wasn't always like that. , If these stories are accurate, this, this horse story and as a senator and the bridge where he was trying to be Alexander the Gray and the War of the Sea and just humiliating all of these senators and rich people within Rome, like, was he just drunk on power?

Speaker:

Was it just this absolute power? I mean, he became emperor at 24 years old and suddenly controlled the largest empire in the world.

Speaker:

Less face it. That's young.

Speaker:

Like that can go to your head.

Speaker:

That's when you're young and extremely cocky.

Speaker:

Yeah. There's no real, like, there's no real checks and balances.

Speaker:

You haven't even lived a life.

Speaker:

You hadn't even lived

Speaker:

a life. You haven't even lived a life. And so even your most impulsive behavior can get better of you.

Speaker:

Oh yeah. No, totally.

Speaker:

So in that interpretation, he's just too much Too soon.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

Or too much power. Yeah, absolute power. Because it was absolute power. He could do anything you want.

Speaker:

I was a cocky dick in my twenties.

Speaker:

I, but there were consequences

Speaker:

there sometimes. There

Speaker:

were. Which is why you didn't just do some nutso things, I guess. I, or just 'cause you're a human being and you're not insane.

Speaker:

Correct.

Speaker:

Let's do that.

Speaker:

So yeah. Anyway, to your point,

Speaker:

let's say

Speaker:

twenties is twenties is

Speaker:

too much too soon powered Right. Theory.

Speaker:

Okay. The other theory is this mysterious illness that came about him.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

He had a very high fever. Um, historians speculated that it might have been neurological possibilities of encephalitis, epilepsy, severe infections, conditions like this could potentially affect behavior, judgment, emotional stability.

Speaker:

Um, there's nothing to say. Yeah. Like we can't say what it is, but some historians say that after this illness is when he went gonzo.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

Okay. Then we have the propaganda theory. Most of the detailed accounts of his reign were written decades after. Roman historians who belonged to the political class had he had frequently clashed with, so they relied heavily on rumors circulating around the Roman elite.

Speaker:

I mean, at this point, it had already been tainted by political uprising. I mean, he'd already been killed at this point. So in other words, many of the people telling these stories had strong reasons to portray him as a monster. So we could have that. We also have the political performance theory and instead of madness, some of his actions could have just been political theater.

Speaker:

, Roman Emperors often had tense relationships with the Senate, which represented an the old aristocratic power structure of the republic. Maybe by humiliating senators publicly or mocking their authority, he could have been sending a message that the old political order is over the, the emperor's in charge now.

Speaker:

Right, right.

Speaker:

What do you think? No, I

Speaker:

have a

Speaker:

theory,

Speaker:

but I've got No, no, I'm skipping these theories. 'cause actually, I'll be honest, I was surprised you even had theories at this story. I credit you.

Speaker:

They're vague.

Speaker:

So no, I do not have any theories.

Speaker:

I will say that this is, do I very much debated by historians today.

Speaker:

So that's why I had theories,

Speaker:

like I could go down the whole path of, again, him being young and all that stuff, which I just kind of did on the side in a jokingly way. But like there's, yeah, it could, it could be anything. I know that he took two PI know that he had too much power at a young age.

Speaker:

That's

Speaker:

period.

Speaker:

So I'm gonna say that in combination with, remember he was completely removed from the political society. He was living in military camps and then with Tur Tiberius in this palace on the sea. Sure. So he was not really educated, sheltered,

Speaker:

sheltered life and all. Yeah.

Speaker:

He wasn't educated politically on how you act and what you should be doing.

Speaker:

Right, right. He was surrounded by an emperor who was paranoid and removed from high political society and guarded 24 7. I think that that probably jaded him very much. And then I definitely think this. This fever had something to do with it. Okay. And then, and then being 24 and having absolute power.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

I think he just combination, I, it was a combination of just all of these things and he had constantly listened to Tiberius rant about the, the, the tainted political spectrum that was just all around. And I think he, he just, he thought he could do no wrong, and then he just, he had too much too soon. Yeah.

Speaker:

So this is a statistic. One statistic, and we'll be done here. Okay. That puts this into perspective. In the first 300 years of the Roman Empire, two thirds of emperors died violently.

Speaker:

Yeah, I think we've talked about this a little bit before. Yes. Right.

Speaker:

That tells you how unstable this system was.

Speaker:

Either, we haven't talked about this on necessarily the part, but you've, you've talked about this type of stat before with me.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Because you do talk about this type of stuff in general

Speaker:

conversation. Oh, a lot. I do, yes. So in that environment, ULA might not have been uniquely crazy,

Speaker:

right? No. Agreed. Agreed.

Speaker:

He just is one of the two thirds who lost control of the political game,

Speaker:

right? What the culture built. Yeah. Envir. The, yeah.

Speaker:

The environment built feel better now though.

Speaker:

We're gonna have to do so many more Roman in by the episodes. So you should comment now and be like, Jen, no. Stop. Don't do that. Or Jen. That is the most interesting episode I've ever heard. And I will comment back and I'll be like, ha, I fucking know. So,

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah. So look, um, sharing is caring. Share with your friends, share with your mom. Share with that uncle that you don't even talk to at Thanksgiving, but let him know like, we're fun. We're cool.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So, yeah. Um, like, and subscribe. We love comments. Tell us where you're from.

Speaker:

We like any comments?

Speaker:

Jesus. Yeah. Tell us like, you guys are stupid.

Speaker:

No, we're not stupid.

Speaker:

No,

Speaker:

I'm stupid, but we're not stupid.

Speaker:

Nobody here is stupid. , Cool. So episodes drop every other Tuesday. This is at the house of six? No, this is house of6@gmail.com.

Speaker:

If you wanna suggest an episode, if you are like ancient Rome. No, thank you, Jim. That'd

Speaker:

be awesome. I It actually might make it.

Speaker:

That's Jim.

Speaker:

It might make our day list. You're not Jim,

Speaker:

yeah. Cool. Um, so that's it. And stay off the roads. Bye.

Speaker:

Bye.

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