If you think modern politics is a circus, you haven't met Emperor Caligula. This guy's four-year reign (37-41 CE) was so chaotic, so utterly unhinged, that it makes today's headlines look like a PTA meeting. While he was known for his cruelty, extravagance, and straight-up weirdness, nothing tops the story of his beloved horse, Incitatus, who he allegedly planned to make a senator. Yes, you read that right. A horse. In the Roman Senate.
Incitatus wasn't just any horse. He was Caligula's prized racehorse, and he lived a life of unimaginable luxury. We're talking a marble stable, an ivory manger, purple blankets (the color of royalty), and a collar of precious stones. He had a whole team of servants dedicated to his every whim. Caligula would even invite the horse to dinner, where he'd be served oats mixed with gold flakes. The emperor loved Incitatus so much that he demanded complete silence in the neighborhood the night before a race, a rule enforced by his soldiers.
But the ultimate flex, according to ancient historians like Suetonius and Cassius Dio, was Caligula's plan to appoint Incitatus as a consul, one of the two highest elected officials in Rome. Historians are still debating whether Caligula was genuinely insane or if this was the most epic political troll in history. The leading theory is that it was a calculated insult to the Senate. Caligula despised the senators and wanted to show them that his horse could do their job just as well as they could—or maybe even better. It was his way of saying, "You're all so useless and corrupt, a horse could replace you and no one would notice the difference."
Making his horse a politician was just one of many bizarre stories from Caligula's reign. He reportedly declared himself a living god and had a temple built to worship himself. He was accused of incest with his sisters and turning the palace into a brothel. He once declared war on the sea god Neptune, ordering his soldiers to march to the shore and stab the water with their swords. They then had to collect seashells as the "spoils of war."
Whether these stories are 100% true or just propaganda written by his enemies after his death, they paint a picture of a ruler who was, at best, a deeply troubled egomaniac and, at worst, a complete psychopath. His reign was short—he was assassinated by his own Praetorian Guard after just four years—but his legacy as Rome's most unhinged emperor has lasted for centuries. And at the center of it all is Incitatus, the horse who almost became a senator, forever a symbol of a time when Rome went completely off the rails.
1. History.com - "Did Caligula Really Make His Horse a Consul?"
An accessible overview that examines the historical evidence and theories behind the infamous story of Caligula and Incitatus.
https://www.history.com/articles/did-caligula-really-make-his-horse-a-consul
2. Suetonius, "The Lives of the Twelve Caesars"
The primary ancient source for many of the wild stories about Caligula, written by a Roman historian who loved to spill the tea on the emperors.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Caligula*.html
3. The Collector - "Caligula: 18 Facts on the "Mad" Roman Emperor"
A modern article that compiles and discusses the various tales of Caligula's alleged madness, providing context and analysis.
https://www.thecollector.com/caligula/
